How Do Gangs Affect Adolescent Behavior?

Since the early 1920s, researchers have closely studied the relations between the street gangs and violent crime froma variety of perspectives: criminological, sociological and psychological (Thomas, 2008). Whatever the underlying causes for gang membership, the resuls seems clear; members of street gangs admit to a far greater rate of serious crime, and to far more severe acts of of the same age, race, and socioeconomic background (Penly Hall, Thornberry & Lizotte, 2006) than non-gang members of the same age, race, and socioeconomic background (Battin-Pearson, Thornberry, Hawkins & Krohn, 1998).According to the Web site safetyouth. org (n. d. ) gang violence is certainly a cause for concern: Gang members are responsible for much of the serious violence in the United States . . . Teens that are gang members are much more likely than other teens to commit serious and violence crimes. For example, a survey in Denver found that while only 14% of teens were gang members, they were respon sible for committing 89% of the serious violent crimes. (n. p. ) Many researchers have come to the conclusion that gangs necessarily cause violence and deviant behavior.As a matter of policy then, it seems clear that the solution of a number of social ills is to break up, disrupt, or prevent the formations of gangs (Battin-Pearson, et al. , 1998). Yet, is this the solution? As George Thomas (2008) states, â€Å"The problem is complex, so the solutions cannot be complex† (p. 88). So what is the solution? According to the U. S. Department of Education (n. d. ), all factors of age, race, and socioeconomic background must be taken into consideration . . .