Sometime in the past 20 or 30 years, youth gangs have increasingly become a social problem society has had to deal with. Many wonder where these young groups come from and what gives them the idea that being in a gang is an acceptable and wonderful way to live. There are many possible answers to these questions, but on the surface it is evident that youth gangs come about through something as simple as a negative change in an individual's personal wants or needs or how they were raised. This change in morals may stem from movies, peer pressure or something else entirely, but to effectively find a way to end gang violence, we must dig deeper and find exactly what factors are causing the loss of morality in these young one's to begin with. The forces of the media, an individual's home environment, and peer pressure/acceptance are three possible negative effects on one's morals that could later lead to youth gang membership.
The influence of television and movies over children today is one way morals are becoming more negatively deformed. The American Academy of Pediatrics compiled statistics on media violence that say, by the age of 18, the average U.S. child has viewed over 16,000 murders on television. This includes simulated murders and other real violent acts. Saturday morning cartoons, which are purposely targeted to the younger generation, average 20-25 simulated violent acts per episode. Many of the shows that are shown these days are extremely violent and portray young group violence as acceptable. An older adult can see that the ways gangs live are immoral, but a young child cannot. The gore that is also shown often on today's television shows influences young minds as well. Children see the gore as fascinating because it is unfamiliar to them. They see the violent character as not immoral, but a hero because they are too young to make a connection yet. Children raised watching shows with this message of violence grow up seeing violence as more acceptable than those who are not.
