Is gang violence and gang membership among teenagers increasing or decreasing?

I would say gang membership is increasing because teens are influenced by other teens and from this influence they feel safe and secure. As a teen right now there are many things happening in life and many things we find difficult and/or frustrating. All teens have things going on like this in their lives, but for some teens its all this and an addition of problems such as violence in their neighborhoods so they feel safe and they feel like they are really doing something with their lives.