#2 What Causes Teenagers To Join A Gang?

Teenagers are very impressionable and try to fit in wherever they can. A gang gives that teenager a chance to be with people like him or her. Most teens who join a gang join because they feel like they are failing in school, have no other activity to participate in, or want to be a part of something. While in the gang, these teens resort to the violence, the drug use, and many of the other negative aspects the group participates in.

Not only are boys joining gangs, but girls are too. About 30% of girls who join gangs have been in special education at school, causing them to have similar struggles that boys do. Because of their mutual struggle, it would seem that these girls would much rather be in the streets or in jail than in school. In school they may alway see themselves as failures, but in their gang, they are a part of something seemingly important.

It is not always the drugs, the violence, and the crime that lure teens into gangs, it could be their personal belief that all they have been able to do is fail.


http://www.helpinggangyouth.com/faqs.html (Most Frequently Asked Questions About Gangs)

#1 Intro

My name is Sam Butman and for my semester taking Sociology, I chose to study gangs. I want to look into the affects they have on the community around them, a few of the reasons why a person would join a gang, and the violence involved. After this semester project is over, I want to be able to say that I truly learned something from my topic and the topics my classmates chose as well.