How to stop Gang Violence

Kenneth Chan

Ms. M

English 9293

How to stop Gang Violence?

       Can we stop gang violence? There are manygang related crime happening all throughout America, families and communitiesin many cities have suffer from youth lost due to gang violence. Some believegang violence can be stop by using problem oriented policing and through lawenforcement methods, but some disagree and believe in order to stop gangviolence we have to address the root causes and fund more social programs. Thegovernment’s tactics used to approach gang violence does not work. We cannotstop gang violence completely but we can reduce gang related crimes through preventionprograms and social services.

       Even though the law enforcement’s strategiescan reduce gang related-crime, it does not put a stop to crime. David Kennedy,director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control, a professor ofcriminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and an author came upwith the method called Operation Ceasefire. Operation Ceasefire is a method useto approach gang violence in cities with out of control gang problems. In thebook Don’t Shoot, Kennedy states “despiteall the strategizing that had gone into designing Ceasefire, the streets hadjust flipped. Violence was way down. Basically we’d taken the violence out ofthe drug crews. The street drug scene was the next biggest problem, volatile,chaotic and dangerous” (DS 73). According to Kennedy, operation ceasefire was useto apply to the dangerous communities and they did reduce the gang violence inthe neighborhood but they did not affect the drug scene at all. Drug dealing isa big crime that is still going on and it is a huge problem for the lawenforcement. However, to truly stop gang related-crime we have to prevent itfrom happening through funding more social services and prevention programs. Ganginjunctions are a method used to label a gang as a public nuisance. Discussingabout how gang injunction does not work, in the article “Oakland GangInjunction is a False Solution”, Diana Tate Vermeire states, “Thorough reportsfrom the Justice Policy Institute and the Advancement Project conclude that, toprevent violent crime and gang activity, cities need to create job andeducation opportunities and fund social services for at-risk youth. Accordingto Vermeire, the Justice Policy Institute and the Advancement Project came upwith a solution, to prevent violent crime and gang activities from happening,the cities need to provide more job and school opportunities and also fund moresocial services for kids that live in at-risk communities. The techniques useby the law enforcement does help reduce the violence in the communities but tostop gang violence completely is to prevent it from happening through funding moresocial programs for at-risk youth, and providing more job and schoolopportunities to keep kids off the streets.

Wecannot put an end to gang violence through gang injunctions because it does notwork. Examining the civil rights of a person targeted by gang injunctions, ACLUstates, “people targeted by gang injunctions are not guaranteed their legalright to be notified or given the opportunity to defend themselves in courtprior to being bound by restrictions of the injunction, nor are they providedwith an attorney. In addition, gang injunctions do not provide a clear way outfor people who are either mistakenly identified as gang members or for thosewho have turned their lives around. This means that the injunction could followthem for the rest of their life, which can make it more difficult to avoid gangactivity” (105). The first amendment of the constitution states that a personhas the freedom of speech, can associate freely, and one is innocent untilproven guilty. According to ACLU, the people that are targeted by the ganginjunctions have their rights taken away and they are denied the opportunity ofa lawyer to represent them. Gang injunctions does not work when use to approachgang violence because they strip away the civil rights of the person targeted bythe injunction. Another reason why gang injunctions do not work is because law enforcementmistakenly labels people as gang members and the people targeted by theinjunction have a much more difficult time avoiding criminal activity. Thismethod might reduce crime but it challenges the relationship between community andthe law enforcement. Discussing the concerns of civil liberties raised byinjunctions, in the article “GangInjunctions: Fact Sheet from The ACLU of northern California” ACLU states, “Oneof the most troubling aspects is that they often give police overly-broaddiscretion to label people gang members without having to present any evidenceor even charge someone with a crime. Police are left to rely on things likewhat someone looks like, where they live, and who they know. As a result, thereis a great potential for racial profiling, with a particular impact on youngpeople of color” (105). According to ACLU, a major problem is that ganginjunctions give police officers too much power to label someone as a gangmember base on the way the person looks, the neighborhood they live in and thepeople the person is affiliated with. This type of racial profiling is unfairand it makes the relationship between the law enforcement and the communityworse.  There are white gangs other thanblack gangs but the law enforcement only focus on targeting black gang members.The people of the community do not trust the law because of the harassment bythe law enforcement. Discussing how police officers look at people of the community,Timothy Thomas’ brother Terry states, “I mean yeah, there’s a few drug dealer,but you can’t just point them out and say, yeah, he’s a drug dealer. If youaint seen it or know he doin’ it, you cant just point him out. But that’s whatthey was doing. They was just picking you out the crowd“(DS 2). According to Terry,police officers automatically assume one is a drug dealer base on the way theperson looks even though the police did not see them deal drugs. The way policehave been engaging with these communities does not make it any better but itactually makes it worse. Gang injunctions give police too much authority tolabel a person as a gang member. This method does not stop gang violence andthe law enforcement should stop using it because it’s a false solution.

