Gangs in New Jersey Schools

During my first week of junior field experience, the three fifth grade classes were taken to an informal presentation by the district security officer to discuss gangs. It was upsetting to me to discover how prevalent gangs are in New Jersey communities, and how much these young children knew about them. A few even knew the initiations that girls had to endure to become members. When listing the more than ten gang names with the officer, some were ethnic, and in researching I discovered that sometimes students who move here from other countries join gangs to fit in. After the discussion, two students got into a heated discussion because one of the boys had a brother who was shot and is paralyzed due to gangs, and a girl was indifferent, saying that it didn't matter as long as he was alive. She had a cousin who was shot but was OK. I found it very upsetting to try to help mediate their exchange. The boy was really angry at the girl's insensitivity, yet had been one of the kids who knew the most about gangs. I think that this is important information for teachers to know, even in suburban districts. I hope you find the information as useful as I did. Here are three New Jersey websites that give information. The first is from the office of the NJ state attorney general and has a lot of information, including a video clip. Terry
http://www.njgangfree.org/home.htm
The second has NJ gang statistics from 2001-2004.
http://www.state.nj.us/njsp/info/pdf/njgangsurvey-2001-2004.pdf
The third is a gang awareness guide for recognizing the signs.
http://www.nj.gov/oag/gang-signs-bro.pdf