Marginalized Youths: America's Modern Problem

The growing problem of gangs in America and other countries seems to be unstoppable. However, how are youths viewed and treated by society? This problem has been difficult to solve because of the strict norms implemented by society, police officers, and schools. Youths are viewed as criminals and dangerous people for society. Because of these norms, they are threatened with severe punishments, such as being sent to probation or imprisoned. This generates rivalries in teenagers. They seek refuge in gangs and instead of controlling the problem, it generates more violence. According to Nancy Ritter et al, In the article “Changing Course: Keeping kids Out of Gangs,” she explains 'At the individual level… youths who join a gang develop an increased propensity for violence, and, in turn, their likelihood of violent victimization increases”. This means that once youths seek refuge in gangs the odds of violence increase, and youths become more involved in crimes. It is important that society, police, and schools have the necessary knowledge to solve the problem in a less strict way. Such as implementing programs and institutions that teach young people new techniques and strategies for impulse control. For example, it is important to teach them how to control their strengthen emotions, anger management, and find a resolution to their conflicts. In the same way, it is important for these youths to have the support of mentorship, and a family member, so youth have a sense of confidence and safety to make logical choices for their lives. Because many of the youths in America and in other countries come from poverty, inadequate guidance, emotional instability, manipulations, and lack of knowledge; they are more likely to be drawn to gang life.

Firstly, poverty plays an important role among young people. Youths are marginalized due to the way they live, and some adolescence has to face poverty for in many reasons; sometimes, these youths are forced to drop out of school because of the economic needs by their families. According to Maclure R, Sotelo M, in the article “Youth Gangs in Nicaragua: Gang Membership as Structured Individualization“ he explains “The youths look at their parents with the worry about money, and they go out into the street to look for work, and since they can’t find it there is nothing left but to think about the robbery”. This matters because it is a serious problem that affects these youths and society. While this may affect both boys and girls, boys specifically have no other alternative due to the circumstances in which they live, they are forced to steal or join gangs. Some of the causes identified are, criminalizing and punishing them for their actions at a young age, by the school officials and police officers. Youths have not listened, and this increases the problem instead of solving it. According to Victor M. Rios, in Punished, he mentions “We must eliminate the zero-tolerance policies that are rampant in school, policing and community centers”. This means that youths deserve to be heard by schools and society, not punished. They need the guidance of professional people willing to help advise them to make the right decisions, and not choose the wrong path. Because once these youths make a wrong decision, there is no turning back, and often, they end up behind bars or dead. These boys need educational programs that give them the necessary knowledge to solve their problems and conflicts. To look closely, they need the skills to manage their frustration, anger, or depression and turn all their negative emotions into positives. Such as more participation in different school activities, this would help them to control their range or frustration about poverty; stay in school and away from violence.

Inadequate guidance leads youths to become involved in complicit acts such as violence, crimes, and gangs. When youths do not have the advice or support of a family member who guides them it is easier for them to find support in the wrong places such as gangs. There is when they start making incorrect decisions. Youths feel disappointed and frustrated because nobody listens to them, and they do not feel the support of positive role models. Many of adolescents have faced difficult situations in which they lose a friend or a family member because of rivalries, and most of the time, the police do nothing to help them. They have no other option but to integrate in a gang for revenge. The cops do not get involved in those types of situations, and they just punished these youths for their actions but they are never around when the youths need them. Besides, they are punished by society and even by the family for their behavior. The fact of feeling punished makes them believe that they behave appropriately. This is the reason why they choose to join gangs to belong and be heard. According to Grekul J, LaBoucane-Benson P, in the article “Aboriginal Gangs and their (Dis) placement: Contextualizing Recruitment, Membership, and Status” they explain “Disadvantages and disillusioned, encouraged by gang-involved family and friends, Aboriginal youth turn to gangs for a sense of identity and purpose”. This matters because youths feel abandoned by both parents who are away from home most of the time working. They feel disadvantaged and disillusioned; this is the principal reason why they look for a purpose and their unique identities. Pursuing this further, it is important to pay close attention to the needs of these youths and educate them with programs that provide them strength emotionally they looking for. It is also necessary to have the supervision of family members or mentors who advise these youths and encourage them to finish their educational goals to have a better impact. According to The Role of Local Government in Community Safety, the magazine it explains “To have to impact current crime problems and avoid even greater problems in the future, a more balanced approach and perceptual shift by society are necessary”. This is important to have a more adequate balance less strict, which control youths, such as programs to motivate them so that they can fight for positive dreams and benefits for their futures. Additionally, police officers have to be more attentive to these youths and provide them with the support they need so that they do not seek revenge with their own hands.