David Kennedy, a professor of Harvard, came upwith the strategy called Operation Ceasefire. Operation ceasefire is a method thatdoes not work because it fails to address the root causes of gang violence.This method reduces gang related crimes but it does not stop the violence, inorder to stop the violence; the root causes needs to be addressed. Talkingabout root causes, in Don’t Shoot, byDavid Kennedy, he states “the deepest commitment to going upstream in ways thatdon’t involve law enforcement comes from people who believe in what’s come tobe called prevention: working on root causes, working on racism, and economicsand education and health care, supporting families, addressing the risk factorsthat travel with kids’ movement into crime, providing treatment and counseling andmentoring” (DS 217). According to David Kennedy, the group called preventionwhich is against the methods of the law enforcement believes that to stop gangviolence we must prevent it from happening, and to do so we must address theroot causes first, discuss about racism in the community, come up with ways toimprove the economy, and address the risk factor that follow kids’ movementinto crime and offer counseling and mentoring to those kids at risk. Examiningthe root causes, in the book AlwaysRunning by Luis J. Rodriquez, Luis experiences racism at a local park inhis neighborhood, “Hey, get out of there – that’s ourseat. Look spic, you can’t sit there!” the American woman yelled. “You don’tbelong here! Understand? This is not your country!” (AR 19). The effect of thisexperience causes Luis’ feeling of being unwelcomed because the society tellshim that his family does not belong here. Racism is a huge factor and is one ofthe root causes that are not addressed. Another example of root causes that arenot address is the educational system. In school, Luis experiences the improperclass placement, “the school separated these two groups by level of education:the professional-class kids were provided with college-preparatory classes; theblue-collar students were pushed into industrial arts.”(AR 84) This type ofclass placement is unfair, because it is based on their status and kids do nothave the option of being born into a rich or poor family. Students don’t evenhave a chance to choose the field they want to be in and they have their futurealready planned for them. Education is one of the root causes that are notaddressed. Operation Ceasefire is a method that does not work when use toapproach gang violence because it fails to address the root causes. To trulystop gang violence, we have to address the root causes and find a solution forthem.

