Gangs are a violent reality that people have to deal with in today\'s cities. What
has made these groups come about? Why do kids feel that being in a gang is both an acceptable and prestigious way to live? The long range answer to these questions can only be speculated upon, but in the short term the answers are much easier to find. On the surface, gangs are a direct result of human beings\' personal wants and peer pressure. To determine how to effectively end gang violence we must find the way that these morals are given to the individual. Unfortunately, these can only be hypothesized. However, by looking at the way humans are influenced in society, I believe there is good evidence to point the blame at several institutions. These include the forces of the media, the government, theatre, drugs and our economic system.

On the surface, gangs are caused by peer pressure and greed. Many teens in gangs
will pressure peers into becoming part of a gang by making it all sound glamorous.
Money is also an crucial factor. A kid (a 6-10 year old, who is not yet a member) is
shown that s/he could make $200 to $400 for small part time gang jobs. Although these
are important factors they are not strong enough to make kids do things that are strongly
against their morals.

One of the ways that kids morals are bent so that gang violence becomes more
acceptable is the influence of television and movies. The average child spends more time
at a TV than she/he spends in a classroom. Since nobody can completely turn off their
minds, kids must be learning something while watching the TV. Very few hours of
television watched by children are educational, so other ideas are being absorbed during
this period of time. Many shows on television today are extremely violent and are often
shown this from a gang\'s perspective. A normal adult can see that this is showing how
foully that gangs are living. However, to a child this portrays a violent gang existance as
acceptable. \'The Ends Justifies the Means\' mentality is also taught through many shows
where the \"goody guy\" captures the \"bad guy\" through violence and is then being
commended. A young child sees this a perfectly acceptable because he knows that the
\"bad guy\" was wrong but has no idea of what acceptable apprehension techniques are.

Gore in television also takes a big part in influencing young minds. Children see
gory scenes and are fascinated by these things that they have not seen before. Older
viewers see gore and are not concerned with the blood but rather with the pain the victim
must feel. A younger mind doesn\'t make this connection. Thus a gore fascination is
formed, and has been seen in several of my peers. Unfortunately kids raised with this sort
of television end up growing up with a stronger propensity to becoming a violent gang
member or \'violent- acceptant\' person.

\"Gangs bring the delinquent norms of society into intimate contact with the
individual.\"1, (Marshall B Clinard, 1963). So, as you can see if TV leads a child to
believe that violence is the norm this will manifest itself in the actions of the child quite,
often in a gang situation. This is especially the case when parents don\'t spend a lot of
time with their kids at the TV explaining what is right and what is wrong. Quite often
newer books and some types of music will enforce this type of thought and ideas.

Once this mentality is installed in youngsters they become increasingly prone to
being easily pushed into a gang situation by any problem at home or elsewhere. For
instance, in poor families with many children or upper-middle class families where
parents are always working, the children will often feel deprived of love. Parents can
often feel that putting food on the table is enough love. Children of these families may
often go to the gang firstly out of boredom and to belong somewhere. As time goes on, a
form of love or kinship develops between the gang members and the child. It is then that
the bond between the kid and the gang is completed because the gang has effectively
taken the place of the family.

The new anti social structure of cities also effects the ease in which a boy/girl can
join a gang. \" The formation of gangs in cities, and most recently in suburbs, is facilitated
by the same lack of community among parents. The parents do not know what their
children are doing for two reasons: First, much of the parents\' lives is outside the local
community, while the children\'s lives are lived almost totally within it. Second, in a fully
developed community, the network of relations gives every parent, in a sense, a
community of sentries who can keep him informed of his child\'s activities. In modern
living-places (city or suburban), where such a network is attenuated, he no longer has
such sentries.\"2, (Merton Nisbet, 1971).

In male gangs problems occur as each is the members tries to be the most manly.
This often leads to all members participating in \"one-up-manship\". Quite often this will
then lead to each member trying to commit a bigger and more violent crime or simply
more crimes than the others. With all members participating in this sort of activity it
makes for a never ending unorganized violence spree (A sort of Clockwork Orange
mentality). In gangs with more intellegent members these feelings end up making each
member want to be the star when the groups commit a crime. This makes the gang much
more organized and improves the morale of members which in turn makes them more
dangerous and very hard for the police to deal with and catch (There is nothing harder to
find and deal with than organized teens that are dedicated to the group). This sort of gang
is usually common of middle or upper class people although it can happen in gangs in the
projects and other low rent districts too.

This \"one-up-manship\" is often the reason between rival gangs fighting. All gangs
feel powerful and they want to be feared. To do this they try to establish themselves as
the only gang in a certain neighborhood. After a few gang fights hatred forms and gang
murders and drive-by\'s begin to take place. When two gangs are at war it makes life very
dangerous for citizens in the area. Less that 40% of drive-by\'s kill their intended victim
yet over 60% do kill someone. This gang application is one of the many reasons that
sexual sterotypes and pressure to conform to the same must be stopped.

Lastly one of the great factors in joining a gang is for protection. Although from
an objective point of view, we can see joining a gang brings more danger than it saves
you from, this is not always the way it is seen by kids. In slums such as the Bronx or the
very worst case, Compton, children will no doubt be beaten and robbed if they do not
join a gang. Of course they can probably get the same treatment from rivals when in a
gang. The gang also provides some money for these children who quite often need to
feed their families. The reason kids think that the gang will keep them safe is from
propoganda from the gangs. Gang members will say that no one will get hurt and make a
public show of revenge if a member is hurt or killed.

People in low rent areas are most often being repressed due to poverty and most
importantly, race. This often results in an attitude that motivates the person to base
his/her life on doing what the system that oppresses them doesn\'t want. Although this
accomplishes little it is a big factor in gang enrollment.

So, as you have seen gangs are a product of the environment we have created for
ourselves. Some of these factors include: oppression, the media, greed, violence and
other gangs. There seems to be no way to end the problem of gangs without totally
restructuring the modern economy and value system. Since the chance of this happening
is minimal, we must learn to cope with gangs and try to keep their following to a
minimum. Unfortunately there is no real organized force to help fight gangs. Of course
the police are supposed to do this but this situation quite often deals with racial issues
also and the police forces regularly display their increasing inability to deal fairly with
these issues. What we need are more people to form organizations like the \"Guardian
Angels\" a gang-like group that makes life very tough for street gangs that are breaking
laws.


Margot Webb, Coping with Street Gangs.
William Foote Whyte, Street Corner Society.
Peter Carroll, South-Central.

R.B.