Youth Gangs In Canada - 886 Words

Youth gangs in Canada is becoming more and more of issue. Adolescents across Canada resort to joining youth gangs for many different reasons. A youth gang is a group of young adolescents who use intimidation and violence to gain prestige among other gangs and control certain areas of unlawful activities. For all the reasons an adolescent would join a youth gang, police and the Government have come up with programs to prevent youth from joining and to get them to leave the gangs. With programs involving prevention, intervention, and suppression, the Canadian Government is adequately addressing youth gangs within Canada. Teenagers and young adults join youth gangs for many reasons. Reasons a teenager would join a gang include family†¦show more content†¦The Canadian government also uses Intervention programs. This programs purpose is to help street gang members, especially youth leave gangs as well as prevent young people who are on the border of joining street gangs join them. Along with prevention techniques, intervention program must be individualized to meet the adolescents needs to get them out of their current gang. Multisystemic Therapy which was designed specifically for chronic juvenile offenders which can be also connected to youth gangs, is a home based program where all areas of the adolescents life that influences them are involved including home, school, peer group and neighbourhood. With therapists available twenty-four hours a day, this program can be successful. The purpose of Multisystemic Therapy is to â€Å"empower the family to take responsibility for making and mai ntaining gains.... parents are encouraged to develop the requisite skills to solve their own problems rather than rely on professionals† (Leschied Cunningham 9). Another intervention strategy based out of Regina, is called RAGS which stands for Regina Anti-Gang Services specifically targets gang involved Aboriginal youth from the ages of thirteen to thirty. The goal is to reduce the amount of youth gang crimes by providing services that can end in adolescents leaving the gangs. The program offers intensive counselling, teachingShow MoreRelatedCanadian Gangs Essay1330 Words   |  6 PagesStatistics Canada has done research on identifying the facts that are contributed to the definition of a youth gang member. Partnered with the Montreal Police Service, Statistics Canada was able to generate the definition of a gang member: An organized group of adolescents and/or young adults who rely on group intimidation and violence, and commit criminal acts in order to gain power and rec ognition and/or control certain areas of unlawful activity [2] (Statistics Canada, 2008). Gangs have beenRead MoreA Formal Description For A Youth Gang1503 Words   |  7 Pagesinto groups that society often refers to as gangs. 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