Fundingmore social services and prevention programs are solutions for at-risk youth indangerous neighborhoods. Luis J. Rodriquez talks about how he felt while attendinga community center in his neighborhood. Rodriquez states, “the BienvenidosCommunity Center hired Chente Ramirez. His credentials included a lifetime inthe White Fence barrio in East L.A. – known as the oldest “street gang” in thecountry. But Chente managed to avoid gang involvement, went to school…Chenteimpressed me as someone I could learn from. He was calm, but also street enoughto go among all those crazy guys and know how to handle himself. I wanted to beable to do this too. I looked up to him, but not as a big brother. He wassomeone who could influence me without judging me morally or telling me what todo” (AR 114). Luis was attending the Bienvenidos community program, where theyhired Chente. Chente was an ex-gang member that went to school and worked tosupport his family. Chente impress Luis because he is able to avoid ganginvolvement and also did well in school. Luis looked up to him because he feelsthat he can relate to Chente because he is also involved with a gang. Chente isan example of how he can also change his lifestyle and do the things he want todo, looking at Chente gave him the inspiration to do so. This is proof of how socialprograms can help prevent kids from engaging with gang related crime because ithelps them realize the potential they have. Social programs with ex-gangmembers as community directors can give at-risk youth something to relate toand they feel more comfortable working with them. Examining the school basedprevention program, in the article “Evaluation of the Gang Resistance andTraining program”, by Alison L. Ramsey states, “a community based gangprevention/intervention program is the Neutral Zone. This is a program designedin Washington state that offers youths, who are either at-risk of joining agang or already a member, an alternative for spending their time more productively.This is a late evening program that provides recreational and social serviceactivities on Friday and Saturday nights. When evaluated through anaccountability study, this program was found to be an effective method to theapproaches that rely on curfews and police to control gang activity”(Evaluation of the Gang Resistance and Training program). According to Ramsey,Neutral Zone is a late evening program created to provide youths who are eithera gang member or at risk of joining a gang, an alternative to spend their timemore wisely. This program offers recreational and social service activities andis evaluated to be an effective method. Cities with uncontrollable gangproblems need to consider funding more social programs similar to Neutral Zonebecause it encourages at-risk youth to spend time more productively. Theseprevention programs also provide kids with recreational activities so they areless likely to engage with gang-related activities. To stop gang violence,creating more social services and prevention programs is the correct solutionto curb increased gang related-crimes.

       Can we stop gang violence? The answer isno, but we can definitely reduce the amount of crime that is happening.Thecurrent law enforcement methods use to fight gang violence are not working,they need to consider using different style of techniques to actually stop gangviolence. Gang injunctions do not work because it gives police too much power.Operation Ceasefire does not work because it fails to address the root causes. Whatis proven to work is funding more social services and prevention programs.Society has been greatly impacted by gangs, and the levels of gang activitiesare way worse than it was before. We cannot stop gang violence completely butwe can reduce gang related crimes through prevention programs and socialservices.

Works Cited

Kennedy, David M. Don’t Shoot. One Man, AStreet Fellowship, and The End of Violence in Inner-City America. NewYork: Bloomsbury USA, 2011. Print.

Ramsey, Alison L. “Evaluation of the GangResistance and Training (Great) program: a school based prevention program.”Education. 1242 (winter 2003): p297. From Academic OneFile.

Rodriquez, Luis J. Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. New York:Touchstone books, 2005. Print.

ACLU. “Gang Injunctions: Fact Sheet from The ACLUof Northern California”

Vermeire, Diana Tate. “Oakland Gang Injunction is aFalse Solution” SF Chronicle. 26 May, 2010.

Still Searching for a Perfect Method to Stop Gang Violence

Lauren Leung

        The country has fought for decades to stop gang violence. We have tried many methods to stop it. In some places, gang-related crime rates have dropped after the government introduced some methods to address gang violence. However, is gang violence actually disappearing in the country? The answer is, no. Gangs still exist and gang violence still exist. We can only reduce the gang violence. We cannot stop gang violence because all methods to address gang violence have their weaknesses which cannot solve the problem completely.

