Juvenile Participation in Gangs

Juvenile Participation in Gangs
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Institutional Affiliation

Abstract
Juvenile participation in gangs is a worrying issue. Nations spend a lot to deter such vices, but these efforts are not as effective as they ought to be. It is imperative that the concerned stakeholders explore the reasons that attract the young people to join gangs, and offer solutions that counter the very reasons. The criminal justice system has a vital role in deterring people from engaging in vices. It should focus on the issue more and help in offering solutions. The society at large also has a role to play. It should create the much-needed awareness and come up with other solutions to counter the trend. Previous research on the issue should be considered to deal with it. The Bible also offers lessons that can help to find out the motives that the young people harbor, which make them decide to join the gangs. The information from previous research and the Bible can also help in the crafting of the solutions.
Keywords: Juvenile, gang, justice, bible, solution, vices
Juvenile Participation in Gangs
Introduction
The youths are a critical part of the society because the future of particular nations depends on them. If they stay focused, they will pass invaluable knowledge to the future generations. However, juveniles are more susceptible to engaging in vices than older people are (Siegel, & Worrall, 2018). The bible says that the imagination of the youth’s heart is evil (Genesis 8:2, The New Jerusalem Bible).

They are more inclined to do evil than good and engaging in such evils compromises their ability to become invaluable citizens. Juvenile participation in gangs is one of the major issues that need proper attention because it affects the society at present, and it compromises the future of the young people. Youths who are members of gangs have a bleaker future than nonmembers do because the gangs ruin their lives (Hunt, & Arp, 2015). This research paper seeks to explore the reasons why youths join gangs, consequences of their participation, and to show how criminal justice system can help in dealing with the vice efficaciously, borrowing from a biblical input and previous research on the subject.
Reasons Why Youths Join Gangs
The reasons why a young person may decide to join a gang consist of both pushes and pulls (Case, 2017). The pulls are the attractive aspects of gangs that make the youths desire to join them. For example, gang membership enhances the status of the young people. A young high school boy who is a member of a gang is more famous than the boy that performs well in class. He attracts many girls because it is more interesting to hang out with him than it is with other ‘uncool’ boys. Other boys would love to get such status and as such force their way to gang membership. Therefore, pull factors make a young person decide to join the gang willingly, thinking that it is a rational choice because of the personal gain promised. The push factors, on the other hand, are those that make a young person join the gang, although unwillingly. They feel that they have no choice but to do so. Mostly, the push factors are the need for protection and economic forces. Some youths join gangs for safety, especially in slum areas.
Economic Forces
Solomon once asked God to give him what he requires to survive because he felt that if God gave him too much, he could have disowned Him, and if God gave him too little, he could steal thus dishonoring God (Proverbs 30:8-9, The New Jerusalem Bible). He knew that lack could push someone to engage in vices to satisfy his or her needs. Poverty pushes the young people to join the gangs, albeit unwillingly, to get their basic needs. The number of gangs in poor areas is higher than that in the areas where people are well off. Even in the cities, groups are not evenly distributed. There are more gangs in the more deprived areas of the cities (Jütersonke, Muggah, & Rodgers, 2009). Therefore, poverty is one of the significant forces that make a young person decide to join a gang. There are economic benefits that one stands to gain from joining a gang. For example, one is paid to sell drugs for the gang if it deals with such an activity. If such a person’s family were wealthier, the chances are that he or she would not join a gang because the economic forces would not be at play. A young person who joins a gang that engages in stealing would not have a reason to join one if his or her family had the money that he or she requires.
Consequences of Youth Participation in Gangs
Juvenile participation in gangs results in adverse effects on many people. The family of such a person will suffer loss if the young person dies while undertaking in the gang’s activities. The community also suffers because when many young people join gangs, they rarely participate in developing their communities. Perhaps the primary effect of joining gangs is the loss of personal identity, which is felt at a personal level.
Loss of Personal Identity
After joining a gang, one loses his or her identity and has to conform to what the gang wants. Some of the activities that one may be required to do by the gang may be against his or her will, but he or she has no choice but to obey. King David warns against joining a gang because one his or her individuality after doing so, and the effects of groupthink start to kick in (Psalms 1:1, The New Jerusalem Bible).
The adverse effects of joining a gang start with the initiation. Depending on the gang, one may be hurt, to gauge their readiness. The launch of boys in the gangs is different from that of the girls (Cuevas, & Rennison, 2013). For example, a girl may be sexually assaulted to be accepted into the gang (Dorais, & Corriveau, 2009). An example of the short-term effects of such initiation is that the girl may get sexually transmitted diseases that will negatively affect her. An example of a long-term effect of undergoing such an ordeal is that girls may end up becoming prostitutes in future. By so doing, a girl loses her individuality. A boy, on the other hand, may be required to take drugs or fight to show his willingness and readiness to join the gang (Cuevas, & Rennison, 2013). This type of initiation poses both short-term and long-term effects. Apart from being required to use drugs during initiation, use of drugs is a popular activity for gangs (Decker, & Pyrooz, 2015). By taking drugs, the boy may become addicted. An addict depends on drugs. This means that his personality is erased and he now has to rely on drugs. As said, some areas, particularly poor areas, have many gangs. These gangs compete for control, and this explains why gangs engage in fights from time to time. However, these behaviors are mostly found among boys’ gangs. A boy that joins a violent gang may be required to kill members of the other competing gangs. Even if he may be genuinely against killing, he will have to kill to maintain his status in the gang. Therefore, he will be doing things that the band asks him to do and not what he wants to do. He has to act according to the requirements of the gang or risk being murdered by the members.
