Why Youth Join Gangs     

For gang members, the major reasons for joining a gang are poverty, immigration, racism, discrimination, language barriers, family problems, community problems, male or female interest, money, drugs, sex, alcohol, materialism, independence, reputation, respect, retaliation, revenge entertainment.

Arguably the greatest factor of joining a gang is poverty. One loses hope and tries to attain comfort when poor. So, one looks for money and support by joining a gang. When involved in a gang, there are many opportunities to receive money. By having that money, you feel like getting more and more of it, and thus get more involved in the gang. The member then uses the money for drugs, alcohol and cars. They feel empowered and feel like they can do anything. All these factors intertwine with each other. The money, drugs, sex, alcohol, and cars can lead to various crimes and the increase of death rates.

[1.] Poverty is a leading cause [2.] A lack of social support

Another key factor to why the youth is attracted to gangs is problems that the individual is undergoing. Immigration, racism, language barriers, family issues and community problems are among the problems these individuals face. When it comes to immigration the individual feels that the gangs know what he or she is going through because most of the gang members can cope with that. Racism is something taken very seriously in gangs. The individual may join because they feel that they were discriminated by a particular race. When they join, they feel the urge to set out for that particular race looking for revenge. Family issues and community problems are amongst the highest reasons why youth joins gangs. One’s parents may be going through a divorce or that individual may be highly abused at their home. As a result, young teens turn to gangs for support and long for the need of a family who will be there for them. Community problems also evolve around rivaled gangs. Drugs and law enforcement trigger the individual to join a gang. An individual may dislike a certain gang member or group gang and will join a gang to exact revenge on them. The community where that individual is living may be surrounded by drug hustling and that may affect the individual. The drugs that are hustled in the community may be handled by gangs and may be a factor for youth joining gangs. Some individuals dislike that the law enforcement interfere their neighborhood. Moreover, they join gangs to kill police officers and their enemies.

Many times youth join gangs because they have nothing better to do. They have free time to spare and so they join a gang to kill some time. They also join for the entertainment of it. The guns, parties, drugs and the alcohol of gang life attract the youth into making them want to join gangs.