        Even though problem-oriented policing can reduce gang violence, it cannot make sure the gangs are going to stop. In the book Don’t Shoot, by David Kennedy, who uses problem-oriented policing as a base and promotes the project “Operation Ceasefire” to fix the trouble communities, shares his journey about stopping gang violence. According to Kennedy, problem-oriented policing is basically solving problems by “picking a problem, researching it, finding partners, and figuring out a way to fix it” (31). Writing about the success of problem-oriented policing, Kennedy proves that Operation Ceasefire works as a method to reduce gang violence. For example, he promotes Operation Ceasefire High Point, a place that is suffering from serious gang problem. After Kennedy’s team had worked on it, Kennedy states that, “there hasn’t been a homicide, a shooting, or a reported rape in the West End since May 18, 2004. It’s been six and a half years, as I write this. The community has its streets back. People started going outside, using the parks, fixing up their houses” (183). Kennedy believes that problem-oriented policing is really useful to stop gang violence. It can completely break down the gang and give the streets back to the community. However, determining whether problem-oriented policing works or not, it is really based on the gangs themselves. Therefore, if the gangs are not willing to compromise, problem-oriented policing will not work. The people who work with problem-oriented policing do not recommend using law enforcement to lock people up. They believe solving the root causes of the problem is the only way to stop gang violence. Kennedy states that “there was no conceivable way to do so with ordinary law enforcement, no way to crack the one-in-fifteen-thousand program. But it could be done another way: get a drug case ready to go, and then don’t arrest the dealer. Tell him that if he starts selling again the case would be activated and he’d be picked up, without any new investigation or a single bit of new evidence.” (160) Kennedy tells the police not to arrest the drug dealers even if they have all the evidences which prove they are breaking the law. He believes that gang members will listen and make the right choices to stop making mistakes. Thus, the choices are on the gang members’ hands; they can pick to continue what they are doing and take the risk to be sent to the jail or get off from the streets. However, sometimes to stop or not to stop may not be the gang members’ choice. In The Dream Shattered, Patrick Du Phuoc Long, who is a Vietnamese counselor trying to help the Indochinese youths, discusses the reasons of Indochinese children staying in gangs. Long explains that in the gangs, there are the people called “Big Brother” who control the younger members. He states that “the Big Brother’s greatest skill lies in his ability to create a fanatical loyalty in the younger members who come under his spell. As he initiates his young charges into the world of crime, the Big Brother orders them to deny any knowledge of him in the event that the group is caught engaged in criminal activity” (107). According to the “Big Brother rule”, the younger gang members are always those who are committing crimes on the streets for the Big Brother. They are loyal to the Big Brother; hence, they think that it is a glory to do something for the Big Brother. They have no choice but continue committing crimes and drugs dealing. Even if the younger gang members are arrested, there are other gang members to do their jobs. As a result, we can never stop gang violence with this. It is clear that problem-oriented policing do not work everywhere and there’s no way to make sure if it will work because it’s based on the gang members.

        Besides problem-oriented policing, the court uses gang injunctions to stop gang violence. Even though gang injunctions can stop gangs from hanging out in the public, they do not help the gang members to get a new life. So they will find other ways, which can be illegal, to live their life. Gang injunctions are court orders restricting targeted gang members’ activities to avoid their chances involving in gang-related crimes. In the article “Oakland’s Gang Injunction Is a Chance to Save Lives”, the authors, John Russo and Anthony Batts explains that gang injunctions are effective because “it would prevent them from hanging out together in public and from being on the street between 10 p.m. and 5 p.m. When members of the gang are caught committing crimes they are often together, and it is often during late night hours” (1). Russo and Batts believe that the gang members are all forced to stay home and there will be no more gang violence; this is only possible for a small group of gangs. However, in this modern society, the gang members can still keep in touch with the gangs even if they are restricted to stay out of the street. For example, online network is a really good source to keep in touch with gang-related crimes. In the article “The War on Gangs”, the author Alex Kingsbury states that “wherever they operate, gangs are increasingly turning to computers and the Internet. Often behind password-protected sites, they post photo-graphs of their own gang signs, colors, and tattoos. Police even report that some gangs are using their websites to take positions on local political issues” (n.pag.). Kingsbury explains how the gang members can still involve in gangs. Therefore, gang injunctions can only get the gang members “out of the streets” but do not truly get them out of the gang. Moreover, the targeted gang members’ activities are restricted but with the online network, they can get new members to commit crimes for them. The gang injunctions do not solve the root causes and stop the gangs from reforming. On the other hand, there is an “opt-out” system that can let the targeted gang members who have turned their life around to get removed from the injunction list. However, the procedures are very complicated which they may have to be restricted for their whole life. In the article, “No Way Out: An Analysis of Exit Process of GangInjunctions”, from California Law Review, the author Lindsay Crawford investigates the process of “opt-out”. Crawford states that “community members and local leaders inquired further, asking whether former gang members had any success removing their names from injunctions. The answer was startling: in the entire history of the Los Angeles experience with civil gang injunctions, no gang member had ever successfully removed his or her name from an injunction” (162). Crawford explains that only Los Angeles and San Francisco provide an unofficial way to get removed from the list. In other words, for most of the places that only provide the official “opt-out”, the gang members are not going to be removed even they have turned their life around already. In the article “Gang Injunctions: Fact Sheet from the ACLU of Northern California”, ACLU claims that since there are no way for the gang members to get back to the normal life without being labeled as gang members, “the injunction could follow them the rest of their life, which can make it more difficult to avoid gang activity.” (1) ACLU believes that the government is giving no way out for the gang members are just going to push them back to the street life or in another form to be in gangs. The gang members need to make money for life; therefore, being in gangs and committing crimes may be the only way that they can live their life. Therefore, instead of forcing the gang members out from the street, the government should solve the root causes which truly get them out of the gangs.

