Posted: August 1st, 2023

Youth in Gangs

Youth in Gangs
Name
Institution

Considering victim characteristics

It is important to consider victim characteristics when constructing violent crime response policies and laws. Different victims have different needs, and this is attributable to their individual characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, age, race, social-economic status, and individual-level factors (Shoham, Knepper, Kett, 2010). Consequently, their needs can range from needing to regain a sense of personal control and safety, needing to reconnect with themselves and others, needing to tell their stories to needing to have their experiences recognized or validated. Therefore, considering the characteristics of victims will go a long way in ensuring that policies and laws are formulated to meet their unique needs.

How the youth are involved in gang violence

Youths are joining gangs by either engaging in a crime or going through an initiation process wherein they are beaten by fellow gang members so as to test their courage and ability to fight. They are joining gangs for a variety of reasons including to get a sense of identity, peer pressure, to make money and even to protect themselves and their families. Gang violence denotes to the unlawful and non-political acts of violence initiated by gangs against certain people/groups of people (Howell, 2011). All through history, such acts have been carried out by gangs at all organizational levels. Conventionally, the activities of gangs have been confined to large cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Now, gangs have infiltrated smaller towns and rural areas (Howell, 2011). Gang violence is also occurring in prisons and school campuses. Gang violence occurs when the gang wants to make a statement, attain a specific goal, exact revenge etc. Victims of gang violence include, but are not limited to civilians, police officers, other gangs, firefighters, military personnel, witnesses, and politicians.

There are special considerations for approaching and finding justice for this victim population. One such consideration pertains to intimidation. Victims have to face the whole community of the gang, as opposed to a single perpetrator, which can mean bigger or more profound intimidation and retaliation. This victim population is normally intimidated by members of a gang into not cooperating with the justice system at all; individuals who resist such tactics are very often subjected to gang intimidation during court proceedings. Another consideration is the lack of support. Generally, there is a lack of support for gang violence victims. This can be attributed to lack of sympathy by their families, friends and communities, normally due to false assumptions made toward their “contribution” toward the crime (Berns, 2015). Government support services are also limited. Another consideration is the victim’s psychological impact. Most of these victims experience psychological trauma. Therefore, it is vital to address the emotional devastation and disruption to their lives so as to adequately find justice for them.

The victims should play a role in criminal justice policy and laws. This is because they will provide important insights regarding their experiences, and this way, policy makers will be able to identify factors that contributed to the violence as well as the impacts to the victims. As a result, they will be able to formulate policies that seek to mitigate and address such issues. Involving the victims can also give them the chance to contribute ideas on policies and laws that should be formulated. They may provide unique ideas considering that they were on the receiving end of the violence, something other policy makers may not understand.

References

Berns, R. M. (2015). Child, family, school, community: Socialization and support. Cengage Learning.

Howell, J. C. (2011). Gangs in America’s communities. SAGE.

Shoham, S., Knepper, P., Kett, M. (2010). International Handbook of Victimology. New
York: Routledge.

Order | Check Discount

Tags: Masters Essays, PSY Papers, PSYC, Psychology Assignment, Psychology Dissertations