Gang Violence and The Family

There are two types of families to consider with gang violence. The family the gang member has before joining the gang, and the family the gang creates once you become a member of the gang. Most gang members however, only consider the second type of family their actual family. The reason behind this method is the fact that most gang members consider the family they were born into, not to be a family at all. Whether they never see them or whether they don’t associate with them, the answer is not there, they just don’t consider their immediate family to be their family at all.
In an article written in 1997, titled Why Girls Join Gangs, girls join gangs to help deal with the frustration, rage, and anger they obtain from living with dysfunctional families. Joining gangs help the girls feel wanted, needed, and important. When they join a gang, they join a new family, a family that will stick up for them and fight for them no matter what the situation is.
Some children have a situation where both parents work full time and they are lonely. They may or may not have siblings, and they want people to talk to and hang out with. These children want some where to go and they resent their parents for working so much and not having enough time for them. In an article written in 2002, titled “Adult Absence Can Lead Teens to Join Gangs”, a girl named Kim claimed to join a gang because “she just didn’t like her mom”. Her mom had abandoned her and left her with an alcoholic father. Thinking that she had nothing else to offer, she decided to join something that could really help and benefit her. Instead of fighting people, she could join a gang and they could help her fight her enemies. There was no one to stop her or control her and at the age of 13, she joined a gang for life.
Once someone joins a gang, it is almost impossible if not completely impossible to leave. Even if the gang members real birth family attempts to get the child out of the gang it is extremely hard. The child has to change their name, move from the town, and fear everyday that the gang they were in will come and find the ex-gang member.
Parents have a lot of influence over their children. Their children look up to them, if parents want their children to be safe, they should try as hard as they possibly can to be there for them. They need to teach them that fighting is not the answer and that families, real families help each other by supporting one another. Families need to help in ways that don’t harm others. Children need to know that there are others places they can go if they don’t have stable homes, they do not need to get involved with gangs.
In the survey my group took for this project, one of the questions was do you know how use a gun? The answer out of 100 people was that 35% of them knew how to use a gun. Are the parents teaching children how to use a gun? If the parents are, why are they teaching their children ways to protect themselves using violence? Guns are extremely dangerous, and parents need to tell their children that using a gun is a dangerous thing and guns are not toys. Too many children find guns and attempt to play with them and then tragedy happens.
Overall, prevention of joining a gang and using a gun can happen if parents are there for their children. Children need love and support from their parents and families. They need real families, not families that are offered to them by gangs.