        In the meantime, to solve the root causes of gang violence, the government provides other methods. Even though social services can help the gang members with job and education opportunities, not all the gang members who wanted to turn their life around can receive help. Writing about the success of social services, ACLU states that “Los Angeles has numerous gang injunctions – more than any other city, yet lost more than 10,000 youth to gang violence in the last 20 years. New York is a major city with the potential for serious gang problems, yet in 2005 Los Angeles had more than 11,000 gang-related crimes, while New York faced 520. What has been shown to work at reducing violence and gang activity is funding social services” (1). ACLU provides the data that New York, where works on funding social service rather than gang injunctions, is being more successful than Los Angeles in reducing gang violence. When the gang members get jobs, they don’t have to stay on the street all the time; they can actually get out of the gangs. However, not every single gang members can receive help from the social services. For example, “call-in” is one of the programs that gather the gang members in a room and notice them they can provide job and education opportunities. Kennedy also participates in setting up a call-in. The Operation Ceasefire team sends letters to the gang members to invite them to the call-in; however, he states that “we didn’t know if anybody would show up. Probationers and parolees ignore their terms and conditions all the time and hardly anything ever happens to them.”(63) The team’s jobs are just sending out letters and wait for gang members to come to the meeting; hence, there is a possibility that no one will show up. They are at a passive position where not all the gang members can receive the messages to stop gang violence and receive help. In addition, Ali Winston, the author of “Proposed Oakland Gang Injunctions May Complicate Anti-Gang Efforts”, states that “City documents indicate call-ins have suffered from a perception that the program is a set-up to being put on an injunction list” (1). Winston explains gang members may not show up to the call-in because they are scared that it is a set up; in other words, the gang members think that if they show up to the call-in, it means that they admit they are gang members and get arrested. As a result, gang violence cannot be stop because the gang members do not trust the government is actually being here to help; the gang members are just going to stay in where they are and keep involving in gang violence.

        Last, prevention program can prevent future gang members from forming; even though prevention programs can prevent kids from joining gangs, it takes too long that the current problems are not solved. Long interviews one of the Indochinese high school students observes that “we have been treated like outsiders. We haven’t been accepted by the American culture. Gangs allow us to identify with something” (qtd. in Long 100). According to the high school student, providing more care and help to the students to stay in school is necessary. The government should fix the education system and put the students into the class level which is suitable for them. School should work on accepting the students who are the minority groups; therefore, they are not going to drop out of school due to the failure in classes and losing connection to the school. However, discussing the effectiveness of prevention program in education, Kennedy states that “let’s say it’ll take fifteen years to completely retool the public schools so they work for the most disadvantaged kids in our most disadvantaged communities: wildly optimistic, but let’s say. Let’s say it’ll take another fifteen years to get the first wave of kids through the new schools so they hit their years of peak risk immunized to the violence. That means we live with all this for another three decades. At best” (212). Kennedy explains that to fix the education system is going to take too long that we should work on solving the current gang violence problem. Taking fifteen years to stop the gang violence is not worthy; instead, using the other methods to stop the current gang violence is even better. Meanwhile, there are afterschool program to keep the kids out of gangs. However, in Always Running, Luis J. Rodriguez, who was a former gangster in L.A., claims that it’s not as easy to get out of the gang because of peer pressure; he states that “I thought about the globe. Chente was right. A bigger world awaited me. But I also knew: Once you’re in Las Lomas, you never get out – unless you’re dead.” (236) Chente, who is the “teacher” among the Mexican study group, tries to get Rodriguez out of the gang. Rodriguez knows that he should live a normal life but his friends are all in gangs, thus he can’t leave the gang or he is betraying his friends. In other words, even though there are prevention program for the students, other than the problem – it takes too long to see the result, it also base on the kids’ choices.