Next, emotional instability affects youths in many aspects. They feel rejected by their families if the environment where they live is not healthy, also if they are marginalized or threatened with strict norms even without having committed any crime. In this situation, their emotional stability decreases, and they do not feel the support of the family nor from society. Due to these circumstances, youths decided not going to school or get involved in productive school activities. Sometimes, this occurs due to negative situations that are going through their lives, within their home, neighborhood or school such as conflicts with peers. To verify, youths seek gangs to protect themselves against harm. According to Henderson E, Leng RJ, in the article “Reducing Integrating Violence: Norms From the Interstate System” they restate “Youths, moved to fatalism by the violence in their communities, turn to gangs not to avoid conflict but to be better prepared when the inevitable conflict arises”. This matter because, it causes them to drop out school; as a result, some of these teens hurt themselves by committing suicide, while some others join gangs for protection and revenge. Instead of being heard, the reasons why they have chosen this path being understood, youths are punished and criminalized by the police and schools with strict norms. As Rios mentions, “The threat of going to prison was recurring strategy used by teachers, probation officers, parents, and police to discipline the boys, and the non-delinquents were constantly told that if they associated with the delinquents, they would likewise go to prison”. It is imperative to stop treating these boys as criminals, marginalizing them, and threatening them with severe norms. On the other hand, they need the support of someone stable to talk to, such as a mentor, parent, teacher, or counselor. In contrast, they need to know they are alone, and whomever they trust will not judge them for their feelings or actions. It is important to provide them the necessary confidence they need in order to help them. In addition, it is essential to implement less severe standards and listen to these youths because instead of strict norms, they need the support of mentors and programs that advise these youths and help them to construct their emotional stability.

Manipulation is very common, especially for young people. When teens are alone without the advice of their parents, it is easier for them to be manipulated by friends or gang members. Gangs offer them protection, respect, and a brotherhood that in the end, as it said in the video of Life Facing Bars, is just a lie. On the contrary, when they get in trouble, they are completely forgotten, only their relatives are there to support them. Another important factor in which adolescents are more easily manipulated is when the neighborhood where they live is infested with delinquency and form part of their everyday lives. According to Henderson E, Leng RJ, “For youths living in the inner city, the neighborhood streets, and even the school, are often dangerous places. In such environments, the appeal of the gang is simple: join and survive”. Youths join gangs for protection because the place where they live is dangerous, and they become members to survive. At a young age, marginalized by officers and society, youths tend to be affected by another important factor to join gangs; they need protection and respect to face life. According to Maureen Duffy, and Scott Gillig, in the book “Teen Gangs” they mentioned, “Assertion of gang membership can thus be interpreted as attempts by the young men to (valorize) their lives and empower themselves in the face of outside hostility, disrespect, and social marginalization”. This matters because the boys have been disrespected by the officers since a young age, and this leads them to criminalization because their lives are not valorized. Therefore, it is easier for them to be manipulated by friends and gang members to belong, and they stop believing in themselves. Youths need their individual identities and social relationships to not be so easily manipulated by others. They need to recognize all the symptoms and skills that someone is trying to manipulate them. They should know the signs of the manipulation to know how to detect it and how to prevent it. Likewise, youths need the supervision of their parents and mentors to build confidence and be well informed; in the same way, youths need to get more involved in educational programs and school activities. The boys need to feel confident in themselves to rebuild their identities and not to be easily manipulated by others. It is also necessary to focus on building youth's personal strength According to Koffman S, Ray A, Berg S, Covington L, Albarran NM, Vasquez M. In the article “Impact of a Comprehensive Whole Child Intervention and Prevention Program among Youths at Risk of Gang Involvement and Other Forms of Delinquency” they explained, “Specifically, it is designed to promote core social-emotion competencies, which may increase resilience in the face of adverse situations, enable good decisions, making, and promote positive social behavior”. This matters because society, schools, and officers need to provide those tools, give them the opportunities to become better people less manipulated by others and make logical decisions.

