Gang Violence In School

1161 Words5 Pages

This paper investigates the relationship between gang-related violence in schools and street gangs. The author came across the conception that gang-related violence that takes place in schools is triggered by the street gang activities and lifestyle that come to pass in the community, which can be formulated in two fashion, in term of gang learners being part of the street gang and conducting part of their activities in the school grounds. While on the other side, the gang learners are forming their own gang groups that are not related to the street gangs but are share the same culture. In other words, the author is trying to disentangle the question of whether the existence of street gang in societies contributes to the incidences if violence …show more content…

Mncube and Madikizela-Madiya (2014) analyzed data from a study that was conducted in six provinces namely Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo, Western Cape. The study discovered that gangsterism is one of the external factors that aggravate violence in schools. The study revealed that gangs in schools are indication of community problems since schools are a reflection of the problems of the community. The behaviour of violence that is encountered in schools is also produced by the problem of gangsterism that communities are wrestling with. Then again, the study also brought into light the problem of street gangs as being the source of violence in schools. The responses from interviewees confirms that the conflicts of outside gangs are affecting the schools, some of the fights and killings that take place in the school premises are the result of the conflict from home not something that relate to school and it has nothing to do with school issues. (Clinard and Meier, …show more content…

The study was a mixed method research in which data was obtained using interviews, participant observation, documentary and case study analysis. According to the findings of the study Gangsterism is one of the sources of violence in Western Cape schools. They addresses that in Coloured communities, gangs is part of the fabric of that community. There is a huge number of gangs in any coloured community given the social community backgrounds. There is lot of gangs in their areas and there is also lot gang violence in schools. The study also uncovers how the street gang violence have an effect on schools, the interviews show that in western cape most of the learners in their schools are in gangsterism in the community and when the gangs are fighting with each other (Clinard and Meier, 2011). So the learners who are also gangsters come to school not with the purpose of causing chaos but to learn. However, with the fights happening on the street the learners is forced to shift focus from learning progress to fighting for his or her life as the other members of the opposing group who are not learners might arrive anytime to attach him or her. These fight do not only disturb learners that are members of gang but the violence that take place between two opposing gang groups affect the entire schools, put the lives of learners at schools at risk of being stabbed or killed, increases the