        The government is thinking as many methods as they could think of to stop the gang violence; however, there isn’t a perfect method which can stop gang violence completely. Gangs are still going to exist in the community. We have to live with the gangs. Nevertheless, reducing the gang violence to a point where we can live comfortable with it is possible. We have to work with the government, trusting the government to help fighting with gang violence. Consequently, it is not going to be a problem that threatening our safety in the community.

Works Cited

Kennedy, David M. Don’t Shoot. One Man, A Street Fellowship, and The End of Violence in

        Inner-City America. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2011. Print.

Kingsbury, Alex. “The War on Gangs.” U.S. News & World Report 145. 13 (2008): 33-36.

EBSCOhost. Web. 1 Dec. 2012.

Long, Patrick D. The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America. Boston:

Northeastern University Press, 1997. Print.

Rodriguez, Luis J. Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. New York:

Touchstone books, 2005. Print.

Can We Stop Gang Violence?

Wenjing Situ (Bernice)

                    Can We stop gang violence?

Gang violence is a big problem in this society and it is harmful to the people, family and communities. We need to stop gang violence for safety, but I don’t think we can stop gang violence. Some people think we can stop gang violence because they think gang injunctions try to figure it out the gang problem and they work. I disagree with it, such as gang injunctions give police too much power to label gang members, they are too board and the homicide rate is not lower. We can’t stop gang violence because there are still too much problems from the family, society and law enforcement that the gang injunctions cannot control.

     We can't stop gang violence because gang injunctions don't work. For example, Gang injunctions give too much power to police to label gang members. Police detain people for no reasons even though the people did not do anything wrong. In "always running", a deputy work in the Temple City sheriff's station stated, "We have a plan here. We detain every seven-year-old boy in your neighborhood. Curfew, Loitering...whatever we can. Then we keep their names. Keep track of them over the years. Soon we've picked them up for other things — stealing, fighting, mischief...(72)" The people gotten catch for no reasons is unfair to them because they don't do anything wrong and the police try to find reasons for detaining the people. Detaining any kids is not a good way to stop gang violence and this action make people mad so they don't believe the police and the law. Also, they try to protect themselves for joining gang because they don't think police and law can protect them. Furthermore, police label gang members rely on what the people look like, where they live, and who they know. In "Gang Injunctions: Fact Sheet from The ACLU of Northern California", ACLU states, "One of the most troubling aspect is that they often give police overly-broad discretion to label people gang members without having to present any evidence or even charge someone with a crime. Police are left to rely on things like what someone looks like, where they live, and who they know(105).” The police has too much power which makes the gang injunction unfair to the people who are consider gang members. It would just created a racial profiling between the people and the police. The gang injunction doesn't work because it could only keep the society safe for a while, but in long term, it would just get worse because people don't get their chance to start fresh due to the restriction of gang injunction. Police treating certain color of people as gang members will just create a racist phenomena in the society. This phenomena can not be continue because it is bad. Everyone is created equal no matter what skin color they possessed. The gang injunction doesn't work out because the police possess too much power to determine who is a gang member and who is not. People don't trust the police and law is a big problem in this society.