Some members are lucky and can earn a lot of money within a short time after joining a gang if it deals with activities that make a lot of money. For example, if the gang deals in drug trafficking, someone might make a fortune in no time. However, even if one manages to survive and thrive in a gang, he or she will never enjoy the money gained from the gang’s activities. This is because the police will always be after him. He will never enjoy life with his family because he may be forced to be in hiding all the time. As such, there will be no fulfillment in his life. This is in line with what King Solomon observed when he said that, “Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value” (Proverbs 10:2, The New Jerusalem Bible). Having a little amount of money and enjoying spending it is better than having a lot of money but lack the freedom to spend it.
Solutions
Juvenile participation in gangs is a problem for everyone in the society. For this reason, it is essential to come with measures that can be implemented collectively to help deal with this problem. One of the things that the society may do to deter the young people from joining the gangs is to create awareness. The people ought to frame the awareness campaigns in a way that targets the very reasons that make the young people desire to join the gangs and tell them the consequences of such actions (Bullock, & Tilley, 2008). If the youths understand that the reasons that may push or pull them to joining a gang will not last forever, they may weigh the consequences of entering the gang and decide against the same. However, creating awareness alone may not offer the much-needed solution. The criminal justice system should change its approach to such cases currently and in future.
Current and Future Use of Juvenile Justice as a Solution
The justice system of any country focuses on deterring criminal behaviors. The juvenile offenders have had it easy when it comes to punitive measures preferred by the courts against them. For example, when it comes to trying the juveniles in the courts, the intention is to restore them back to the society for coexistence with others (Cox, 2011). It gives the young person a chance to change his or her bad behaviors. This is why it is referred to as restorative justice. However, it is not as effective as it ought to be because it focuses more on the offender than it does the community. Thus, the community continues to suffer because other juveniles become criminals, as they have nothing to fear. King Solomon warned that if one spares the rod, they inevitably spoil the child (Proverbs 13:24, The New Jerusalem Bible). By being lenient, the courts are destroying the youth. The juvenile justice system should focus on the community as well by coming up with measures that will deter other potential offenders. One way of achieving this is introducing stricter sanctions for the juvenile offenders, particularly those who join gangs to terrorize people. All juvenile cases that involve a gang should be transferred to the adult criminal system. Currently, judges need to look at an offender’s history to decide whether to transfer cases to the adult criminal system. If an offender has been on probation and it failed to work, a judge is likely to transfer his or her case to an adult court through the waiver process. Cases involving offenders brought before the court because of participation in gangs should be directly tried in adult criminal courts. This will help to deter other juveniles from joining gangs, as they will fear to go through the same since the intention in the adult criminal system is to offer justice and not to restore the offenders. Therefore, the punitive measures in such courts are stricter, and as such, other potential juvenile offenders will be deterred from joining gangs. For example, longer sentences for such people would be useful because young people fear being denied freedom.
Conclusion
The problem of juvenile participation in gangs deserves proper attention because its consequences are felt both at present and in the future. Different stakeholders need to take part to help in dealing with this issue and to do this they have to know the reasons why the juveniles choose to join gangs to offer practical solutions. The criminal justice system also should offer a solution to deal with the issue permanently. It can achieve this by introducing stricter sanctions against juveniles caught participating in the gangs.
References
Bullock, K., & Tilley, N. (2008). Understanding and tackling gang violence. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 10(1), 36-47.
A case, S. (2017). Criminology. Oxford University Press.
Cox, S. M. (2011). Juvenile justice: A guide to theory, policy, and practice. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
Cuevas, C. A., & Rennison, C. M. (2013). The Wiley-Blackwell handbook on the psychology ofviolence.
Decker, S. H., & Pyrooz, D. (2015). The handbook of gangs.
Dorais, M., & Corriveau, P. (2009). Gangs and girls: Understanding juvenile prostitution. McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP.
Hunt, R., & Arp, R. (2015). It’s always sunny, and philosophy: The gang gets analyzed. Chicago, IL: Open Court Publishing, a division of Carus Publishing Company, dba Cricket Media.
Jütersonke, O., Muggah, R., & Rodgers, D. (2009). Gangs, urban violence, and security interventions in Central America. Security Dialogue, 40(4-5), 373-397.
Siegel, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2018). Introduction to criminal justice.
The New Jerusalem Bible. Edited by Susan Jones, Doubleday, 1985.