| Gangs |
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| Saturday, 12 September 2009 10:56 |
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As of September, 2008, “Approximately 1 million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs were criminally active within all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”1 While it is not easy to clearly define a gang (i.e. various states have different definitions, and some explanations describe only those related to street gangs), it is clear that in the different definitions, some common elements are present. A gang is a definitive group of young persons that normally engages in antisocial behavior and members of a gang usually engage in unlawful activity. These activities include burglary, drug trafficking, rape, vandalism, graffiti, violence, destruction of property, stabbings, drive-by shootings and homicide. Indeed 80% of criminal activities in many neighborhoods are attributed to gangs2 and some gangs can be linked to organized crime.
Gang membership depends on the nature of each gang. There are all male gangs, all female gangs, and gangs whose members include both males and females. The age of gang members varies from under 15 to over 24.3 Some gang members are second and third generation members, following the footsteps of their parents and/or grandparents.4 There are African American, Hispanic, Asian and Caucasian gangs. At times gangs will unite with others in order to team up against arch-rival gangs.
Gang members usually have distinctive external identification of their specific membership: name, color, apparel (and how it is worn, e.g., the baseball cap) tattoo and symbols (such as those worn around the neck, or printed on a tee-shirt.) Some gangs wear rosaries around their necks, and in this case, the color of the beads identifies the gang. Often gang members dress in a way that reflects the hip-hop culture, but non-gang members attire in hip-hop style as well.5 Additionally, gang members have their own unique hand symbols for identification.
Gangs can be geographically based. Their members may spread across the United States and into other counties, particularly in Latin American nations. Today gangs are emigrating into the suburban and rural areas of cities.6
The Gang Culture.7 Gangs are composed of a subculture that separate themselves from the main stream community and society. Gangs will set up their own territory and claim it as their own, excluding members of other gangs as well as persons with whom they view as rivals. Gangs support themselves, they share a common name and system of beliefs, which may exclude family, school, religion, etc. They have their own language, values, customs and rules which must be followed strictly. Gangs include their own rites of initiation as well as rites of passage.8 Some gangs are part of a larger structure, united with gangs within a nation or in other countries. A gang usually has core members, and “inner clique that determines the basic nature of gang activity.”9
Why do Youth Join Gangs? The societal structures of increasing poverty, social deterioration of the family and school systems seem to be an incubation for youth to enter gangs.10 Gangs usually provide a family relationship that is often missing from the person’s natural family. They provide a haven for acceptance, self-esteem, identity, security, power and prestige. Gangs also have ways of providing money for their members.11 A young person will also join a gang more readily if he/she has a relative who is already in a gang.
Profile of the Gang Member. A gang member usually
between the ages of about 5 and 10 years started showing disrespect for parents and teachers and refusing to obey rules, getting angry easily and blaming others for their mistakes. . . between the ages about 10-15 years displaying disregard for others by being physically cruel, committing crimes, refusing to attend school, refusing to obey authority figures, and running way from home.12 In the United States a gang member is usually also a member of a poor or lower-middle social class. He/she has done poorly in school. He/she is one who often is described as a “bully” and is rejected by teachers and other children. His/her identity, love, intimacy, acceptance and power come from his/her gang community. He/she will do anything asked of him/her by gang members in order to maintain these affections. Additionally, it seems that the gang member’s only way of releasing deep-rooted anger is through violent actions.
Recruitment. Recruitment for gang members takes place in the streets, in schools, and in prisons.13 Some techniques for gang recruitment include, seduction, subterfuge, obligation, coercion, self-recruitment.14 Often gang members attempt to bring about “glorified myths about the gang that are very attractive” such as “money, power, sex and glamour.”15 (seduction) There is also a “misrepresentation of what the gang really is and what it stands for.”16 This includes lying to the individual e.g., telling him/her that his/her group is not a gang. (subterfuge) If a member of a gang does a favor for a person, he/she may expect or demand a favor from the individual. This would be payback time. (obligation) Large gangs increase membership by forcing the individual to join. (coercion) Lastly, many youth will join gangs on their own volition. (self-recruitment)
Entrance into a gang requires passing certain initiation rites. One example of an initiation rite is “Jump-In,” in which the candidate, must fight several gang members at one time. Such an initiation rites may include the gang members jumping on top of the candidate after the new recruit is punched and wrestled to the ground. The purpose of the “Jump-In” rite is to see how strong the candidate is and whether or not he/she is a fighter. Another rite of entrance is “Lined-In.” In this method, there are “two lines of its members and the recruit has to go between the lines as the gang members beat him/her.”17 There is also the “Sexed-In” ritual where the recruits are to throw dice. The number indicated on the thrown dice is the number of gang members with whom the new recruit is to have sex.18 Other recruits are required to commit crimes in order to be a member of a gang. There are also non-violent rituals of entrance: “Walked-In” and “Courted-In.” The former is where the individual is free to join without any initiation. The latter may be asked to join without any initiation rite because he/she has a criminal talent which will be an asset to the gang, or he may have drug connections, have a car, or “is good at stealing.”19
It is not easy to leave a gang. Some common problems arise. If someone wishes to leave a gang, he/she may have to endure the “Jump-Out” ritual. It is similar to the “Jump-In” rite noted above. Leaving a gang means losing all the protection that was provided while being a member; however, the member does not lose his/her “former enemies.”20 To re-integrate into society, the former gang member needs the support of the larger community. Unfortunately this is not always the case.
