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

Violent Delinquent Gangs

Gang activity is getting more and more violent each day. The older gang members have been known to start recruiting younger members to join their gangs. What is the reason? According to Jacqueline Caster’s article “A Novel Approach to Stem Gang Recruitment of Minors” she states that, “For adult gang members, there is an incentive to use juveniles to carry out crimes because they are malleable, easy to recruit, and can be paid less. There is also the belief that, as a juvenile, the punishment if caught will always be significantly less than that of an adult”. We need to protect our youth from gangs because once they are in the gang they are in it for life, end up getting killed, or are in prison. This is a lose-lose situation for our youth who live in low-income, gang infested areas. They have two choices to join a gang commit crime and possibly end up dead or in jail, or not join a gang and get beat up and bullied by them. According to Gang Statistics it states that, “9 out of 10 boys in detention have some kind of gang affiliation”. This means that 90 percent of juvenlies behind bars are in a gang. The statistics are alarming and even though some of the juvenile gang members are already in jail we can do something to help them out instead of thinking out of sight out of mind.

There are many factors that lead to gang involvement but the main factors according to gang statistics are, “Learning disabilities, emotional disorders: 60% - 78% of Incarcerated gang members - male and female - have emotional and learning disabilities, no involvement in positive activities outside of school, and low income”. We need to make sure that when these youth are in grade school they are getting the attention needed, especially the kids who have learning, and emotional disabilities. Unfortunately in these low income communities the people are more interested in catching criminals and gang members and putting them behind bars. It would be money well spent if it went towards educating these gang members and their families so that we nip this problem in the bud at the youngest age possible. The gangs are starting to recruit kids as young as ten years old maybe even younger. By the age of ten a child is in fourth or fifth grade which means the education systems has very little time to get to them before they get sucked into the gang life.

In order to make sure that thee youths who are at high risk of joining gangs does not fall into this lifestyle we need to make sure we educate them about how risky that life can be. In Jakada Imani’s article “It’s time to take a new approach to violence” he talks about the fact that seeing shootings on a daily basis is a very traumatic experience yet there isn’t anyone there to make sure they are ok and offer a counselor in case they are emotionally messed up. The new approach that Imani states in his article are good ideas that can help these kids recover from all of the violence they see. It is one step closer to helping youth stray away not only from gangs but also the “cycle of violence”.

Another approach, that I thought of, can be used with the youths of high risk gang activity is focusing on the fact that all these children know is the bad neighborhood that they live in. They think that this is where they are going to spend the rest of their lives in this town, so joining a gang does not seem so bad. Some of these kids have never left the city that they have grown up in and seen the beach or let alone travelled anywhere else. Schools and even afterschool programs should set up monthly field trips to a beach, an art museum, the nearest college, a science museum, a history museum etc. Depending on what cities the programs are in will possibly change what kind of field trip they can go on. For example living right here in Sacramento the capital of California schools can take a field trip to the state capital or even the various courts that are stationed downtown. Watching a criminal court case and getting a tour of the courtrooms can be a good incentive for these kids to not want to end up in the position that the people are in facing jail time. Basically all the ideas to help youths to not join gangs and become a statistic is to inform them, guide them, and show them that there are other things in life to pursue other than joining a gang.

Works Cited

http://www.helpinggangyouth.com/statistics.html

Caster, Jacqueline “A Novel Approach to Stem Gang Recruitment of Minors” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacqueline-caster/a-novel-approach-to-stem_b_682046.html

Imani, Jakada “It’s Time for a New Approach to Violence” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jakada-imani/its-time-for-a-new-approach_b_915527.html

Growing up on the "other side" of town

Depending on where kids grow up plays a big factor in the kind of teenager and adult they become. Most children of affluent neighborhoods have the money to go to good schools, have more opportunities, and their parents can spend more time with them. Children of poor neighborhoods do not have that luxury because they go to the public schools close to their homes and their parent/’s are working all the time to provide for the family so they don’t get to spend quality time with them. In reality these children are raising themselves with the help of the streets as well. We need to focus more on those children who grow up in poverty because we seem to forget about them and let the system take care of them.

A child who grows up in a poverty stricken neighborhood sees a lot of bad things happen than children who grow up in more affluent neighborhoods very rarely see. For example: robberies, shootings, murders, drug abuse/dealing, domestic violence, and arrests. I am not inferring that well off kids do not see this but impoverished kids see it almost on a daily basis. Seeing acts of violence like this have a really big impact on a child’s life. Maybe not at first but the more they see it and grow up with it they begin think it is normal and become desensitized to the violence that will most likely become the same violence in that teenagers life. According to Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice and Law by Larry J. Siegel and Brandon C. Welsh researched adolescent poverty and state that, “Poverty hits kids 18 and under the hardest: More than 15 million adolescents and children now live in poverty…these children are deprived of the life opportunities available to kids growing up in affluent households” (6). Looking at those numbers of children in poverty is sad and alarming. Since children only make up “24 percent of the total population but make up 35 percent of people in poverty” (6) it really puts in perspective how underprivileged and under cared for many children are. The government or someone needs to see these statistics and say enough is enough and help these kids. It may not seem like that big of a problem but it really is. A child should not have to experience such extreme poverty, and it affects them as a person in the future. These children loving in poverty most of the time end up being the homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk, or become a criminal. Most of the time they become the really violent criminal.