Lack of knowledge not only affects youth but also society. When a teenager is not well informed or with the necessary knowledge, it is easy to fall prey to criminalization and violence. Rios mentioned, “My ambition in this book is to show the failures of criminalization, the failures of using harsh, stigmatizing and humiliating forms of punishment to (correct) and (manage) marginalization youths, as well as to highlight the consequences that these methods have on young people’s trajectories”. Thus to have the necessary knowledge to know how to successfully implement norms to help these youths because criminalizing and marginalizing them do not solve the problem. On the contrary, generate more violence. Youths look for situations in which they can belong and succeed. Therefore in many times, they do not consider if those situations are the right or the wrong ones. Some of the factors that lead youths to fall into negative situations are: Fears in success, low self-esteem, and lack of knowledge on to how to control the pressure of peers and gang members. These are some of the reasons why youths join gangs easily because they do not have the necessary knowledge to face their problems, nor are confident in themselves. It is difficult for them to fill those gaps that exist in their lives, nor can their family. However, instead of being educated, and providing them with the necessary knowledge they need, they are punished and criminalized by their teachers, police officers, and parents for their behaviors. The lack of knowledge affects society in the same way because it is important to have the necessary knowledge about the problem in order to help these youths. In other words, if society is not well informed to empower them and provide them the support and protection they need. They will find that support in the wrong people which in the end will harm them. According to Shantz, in the article “The foundation of our community: cultural restoration, reclaiming children and youth in an indigenous community,” he restates “The result has been far too many Indigenous women and girls placed in harm’s way, denied adequate protection from the law, and marginalized in a way that allows some men to get away with carrying out violent crimes against them”. This matters because youths are harmed and marginalized by society. This makes them seek revenge and commit more violence against them. In order to help them, it is important to enhance communication with them, so that society and their parents can help these youths to realize what their perception towards life is. Such as understanding the causes of their behaviors. Similarly, it is very important to implement programs that educate not only youths but also parents, so that both have the necessary knowledge to make changes in society. According to Koffman S, Ray A, Berg S, Covington L, Albarran NM, Vasquez M, they explain “The parenting component is designed to empower parents to make changes in their parenting techniques and to continue networking through an independent support group outside of the school site”. This matters because it is necessary that parents have new techniques to educate these young people, as it is important to implement programs that educate these parents on how to be better parents and provide them with better education. As mentioned, parents need to instruct these youths so that they have reasons and confidence in themselves to be able to achieve a better future. In the same way, it is necessary that both schools and police officers become well informed as to work with these types of cases and not be so severe with these youths because instead of helping them, they are more inclined to commit violent acts.

Some may argue that society should punish these youths in order to have a better response, that it is better to implement strict norms so that youths feel fear of being punished and joining gangs or being involved in criminal acts. In the same way, the police officers are strict with the norms, and they watch young people frequently. Although these youths do not have criminal records, just for the simple fact of living in infested neighborhoods, criminal acts become common. According to Klawans, Jonathan, et al in the book “Street Gang Patterns and Policies,” he explains “Police often track numbers of members from year to year and describe the age, race, and sex of the gang members they have in their data banks or estimate from familiarity with the gang situations in their jurisdiction”. This matters because the police officers are very strict with their standards, not only monitoring gang members, but also other youths who live in the same environment as the gangs, just for the simple fact of looking like one of them. These solutions are not the most effective for the rehabilitation of these youths; they need standards that are not so severe that do not incriminate them or make them feel surveyed all the time. Youths are marginalized, and this makes them more violent, and they seek revenge with their hands. What these youths seek is to be heard, belong to society, and be accepted. It is essential that parents provide the structure and the opportunities they need. Otherwise, they look for those things in the wrong places. According to Ungar M, in the article “The Importance of Parents and Other Caregivers to the Resilience of High-risk Adolescents,” he mentions “Through we do not typically think of deviance as a pathway to health when choices are limited and parents do not provide both structure and opportunities for youths to experience themselves as resilient, under-resourced youth appear to act out anti-social ways as part of a strategy to feel good about themselves”. This means that trust and self-esteem are essential for these young people, as well as a stable life structure and opportunities for the boys. It is mainly based on the home. When there is a healthy environment at home, these youths are motivated, and they listen. It completely changes their perspectives on how to deal with life. Rios restates:

Ultimately, I believe that by understanding the lives of boys who are criminalized and pipelined through the criminal justice system, we can begin to develop emphatic solutions which support these young men in their development and to eliminate the culture of criminalization that has become an overbearing of their lives.

