While we do NOT wish to be alarmists, we must also not operate with a false sense of security by taking proactive school security and other juvenile crime prevention initiatives off of the priority focus in education, criminal justice, and related fields. The bottom line is that, while broad surveys and national studies are needed to help us better examine school violence and security concerns, caution must be taken in using limited data findings as a sole-source for making important decisions. However, data collected from a specific school, community, or target population is more narrowly focused and more helpful for use in designing specific policies and programs for that particular school, community, or population. Even then, check the data collection mechanism, sources, etc. for possible flaws. There are many practical, cost-effective measures that can be employed to reduce school safety risks.
Factors motivating kids to join gangs vary individual to individual.
A multitude of social and economic reasons can be involved. Power, status, security, friendship, family substitute, economic profit, substance abuse influences, and numerous other factors can influence kids to join gangs. Gang members also cross all socio-economic backgrounds and boundaries regardless of age, sex, race, economic status, and academic achievement. Typically, people look for graffiti or bandannas as the main indicators of a gang presence. However, gang indicators can be quite subtle, particularly as awareness increases among adults.