I'd like you to take a journey with me, would you please
             close your eyes and imagine yourself cruising along the streets
             of Oakland. You are driving and the light just turned yellow, you
             stop at the stoplight. You see a little kid walking towards you,
             while he crosses the crosswalk. You take special notice of him
             because he was around the age of about 11 years of age, but
             had a thick gold necklace around his neck. He looks at you, you
             smile politely at him as if to give a small "hello". He gives you a
             smile in return and within that moment out of nowhere a gun.
             What do you do? Its too late...........
             How does gang membership become a problem to society? That is the question that most people do not really think about. When people think about gangs, it is assumed that they are a bunch of young people engaged in drugs and violence. People tend deny the fact that gangs is an issue and tend to not want to deal with it because they think it doesn't concern them, but eventually it will. Gang membership has become a problem to society.
             Gangs can be defined in many different ways; most people interpret it as a group of people involved in sex, drugs, and violence. The California Penal Code Section 186.22[a] defines the term as "any person who actively participates in any gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang." To "Smalls", a former gang member interviewed, views the term as "... a group of people. Violent gangs go around looking for trouble, but its still a group of people." Gangs are a majority of youths united for security, respect, and power, who will go to the furthest extent to achieve those goals, despite the many consequences that may follow. Today, gangs and its membership is in...