This matters because it is important to work in depth with these youths, to understand their lives in order to help them and end the violence; it is more important that they feel the necessary support to move ahead instead of criminalizing them. They need attention, and educational programs, but above all, parents should pay more attention and motivate them to be good people. According to the Other Wes Moore in the book “The Other Wes Moore: One Name Two Fates,” he mentioned:

...I found myself surrounded by people--starting with my mom, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and leading to a string of wonderful role models and mentors--who kept pushing me to see more than what was directly in front of me, to see the boundless possibilities of the wider world and the unexplored possibilities within myself. People who taught me that no accident of birth--not being black or relatively poor, being from Baltimore or the Bronx or fatherless--would ever define or limit me.

This means that to have a profound effect on success, youths need the support of their relatives like the other Wes Moore did, it is easy they can achieve their dreams and not end up dead or behind bars, as well the key to success it is listening to them and give them the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves.

In fact, the problem of gangs in America and in other countries will never end but continue growing if society, police officers, and schools keep criminalizing and marginalizing these boys from an early age. It is important not to deny them the privilege of being heard; as well, it is considered to find solutions to deter these boys from joining gangs. Society needs more organizations and self-esteem groups that are willing to help these youths and provide constructive activities, which instruct them to take the best decisions along their paths. It is necessary that these young people feel the support of the community and their families so that they have self-esteem and feel confident that they are capable of achieving their dreams. Similarly, it is important that society, police, and parents have the necessary knowledge to be able to help these young people in a better way and not with strict norms, which lead them more to violence. Punishment is not the most effective solution. Youths have the right to rehabilitate themselves and to be heard, but above all, they have the right to a second chance in life.

Works Cited

1. Grekul, Jana, and Patti LaBoucane-Benson. “Aboriginal Gangs and Their (Dis)Placement: Contextualizing Recruitment, Membership, and Status.” Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice, vol. 50, no. 1, Jan. 2008, pp. 59–82. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3138/cjccj.50.1.59.
2. Henderson, Errol, and Russell J. Leng. “Reducing Intergaing Violence: Norms From the Interstate System.” Peace & Change, vol. 24, no. 4, Oct. 1999, p. 476. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/0149-0508.00134.
3. Klawans, Jonathan, et al. Street Gang Patterns and Policies, Oxford University Press USA - OSO, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central,
4. Koffman, Stephen, et al. “Impact of a Comprehensive Whole Child Intervention and Prevention Program among Youths at Risk of Gang Involvement and Other Forms of Delinquency.” Children & Schools, vol. 31, no. 4, Oct. 2009, pp. 239–245. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/cs/31.4.239.
5. Life Facing Bars. YouTube, Uploaded by Matt Yoon 19 Mar. 2014,
6. https://youtu.be/wal5QFvTSWw
7. Maclure, Richard, and Melvin Sotelo. “Youth Gangs in Nicaragua: Gang Membership as Structured Individualization.” Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 7, no. 4, Dec. 2004, pp. 417–432. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/1367626042000315202.
8. Moore, Wes The Other Wes Moor: One Name Two Fates. Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks, 2011.
9. Rios, Victor M. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. New York University Press, 2011.
10. Ritter, Nancy,Thomas R.Simon, and Reshma R. Mahendra. 'Changing Course: Keeping Kids Out of Gangs.' National Institute of Justice Journal, 2013. SIRS Government Reporter, https://sks-sirs-com.hancockcollege.idm.oclc.org.
11. “The Role of Local Government in Community Safety. “The Role of Local Government in Community Safety, Apr. 2001, pp. iii-59. SIRS Government Reporter, https://sks.sir.com
12. Shantz, Jeff. “‘The Foundation of Our Community’: Cultural Restoration, Reclaiming Children and Youth in an Indigenous Community.” Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, vol. 32, no. 3, Sept. 2010, pp. 229–236. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/09649069.2010.520515.
13. “Teen Gangs: A Global View.” Adolescence, vol. 40, no. 159, Fall 2005, p. 679. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=18513342&site=ehost-live.
14. Ungar, Michael. “The Importance of Parents and Other Caregivers to the Resilience of High-Risk Adolescents.” Family Process, vol. 43, no. 1, Mar. 2004, pp. 23–41. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2004.04301004.x.