Cycle of Violence
by Leo Theodore
    In Chicago, there is a cyclical pattern of poverty and violence. As demonstrated in The Interrupters, a documentary on Chicago youths and their fight against violence, violence is a "learned behavior" and must be interrupted in order to break the cycle. Poverty causes communities to lack educational resources, after school programs and parental guidence for most of the youth growing up in Chicago.
    When a school cannot provide the resources that are necessary for each student’s learning experience, the reality sets in for most students that they will not be able to attend college. When a student loses their aspiration for the next level of education, they lose motivation for high school and therefore their attendance level decreases. When a teenager doesn’t attend school on a regular bases, they become vulnerable to joining a gang and dropping out of school.
    Communities that are impoverished do not have the after school programs that it takes to keep teens off the streets and out of trouble. When there is an excess of unstructured time, it is common that youths begin to fall into trouble. If that community contains the opportunities, the youths with free time will turn to gangs in order to blow off steam and kill time.
    In impoverished areas, it is likely that working parents work multiple jobs. As a result parents are less involved in their children’s lives and deprive kids of influential role models that provide morals for them. There is also less supervision when parents aren’t around which may cause a child to put their lack of parental influence to use. The lack of parental support may cause kids to reach out for other support and protection. According to most theories and studies about the topic, this is the main reason that kids join gangs. Families are a very important part to our society and gangs can fulfill that love and protection that most families provide.
