News
of people mostly living in urban or peri-urban areas getting terrorized by
gangs has become so common in modern era than was in the past.
On
May 9, 2018 the nation woke up to shocking news of 14 juveniles with the
youngest 14 years old arrested of heinous crimes on the Copperbelt with the
Human Rights Commission requesting the Zambian Police to further investigate
the formation of gangs that will help in combating gangsterism.
And
Zambia Police Service spokesperson Esther Katongo said the juveniles were
arrested pertaining to a video that was circulating on social media showing
them severely beating a helpless 16 year old boy.
“Fourteen
thugs who participated in the gruesome beating of a male person in the video
circulating on social media have been arrested by police,” She said.
One
would wonder as to what could prompt teenagers to act in such an inhumane
manner. Why are adolescents then willing to join these gangs.
According
to a research by Psychology Today there
are several motives that cause teenagers to engage themselves in acts of
criminality and these among others are: peer pressure, money motives, need for
prestige, family backgrounds, presence of gangs in the neighbourhood, poverty,
abuse from adults or peers, lack of success in other areas of life such as
school and also access to drugs and weapons.
The
major influence is exposure to negative media products such as gangster music
and movies that portray a gangster life as one filled with fun, fortune and
power which promises a fairytale of “Rags to Riches”.
Juveniles
therefore lack the maturity and critical thinking to to distinguish popular
culture as portrayed in the media with reality. Hence, can not fully understand
the consequences of belonging to a gang.
An
idle life where these adolescents have lack or no alternative activities to
occupy their attention becomes a soft spot for gangs to recruit them.
Gangsterism
may be difficult to eradicate as there are far too many things that could influence
a child to join gangs.
However,
there are some ways that parents need to undertake to prevent their kids from
joining gangs such as spending quality time with children to show them love and
a sense of belonging, getting involved in child’s school activities, being a
positive role model such as taking a strong action against illegal activity and
knowing your childs friends.
Counselling
children over: succeeding in academics, dangers of gang involvement and
associations.
And
the role of government should be promotional of recreational fascilities to
help keep the juveniles occupied in meaningful activities.
Together,
we can combat the rise of teenage gangs and better their lifes so that they
grow into more responsible adults.
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