Teens are already risk-takers as it is, but thrown in “little or no adult supervision and increasing independence these teens are more likely to be involved in risk-taking behaviors” says Susan Wile Schwarz “Adolescent Violence and Unintentional Injury”. Another factor that fuels teenage violence is the environment that they live in. For affluent teens they receive above and beyond the basic needs of growing up which is a stable family life, money, parental supervision, and opportunities. A teen of poverty sees that a well off teen gets what the want, and they become upset and ask themselves why don’t I have a better education, more money to buy things with, or parents who have enough time to spend with me? The teenager feels it is unfair and takes matter into their own hands so that they can acquire these monetary things. They begin to deal drugs and join gangs. They deal drugs to attain money and they join gangs for safety and a mock family. To these troubled teens a gang offers false hope and acts as a parent who “guides” them and “teaches” them about life. The deeper these teens get involved in dealing and gangs the more lost and violent they become. For these teenagers who grow up in poverty life seems hopeless and becoming a part of a gang and being violent is the only way, but there are other ways and programs to help them.

According to Susan Schwarz the most helpful prevention programs are after school extracurricular programs. Programs such as athletic teams, boys and girls of America, clubs, basically any kind of activity to keep teenagers busy after school so they don’t get involved in violence and crime. With an athletic team the teen can get out all their aggression and energy there. Other programs can help them with their homework and someone to look up to. Mentors are also a good way for them to stay out of trouble and have a young adult guide, help, listen and offer advice. A mentor is someone that the teenager can count on and is consistently there for them. A wise professor of mine Professor Gary Lowe said, “Children don’t necessarily need love, but consistency”. A mentor offers that stability and consistency for them and makes the teen feel like they are not in this alone but have someone to lean on and not just people always telling them what to do and how they are bad.

Although not all children who live in poverty become violent their chances of becoming violent later on in their life are higher than that of a child who grows up in a more affluent family. To make sure that the children growing up in poverty are not forgotten about we need to make sure that we keep providing after school programs, money towards educating parents and kids on decision making, and drugs. And lastly these teens need an adult/mentor to look up to and guide them through school listen to them and show them that they can rise up through their unfortunate situation.

Works Cited

http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_890.pdf

Siegel, Larry J., Welsh, Brandon C., Juvenile Delinquency, Theory, Practice and Law. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 2012, Belmont, CA.

Gary Lowe, Professor of Criminal Justice, California State University of Sacramento

The Affects, Importance, and Future of Violent Teens

A person is a juvenile until the age of 20. According to Dr. Elizabeth Sowell in the article “Adolescent Brain Development and Legal Culpability” it states that the brain is not fully developed to have the organized thoughts of an adult until or after the age of 20. This means that during teen adolescent years they are easily influenced in what they see and hear. The television shows and music that certain adolescents listen to can be somewhat violent without recognizing it. It is not only the music and TV but also how children are being raised. Kids mimic what they see their parents or guardians doing. A child watching their parents fight hit and scream at each other on a daily basis creates a violent environment for that child and increases the chances for them to be violent.

The adolescents of today will run the world tomorrow. It is important that we keep an eye on their behavior because if they are violent as youths than they will most likely become more violent as adults. According to Juvenile Delinquency Theory Practice and Law children that lack a stable supportive family and adequate supervision during the ages of 5 to 18 this is when they will “enter their prime crime years”(Siegel, Welsh, pg. 54). Although some children grow up with violent unstable families they do not always turn out to be delinquents it is in our best interest that we make sure these children are looked after. I have mentored troubled high school teenagers and I have noticed that the well behaved good students are the ones who get more attention and more opportunities than those who misbehave and get bad grades. Isn’t that the opposite of what we should be doing with troubled youth? They should be the top of our priority because obviously they need more help with schoolwork and someone giving them the attention they deserve and what they are not receiving at home. Most of these kids are good kids they just are stuck in bad situations and all they know is crime and violence.

On a daily basis I come in contact with many children, whether on the street or where I work. That being said almost everyone comes in contact with children, so juvenile delinquency and their violence has an affect on almost everyone. To house a child in jail t is very expensive, even more expensive than housing an adult because of all the regulations. According to Siegel, Welsh “…incarcerating a juvenile in some jurisdictions costs an excess of $50,000 per year” (pg. 89). The money to house juveniles is citizens’ hard earned tax dollars. Another way in which juvenile violence affects people is when a child is a victim of their violence. One example that that hurts and will forever hurt me is my cousin Gian who was 22 at the time was shot and killed by a 16 year old boy. Yes this was a gang related shooting, but whether it was on purpose or accident this not only affected our immediate family but also friends of my cousin and friends of our family. It was a sad day not only because of the loss of a beloved son, grandson, brother, cousin, nephew and friend but the way we lost him hurt us even more. Crimes like that make you feel unsafe and think that all of this could have been prevented if we would have paid more attention to these kids and made sure their needs were taken care of so they would not have to find other violent ways to fulfill their needs.

The future of violent delinquents is that they are the future and if we don’t start giving them the attention, prevention programs, and care that they need to become less violent then I can only see this matter getting worse. Children are so precious and easily influenced them that giving them half the time and attention we spend on other things I could see the issue of violence decreasing.

Works Cited

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-heroux/juvenile-delinquency-if-w_3_b_954632.html

Siegel, Larry J., Welsh, Brandon C., Juvenile Delinquency, Theory, Practice and Law. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 2012, Belmont, CA.