K_Bautista
Stopping Gang Violence?
Can we stop gang violence? Gang violence is
occurring all over the country; mainly on the East coast and West Coast of
America. Gang violence deals with youth and adults causing criminal violence
and disruption in communities and neighborhoods. Gang violence needs to be
reduced and if possible stopped. The world today is being affected by the
countless loss of youth through gang violence. Gang violence has been around
since the mid 1900’s and the numbers of youth moving into gangs has caused
violence to increased devastatingly through its’ years. In the books, “Always
Running”, by Luis J. Rodriguez and “Don’t Shoot”, by David Kennedy, they both
give examples to reducing gang violence. Also in the articles, Gang Injunctions: Fact Sheet from the ACLU of
Northern California, Injunctions Restricting Gang Activities Reduce Gang
Violence, by Gregory S. Walston, and Kids at hope all children are capable of
success--no exceptions! instead of the preventative philosophy of programs
aimed at children who are "at risk," the kids at hope program takes a
positive, holistic approach to youth development, by Christine R. Tipps,
they give us ideas to help youth not join gangs. We need to find
solutions and possibilities to help youth and adults find a way out of gang
activity. We can stop gang violence only through the help of better law
enforcement and prevention/ intervention programs.
Even though we cannot help reduce gain violence with gang injunctions, we can use
tools to help law enforcement develop better tactics to stop gang violence. We
cannot stop gang violence because of gang injunctions. The gang injunctions are
civil court orders used to help address certain activity that gangs do. The
gang injunctions target gang members or individuals that disrupt the community.
According to the article, the author states, “People targeted by gang
injunctions are not guaranteed their legal right to be notified or given the
opportunity to defend themselves in court prior to being bound by restrictions
of the injunction, nor are they provided with an attorney.” The gang
injunctions help target the gang members but they don’t do anything to help get
them off the streets. The gang injunctions only focus on gang members and the
list. However, the law enforcement can view the whole gang as a public nuisance
instead of just aiming at an individual. In the article, Walston states, “The
most effective of these new techniques is perhaps the most novel – enjoining
the gang as a public nuisance” (107). When the whole group is labeled down, it
is easy to identify which ones to get off the streets. As a result, the Gangs
are limited to only certain activity that abides by the law.
We can help reduce gang violence by improving
problem oriented – policing. In LA and Oakland, the policing are not very
developed and that police have a hard time arresting people that need to be
arrested. Police have a hard time arresting gang members because they don’t
know how to gather the right evidence and proof to arrest someone. They have a
hard time because the community and gang members don’t trust them. Gang member’s
experience racial profiling through this and feel upset and want to cause
violence. In the book, Don’t Shoot, Kennedy states, “There is a powerful
conventional wisdom in the law enforcement circles I live in: that these
communities are at uncaring, complicit, corrupt, and destroyed” (Don’t Shoot
18). Communities need to be able to put their trust in the police because
without security; gangs develop it on their own with their set of rules. Gangs
who have a hard time with their problems feel that going to the cops with help
make things better but instead it makes it worst. According to Kennedy, he
states, “You have a problem, you’re not going to the police, your friends
aren’t going to let you go to the police, you’re going to handle it yourself”
(Don’t Shoot 20). Police need a lot help reaching out to gang members with
having to arrest them. The gangs are too afraid of what the cops think that
they go to other gang members for help. Problem oriented – police need to find
better techniques to interact with gang members. Problem oriented – police can
help reduce crime and violence by not profiling to African Americans and
Latinos. Problem oriented – police shouldn’t base their arrest on clothes or
action the individual is doing, they should take notes and be more descriptive
about the actions. Instead problem oriented – police try not to arrest gang
members.
Another
tactic to help reduce gang violence is prevention and intervention programs.
