The problem of juvenile delinquency has been growing in scale all over the world. Especially when it comes to groups and gangs, juvenile criminals are becoming more mobile, and their crimes are more severe and cruel. Adolescence is a turning point in the development of a child, the transition from childhood to adulthood. In the course of the formation and development of the personality, this age is considered problematic. This is the time of the adolescent’s adaptation to the conditions of life in society when they still do not know how to navigate in adults’ space. A person cannot develop outside of society; he or she needs interpersonal communication, unity of views, and shared interests. Friends begin to have a more significant influence on decision-making than parents. In an attempt to gain peer approval and impress, adolescents decide on immoral acts, hooliganism and find themselves under the influence of criminals; they end up in a criminal group. As a professor teaching a course on delinquent behavior, I would never tell the director that the government can do little to reduce their number.
The crucial issue is a social one and requires solutions like this that can be implemented to reduce juvenile delinquency in gangs, even though this may be difficult to achieve. At the national and local levels, it is essential not to give up and fight the problem. Adolescence is the age of searching for oneself, and if at the right time to find an approach by government or alternative measures, one can change a person’s life. One needs to open their eyes to other opportunities for achieving the goals rather than through breaking the law. The socio-psychological specificity of the juvenile criminal group lies in the fact that it is the factor that forms antisocial views and needs in adolescents (Shoemaker, 2017). It promotes awareness of the strength of the group and leads to the commission of offenses. In these conditions, there are great opportunities for the emergence and dissemination of a particular criminal experience.
The problem for people who have broken the law is unemployment, which tends to rise. According to experts, hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs are needed to reduce the problem of gangs (Siegel & Welsh, 2010). In addition, it is unlikely that employers will choose a former criminal or gang member for a job that wants to get into hundreds of people without a criminal record. It is so unlikely that a person who has given several years of their life to a criminal gang will be in demand for legal employment opportunities. Hence the conclusion that the more young people are involved in criminal activity, the fewer chances they have of finding a meaningful high-paying job. However, while aggressive juvenile delinquency prevention tactics risk alienating the community, gang prevention measures cannot be useless.
The banal impossibility of meeting the emerging needs in existing institutions leads to adolescents joining terrorist groups when the opportunity arises. It is noted that programs to improve the lives of adolescents are a critical factor in reducing crime among juvenile crime groups. Here, an effective way to achieve the goal is to allocate resources to reconstruct various areas where the number of these groups predominates. For example, in Miami, there are several programs for at-risk youth that allow them to intervene in their lives at the right time and encourage children and adolescents to leave gang culture. Some programs focus on providing alternatives to live, while others are traditional law enforcement models. Then their goal is to identify the criminal gangs of detention and transfer them for prosecution.
One such program is G.R.A.S.P. (Gang Reduction Activities and Sports Program). Here, children are dealt with by officers who sponsor young people and track their progress during their stay in the program. The initial stage involves getting to know the parents and school leaders. Then a file is created “to track the development of the youth” as it progresses throughout the entire period. (Siegel & Welsh, 2010, p. 222) The program has several stages; it also focuses on developing self-esteem through the establishment of mutual understanding. Through various activities, young people learn that there is a possible solution and an alternative to being in a gang in seemingly impossible situations.
To conclude, analyzing the factors of joining juvenile adolescents in gangs, social is one of the main. This suggests that often the need makes a person decide in favor of a life of crime. The need arises due to the inability to achieve their goals in peaceful ways without breaking the law, which is due to living conditions. In addition, employment is a problem for ex-criminals; by joining a terrorist group, a person cuts off any possibility of getting a job. Preventive measures are necessary for the early stages of a person’s life when the future criminal has not yet been entirely determined, and there is still a way back. It is necessary to use several programs, vary the methods of influencing the situation, and allocate resources to reconstruct areas where such groups are prevalent. It will not be useless to attempt to understand and prevent possible cases of robbery, hooliganism, theft, and violence. Gangs have always existed, but it cannot be argued that the government can do little to influence the situation.
References
Shoemaker, D. J. (2017). Juvenile delinquency. Rowman & Littlefield.
Siegel, L. J., & Welsh, B. C. (2010). Juvenile delinquency: The core. Cengage Learning.