Cole Krager 6/9/14
Mrs. Henkel
Ever since the early 1900's gangs have been a problem. Gangs arose when the ban of alcohol happened. The issue that the government is trying to solve is whether penalties for gang crimes should be stiffer or not. States decide the punishment for gang crimes but, gangs are a federal problem. One of the biggest problems is, "in recent years, there have been reports of gang activity breaking into some of the most closely guarded group in America such as the armed forces and professional sports leagues" (ProQuest). This is considered a problem because leaders of the gangs could tell their member in these groups to hurt people who have no gang affiliation.
There are many people who believe that the penalties should be much stiffer and then there are people who believe the exact opposite. Both sides of the debate have great arguments.
First the side that is for strict penalties, "The average age of a gang recruit is 14" (Loeffel). Members being so young is considered a problem because then the gangs control the school (Loeffel). Another problem with no strict punishment is that juvenile courts can't really punish their occupants, this causes them to become repeat offenders. This side of the argument has attempted to create an anti-loitering ordinance, this ordinance was in affect for three years. During those three years gang related homicides dropped 26% percent. The "for" side of the argument proposes that if the juveniles have stricter punishment then they won't become repeat offenders and will straighten out. On the other hand, the opposing side says that gang crimes/violence is considered a mental illness (Harmon). This theory is support3d by, "⦠Others attribute the violence to distorted expressions of masculinity in poor neighborhoods, stressful families, poor education...