Gange Violence Essay, Research Paper

Today Gang violence not only kills millions of people a year, but serves as a threat to organized society as we know it. Gangs have an infection that plague the streets of nearly every urban area in America, and is now spreading to rural areas as well. We cannot allow our cities and suburbs to fall victim to gangs and violence. There must have tougher legislation against gang activity, as well as harsher punishments for gang related crimes.

America has one of the highest violent crime rates in the world. The protection of citizens should be our foremost concern. The citizens of the most powerful nation in the world should be able to go out at night without fear, walk the streets of metropolitan areas freely, and most importantly, enjoy the liberties on which this great nation was built. Although people believe that enforcing these laws will result in an increase in taxes. They do not find this extra money worth spending on America s youth. Taxes already are high enough, but how can we afford not to provide for the well being of the young people of America? The rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are all crippled by gangs and gang related violence.

Others feel that stricter gun control laws, or even the banning of handguns, would be a better course of action than harsher laws on gangs. Just as gangs find a way to get drugs, they will acquire illegal handguns. Many people think that stricter laws on gangs would be in violation of our first amendment right to assemble.

Nothing is more damaging to the United States Government than the senseless violence and breakdown in values brought about by gangs. This being the case, harsher laws against gang activity are well within the bounds of the constitution.

Gangs have poisoned American society ever since the years of Prohibition. Gangsters dealt with prostitution, drugs, alcohol, and assassinations. Likewise, the Italian Mafia was a major threat to our country. Both of these eras have subsided to a new level of gang activity: less organized, more brutal, and worst of all, aimed at young people. Many gangs recruit new members from poor neighborhoods where violence is glamorized and illegal activity is viewed as the only way to get ahead in the world. Because gang violence is aimed at teenagers, it is more harmful than any other form of organized crime in American history.

Today Gang violence is a problem in almost every free society, but it does not have to destroy as many lives as it does. The gang problem, in time, can be cured through tougher laws and stricter enforcement on gang activity. Therefore prudence and forethought have to guide ones judgment.