The Families affected by Teenage Violence

L-R: My Grandmother, My Cousin Gian

Gian was my cousin who I grew up with and knew for almost 19 years. He was always joking around, laughing, and was just an overall great person. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles, which is known for housing all types of notorious gangs. When Gian began high school I started to notice a change in him and at the age of seventeen he was arrested for tagging, which is writing on walls to promote your gang. He did not get the chance to graduate high school because he went to jail for a little while. When he was released from jail in 2006, my parents decided that it would be best for Gian to move to Temecula and live with us, so he could get out of the gang and drug lifestyle. Our relationship grew very strong and I saw the old Gian again smiling, getting his GED and was drug free. We had so many good memories that year he lived with us, and he was very excited and supportive to the fact that I was leaving for college soon. He was always asking me questions about Sacramento State and he even said he wished he could come with me. After living with us for eight months my parents decided that it was time to send him back to live with his parents because he had grown and learned a lot being with us that we hoped it would carry over when he moved back. In the summer of 2008 a year after he moved back home my family and I were on our way to church and my dad told us that the night before around 7 p.m. Gian was shot in the back of the head two times by a rival gang member for tagging in their territory. I couldn’t believe it, I was literally in shock. I had just seen him like a month before, our entire family was crushed. We had lost a member of our family at the young age of 21. The month of July was the hardest month we all went through, especially with 4^th of July around the corner which we would always spend together. The gang member shot my cousin like he was some kind of animal, but what he didn’t realize was that Gian was a son, a grandson, a brother, a cousin, and a friend to many. Teenage violence and more importantly gang violence does not just affect the teens involved in it but also the family and friends of the person who has been killed.

My own personal experience with teenage violence was the death of my cousin, but all teenage violence ends in death. It could be anything from bullying, fighting, assault, violent theft, and suicide. According to the CDC and their research on teenage violence they have found that, “Homicide is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 10–24 years in the United States. Violence is also a major cause of nonfatal injuries among youth”. Even though the rates have decreased, there are still too many kids being killed. The families of all the youth that have been killed are affected so severely and are torn apart, according to the Chicago Tribune a young boy was shot in the head three times and died a year ago. His mother still feels the pain a year later and says, “‘I don't think people understand the impact it has on families when their child is killed,’ Porter said.”I don't think people even comprehend it." The eldest brother “who drove to the murder scene and held his younger brother before the ambulance arrived, now rarely emerges from the basement…”. According to an Oak Lawn clinical psychologist, Robert Zitter states, “…there is no universal theory for how people and families deal with the death of a loved one, but violence brings "an added dimension" to their pain.

‘It has that extra anger issue and also vulnerability,’ he said. ‘Most of us go through life … not thinking about (crime). But once you're a victim, now all of a sudden, that illusion of safety kind of gets destroyed’". Reading this article really brought back harsh memories of the rough year my family went through with my cousin’s death. My uncle, Gian’s dad, resorted to drinking alcohol and not coming home sometimes. It was hard to watch all this happen, and everyone coping with it. Now that it has been four years our family has become closer and stronger. This violence and homicide can all be prevented once schools, families, and the community begin to work together.

To save families and prevent kids from becoming a statistic parents, teachers, and guidance counselors can keep an eye on teenagers and the other kids they hang out with. According to Medline Plus the surgeon general states that, “The most critical risk factor for violence for your children is the behavior of their friends and classmates. You should know who your kids hang out with and encourage healthy behavior and relationships”. This means that parents need to be very involved in their child’s life and know who their kids are hanging out with. When kids are in their teen years peers are big influences in their life. When a teenager begins to hang out with troubled youth who are violent, criminal, or apart of a gang then that teen will begin to be violent and delinquent even if they were not before, so that they can fit in with their group of friends. Parents need to make sure that their kids are busy with sports, extra-curricular activities, and schoolwork so as to not get involved with kids who are doing nothing but getting into trouble. The best way to make sure kids stay violent free is to have the parents, teachers, and guidance counselors all work together to help the violent teens so that they do not become a statistic of the second leading cause of death for youth. No one should have to go through what my family and I went through by losing a member of your family, it can really tear a family apart.

Work Cited
“Teen Violence”. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/teenviolence.html

“Injury Center: Violence Prevention”. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/youthviolence/stats_at-a_glance/index.html

“A year after teen’s slaying, family still working through grief”. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-04-20/news/ct-met-murder-ripple-effects-20100420_1_murder-victim-family-members-younger-brother