The current times demand that both parents work in order to raise a family. Most often, parents can get too busy with their jobs that the kids back home feel neglected or inadvertently lost in the daily shuffle of life. Parents may not realize it, but research shows that the primary reason why children join gangs is for a sense of belonging or to become part of a “family”.

Some children are not just as headstrong as others. Those who are not usually find themselves with no friends and are often bullied at school. They get frustrated, lonely and discouraged so easily that the lure of gang promises makes them an easy target.

Young people need to have their backs secure, and the weaker ones have the illusion that they are going to get this by being part of a gang. What they don’t know is that they don’t get much protection there; rather they are more susceptible to danger because when rivalries break loose, even their own families can become targets for retaliation. Most young people never really intended for siblings or members of their families to get into harm’s way. They simply were not aware that gang involvement gets to this extent.

Statistics show that gang involvement makes one 60 percent more liable to become a victim of homicide. The sad thing is that teens who get involved in gangs never really intended to mess up their lives. They simply were looking to belong somewhere and get some security – unfortunately, they get the exact opposite. They get into danger.

Another reason for the global spread of street gangs can be traced to the media representation and glamorization of the gang member stereotype. As far back as the many Hollywood pictures of James Dean as the romantic and misunderstood hoodlum, American culture has inadvertently idolized the gang member. What was once present only in the movies and American novels has spread to the internet and into popular music further widening the reach of the gang mystique.

Interestingly, the gang members that are created by such methods probably wouldn’t even be familiar with the terms globalization or transnational, nor would they likely care. Even more interesting is the fact that these romanticized images in no way reflect the realities of gang life, which is another fact that up and coming gang members don’t know about, but probably wouldn’t care to know either since the goal is not to become one of the criminal element that lives in squalor and deals with the day to day avoidance of arrest. The idealized image of the successful criminal as having a garage full of flashy cars and a stable full of women is the image that these individuals strive for.

It is also likely that the majority of the globalization of gangs is due simply to the move toward an increasingly globalized world. As world travel became easier, and the spread of national cultures became more prevalent, it was inevitable that the movement of individuals would signal the spread of the good and the bad, including gang mentality, culture, and activity. Some of these gangs operate as a part of criminal networks and others operate independently using what they have learned in the states as a basis for their activities.

Gangs were once formed by a group of individuals who were generally short-term, temporary members. The average gang member was usually a young man who joined the gang as a sort of rite of passage. Most of these members would eventually outgrow the gang. However, in recent decades, gang activity has taken on a whole new meaning with individuals becoming more permanent members of a gang and more entrenched in gang life and gang activities. Women are becoming more involved in gangs. And the gang has become more of an organization unto itself with members as employees and the spread into the whole Canada and numerous foreign countries.