Week 8 Discussion 1: “The Connection: Juveniles, Gangs, and Drugs” Please respond to the following: · Review the document titled “The Youth Gangs, Drugs, and Violence Connection”, located here. You can also view the article at here. Next, select at least two (2) major correlations between the gangs, drugs, and violence discussed in the article.

· Recommend at least two (2) interventions that authorities (e.g., municipality, school, police, and juvenile court, etc.) could take to intervene in the connections that you selected in Part 1 of this discussion. Justify your response.

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Tenesia Buggs 

RE: Week 8 Discussion 2

The first major correlation between gangs, drugs, and violence is that most gang members are drug users and some sell drugs. The use of drugs can possibly lead to violent behavior and criminal activity. The second correlation is that gang members who use drugs often resort to economic crimes to support the habit. It’s basically a domino effect. The juvenile or young adult engages in gang activity and under peer pressure starts to use drugs. Once a habit is formed, the gang member starts to commit crimes that draw revenue so that they can continue purchasing the drug. From that point, it becomes a cycle until the gang member is caught and incarcerated or dies from gang violence.

The first step of intervention is to educate school-aged children about gangs and give them steps on how to avoid them. In high school, I was a part of a school program called G.R.E.A.T., which stands for Gang Resistance Education and Training. In this program, police officers from the gang task force would come to the school and speak to a class about what to look for with gangs. I learned the different names, the colors they wore, and the hand signs each group used. We were given tips to avoid being bullied into joining and we were given hotline numbers to call if we needed to speak to someone. At the time, I felt like the information was most enlightening and I recognized a lot of the groups and colors that were taught to look for. This program definitely helped me to be aware of gangs, but my parent’s influence also aided in my decision to avoid that crowd. To help with the economic crime, I think that instead of handing out jail sentences, court officials should make it mandatory for gang members to enter rehab. The drug addiction is the cause of the violence and criminal behavior so I feel that helping them to kick the drug habit will help lessen the chance of more criminal behavior happening.

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Week 8 Discussion 2

“The Trouble with Aid” Please respond to the following:

· Based on the lecture and Webtext materials, address the following:

. Identify the most significant problems with the way foreign aid is presently dispensed by international lending institutions. Then, discuss at least three (3) recommendations that you would make to remedy this situation so that food, medical, and financial assistance actually reaches the poor.

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Lawrence Pfaff 

RE: Week 8 Discussion 2

unfortunately aid rarely reaches its intended target and what does reach is never enough to help. The local governments funnel the aid where they believe it is needed, even if it is their own pockets. These decisions are based on opinions not facts. They need to do more fact gathering before dispersing funds.  1. aid should be provided with restrictions or consequences. negotiate terms on how the money will be used and identify where this can be measured. if they fail to meet the goals funding stops. 2. the abusers need to be removed from the equation. if they are removed from the decision making and not allowed to have access to the funds, this would eliminate most of the issues with funding not reaching its intended use. 3. have a neutral third party have a final say in all decisions that involve disbursement of the aid.

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