A former gang member may experience discrimination and mistrust from the established society, such as the refusal to employee former gang members. The visible tattoo mark often is an obstacle, communicating that he/she is a gang member, even though he/she no longer is associated with the group and has reformed his/her life.21 A former gang member may be asked to testify against another gang member or members. Witness intimidation often occurs in court cases related to gang-related crimes. Intimidation may be overt when “someone does something explicitly to intimidate a witness into withholding, changing, or falsifying testimony”.22 Intimidation can also be implicit when “there is a real but unexpressed threat of harm.”23 Fear is an example of implicit intimidation. If the intimidation is extreme, the court may have the plaintiff enter Witness Protection, where he/she will have his/her identity completely changed.24
Gangs inflict much harm on the human community. Gangs teach and encourage dehumanizing and unlawful behavior. They promote “socially irresponsible values, attitudes, and beliefs."25 Gangs harm our children. Their behavior brings about “school failure, family disruption, drug addiction, arrest, incarceration, disease, pregnancy, permanent injury, and premature death”26 among our young people. Tragically, parents of gang members “suffer because they are losing their children. Non-gang parents are too often unable to retain control over their gang-member children or regain it. Their loss sometimes extend to the death of their child.”27 Parents must also suffer when their innocent children are injured or murdered through drive-by shootings or some assault from gang members. Gangs disrupt people’s lives by instilling fear and insecurity. Gang behaviors threaten the stability of a community. They prevent people from living normal, healthy lives. Residents of a neighborhood where gangs are active become victims of vandalism, theft, shootings and assaults. Unfortunately many of these victims are reluctant to report gang activities for fear of reprisals against them. Because of gang activities, a neighborhood deteriorates and violence is increased. In this environment,
residential structures begin to deteriorate as homeowners flee the area and homes become rental properties or are sold to less-than-desirable homeowners. . .Structures are sometimes abandoned and become targets for gang and other inappropriate activities. . .The business community is likely to suffer because customers and employees are afraid to walk to the store or park in its vicinity. The result is often the deterioration of the adjacent business community and its conversion to liquor stores, gambling establishments, tattoo shops, adult video stores. . . Schools and students suffer. . .on school attendance and on order in the school. Students, teachers, and administrators fear being victimized either while walking, driving or taking the bus to school or while in the school. The negative influence of gangs on gang member-and non-gang member school attendance contributes to school absenteeism and dropping out.28 While teaching moral theology in my hometown of Reading, PA, I would invite police officers who worked in the “Gangs and Graffiti” program to talk to my sophomore students about the gang situation within the city. Dressed in civilian clothes, these officers would meet with gang members in order to help establish peace among the rival groups. This valuable program came to an end because of “political reasons” as one officer explained.
Here in Illinois, there was the national “CeaseFire” prayer coalition which sought to end the shootings and killings from gang feuds. We would schedule events for prayer rallies for the city of Aurora and also worked in street-level outreach in gang-related areas to distribute educational literature to families. Unfortunately, IL’s CeaseFire Chapter had to “cease” existing because the former Governor of IL discontinued funding the program because of budgetary reasons. Most recently, I asked a police officer if the department has any program to prevent gang formation and gang violence. His response was, “No, we arrest them.”
In spite of these setbacks, our Christian witness urges us to more forward to respond to the gang crisis in our nation. Our efforts must attempt to respond to the roots of gang formation. Gangs seem to result from a combination of “racism, of urban underclass poverty, or minority and youth culture, of fatalism in the face of rampant deprivation, of political insensitivity.”29 Peer groups in schools also contribute to gang formations.30
The solution to gang violence seems to hinge on “prevention.” According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, prevention takes on three efforts: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary:
Many Church groups, community leaders and those concerned are involved with all three of these prevention tactics. School based programs work on primary prevention. They “provide one of the common grounds for American youth.”32 Education is a key factor in gang prevention. It seems that not only do our youth need such education, but adults need to be very much aware of learning about our nation’s gang crisis. Programs in gang prevention must teach non-violent means to resolve conflicts, character formation and how people of different races, ethic origin, religion and social status can live in harmony with one another. From the private sector, there are organizations which provide quality programs for youth. One such organization is the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach.33 In San Bernardino, CA, the prevention and intervention program, Choices, directs its attention to middle-school children who are at risk. Its goal is to “reduce drug use, academic failure, gang activities, dropping out of school, and juvenile delinquency.”34 Hopefully effective interventions will curb the number of gangs and violence.
Research shows that there are “pre-crisis indicators” of which parents, teachers should be aware. The following are warning signs:35
Parents are the primary educators of their children and play an essential role in gang prevention. To do this is to:36
The following are suggested skills for parents to prevent their children from entering a gang:37
In addition to above, it good for parents to get involved with community activities that protect neighborhood children.
I am reminded of Jesus’ words, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”38 The United States must take seriously the plight of our youth today. Teenagers are injuring and killing teenagers. They are both the victims and perpetrators. Everyone shares the responsibility to help our youth to grow in a moral, drug-free, non-violent and responsible society. Both the private and political sectors must make the welfare of our youth a priority. They must work together and support each other in efforts to respond to our youth from a moral perspective. Pliny the elder stated that “What we do to our children, they will do to society.” We cannot ignore the present crisis with our young. If we desire our children to be of good moral character, to be nonviolent and peacemakers, than we, ourselves, must be committed to living these virtues. When we act in this way, our efforts will not be in vain.
Br. Warren Perrotto, MSC
Sources: 1. National Gang Threat Assessment 2009, Document ID: 2009-M0335-001, January, 2009: http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs32/32146/index.htm
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