These programs can help gang members get out of gangs and look for something
better for their lives. The prevention and intervention programs would help
them talk about their problems and help find solutions to keep them out of gang
activity. The programs can really change the lives of gangs by supporting them and
taking time to listen to them. One program that helps youth from joining gangs
is “Hope”. The program Hope is a program that was created in 1993 to identify youth
problems such as teen pregnancy, lack of education, and motivation. In the
journal, the author, Tipps states, “Kids at Hope works with law enforcement
agencies, community-based organizations, schools, recreation agencies, and
families to create a holistic, rather than compartmentalized, culture. A
child's development is holistic, and Kids at Hope uses the educational culture
(i.e., school children, teachers, principals, and superintendents) and the
recreational/community culture--including after-school/youth programs offered by YMCAs, park districts, Boys &
Girls clubs and their participants--to institutionalize this belief system”.
The program “Hope” is designed to help young boys and girls get off the streets
and are in a place that is safe and fun. The kids at Hope play a big role into
the program because the kids need to be able to focus on their future instead
of gangs. According to Tipps, she addresses, “Kids at Hope program enhancements are grounded on four critical
assets that children need to have in order to achieve success: (1) an adult
anchor in their life, (2) other caring adults, (3) high and positive
expectations, and (4) opportunities for success. These "four aces"
are the backbone of the Kids at Hope belief system. The more "aces" a
child holds, the greater her or his chances to be successful (Baker &
Tipps, 2003).” These are the four basic goals the kids at Hope try to reach
for. Most of the kids abide by this and seek help and guidance to help improve
themselves and others around them. Also in the book, “Always Running”,
Rodriguez talks about communities trying to help gang members out and keep them
off the streets. Rodriguez states, “The centers offered dropout programs,
welfare assistance, federal job placements, teen mother day care and places for
young people to hang out.” The communities are trying to send good messages to
gang members and trying to help them out. The communities are doing this
because they want to be able to communicate and help build better living
environments for everyone. The prevention and intervention programs can help
gang members get off the streets and out of gangs by supporting them and taking
time to understand and connect with them.
Legitimacy can help reduce
gang violence because it’s all about moral power. The police should use
legitimacy to help shape the behavior of the gang members. When police know how
to use legitimacy correctly, the gang members feel better about themselves
because the police will understand. Legitimacy helps gang members learn how to
control behavior with the help of better law enforcement and authorities. As
soon as gang members know how to use legitimacy, things will be better for law
enforcement and the communities. According to the book, Kennedy states, “The
authorities’’ attitude and language emphasized the offenders’ rationality, that
they could make the right choices, that they were in control of their futures,
that the cops and prosecutors respect them and wanted them to have the
information they needed to make good decisions, that explaining things to learn
to them only fair.” The authorities need to be able to communicate better with
gangs and make gang members feel more comfortable around them. Legitimacy helps
gangs develop this feeling and don’t have to feel afraid of the cops or afraid
of getting arrested. The basic idea of legitimacy is to feel good about you
without dealing with consequences with anyone. In Always Running, an example of legitimacy
is when Rodriguez is talking to Chente and how he changed his life after he
left a gang. Rodriguez states, “Chente impressed me as someone I could learn
from. He was calm, but also street enough to go among all those crazy guys and
know how to handle himself.” Chente helped Rodriguez inspire himself to move
out of being in a gang. The actions, in which Chente did, took an effect on
Rodriguez and made him realize that there is more to life then crime and
violence. Legitimacy is the moral power or behavior in which drives gang
members into being better people.
Gang violence can be stopped through better policing
and prevention and intervention programs. We have all the resources to making this
world a better place. Gang violence can be stopped if we work together building
the communities and law enforcement. When we all work together, problems get solved
and people’s lives will be much happier. We need all possible help even gang members
to help determine the need to make everyone happy.
Worked Cited
Tipps, Christine R. "Kids at
hope all children are capable of success--no exceptions! instead of the preventative philosophy of programs aimed at
children who are 'at risk,' the kids at hope program takes a positive, holistic
approach to youth development." JOPERD--The Journal of Physical
Education, Recreation & Dance 77.1 (2006): 24+. Academic OneFile.
Web. 9 Dec. 2012.
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