How Do Gangs Affect Adolescent Behavior?

Since the early 1920s, researchers have closely studied the relations amongst 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 faint members of street gangs admit to a far greater rate of serious crime, and to far more puckish 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 rage is certainly a cause for concern Gang members are responsible for much of the serious military unit in the United States . . . Teens that are gang members are much more likely than other teens to believe serious and violence crimes. For example, a survey in Denver found that while only 14% of teens were gang members, they were responsible 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 lean 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, 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(prenominal) be taken into consideration . . .