     Family don't give enough motivation to the kids for staying far away form the gangs and they don't know how to teach their children. Family is most important to help the kids stay far away from gangs and the one kids could rely on. Most of the immigrant parents have to work all the time so parents don't have time to know what their child needs and does. Parents can't motivate their child to study hard because they don't know how. In "Always Running", Luis states," One day, I made 100 bucks working a weekend on the graveyard shift at one of the docks in the warehouse district. I took it home and placed it on the dining table in front of my mother but Mama stood up, took the $100 and threw it in my face. Dollar bills, fives and 20s fluttered around me like green-and-black birds.'you can't buy my love,' she yelled in Spanish. 'You can't show respect with this money. I don't want it — I don't want anything from you!"(82) Luis earned money and gave it to his mom. But all his mom did was throwing it away. This action broke Luis's heart and it somehow enlarge the distance between him and his mother. Parents don't offer their children chances to make up from their mistakes and instead keep pushing them down in to the abyss.In "The dream shattered" Patrick Du Phuo Long states, "Giau was sent to a 'Ranch,' a juvenile rehabilitation and correction facility, for six months. One week after he was released he ran away from home again. Obviously Giau did not have the same routine every night,' but his single mother, who was never home ar night, had no way of knowing this. She worked all night in an assembly plant and slept during the day." (The dream shattered, 83)Parents didn't even know Giau went to a juvenile center because they have been working all night. Many immigrant parents work all day for money so they don't have enough time to care about their kids. Kids use their freedom in an incorrect way ,such as hanging out with bad friends. Family's attention and motivation is important to kids to be far away from gangs. Even though the parents need to work because of earning money, they still need to spend time to care about their children and give their children enough attention. Maybe lots of parents want to know their children more, but they have no choice, they need to work for money and life. 

     Many kids put the guns up because they are fear but we can't make everybody out of fear. In "Don't shoot", David M. Kennedy, the person who tries to stop gang violence, states, " They think they need to protect themselves because nobody else is doing it. Then you have a lot of kids with guns, and shit happens. They're scared, they want out, but they don't want to lose face. "(50) The kids are scared by the street because they think nobody is protecting them so they protect themselves by guns. There are too much dangers on the street, such as somebody stealing, shooting on the street and beating the people down. We can't hundred-percent stop the people doing something wrong so we can't make people put down the guns for protection. In addition, Kennedy also states, "The gangs see the cops putting their friends facedown on the street, they think, The police don't like black people, they don't see how hard they're trying to protect the community, how scared they are, somebody shot at them last week but they held their fire, they're still shaking, they know what they're doing isn't working but they can't think of anything else."(129) They didn't like the police, didn't trust them. Also they don't go to the law when they need help because they don't believe in the law. The relationship between the police and the people is too bad so people choose to protect themselves. Even though lots of police are trying to protect the community, there are still few police uses their power to do something wrong, such as catch someone for no reasons. We can't stop gang violence because we can't make people out of fear.

     Every grown adult has gone through the growing process, so, every parent tries to watch their kid when kids are going through adolescence because they know kids are immature, and will make mistake. Gang violation will not be stopped because each kid has to go through adolescence. Adolescence is part of our life. There is no way parents could stop kids from making wrong decision.  According to article"US Supreme Court should give juveniles the chance to prove they've changed", Gregory J. Boyle states, "Every parents knows the treacherous waters of their kid’s adolescence: immaturity, testing, peer pressure and a susceptibility to negative influences." Every parent knows their child will go through the treacherous adolescence period because parents themselves had the exact same experience when they are little kid. Parents is not able to stop kid from making mistakes because parents is not with the kid twenty-four hour a day. Parents have to let their children make their own mistake and learn from it so they won’t do it again. Giving them a suitable lecture of the definition of good student might help kid avoid making wrong decision. Making mistake when we are young is acceptable because kids are immature, kids didn't know they have to take responsibility of their action until they grow order and become more mature. Gang violation can’t be stopped because every kid make mistake like joining the gang. Kids think joining the gang, fighting the other gang members and taking drugs make them look cool. Kids are induced easily because they are not mature enough to make the right decision. Once they realize they make a mistake, they will certainly know the consequence and will not do it again. Overall, most reason kids decided to join gang is because they are immature, they think that joining the gang could earn easy money, look cool and possess authority. Gang violation cannot be stopped because kids are induced easily when they are going through adolescence, they can’t make the correct decision to stay away from the gang. The only way to get the kids out of the gang is to let them make their own mistake and learn from it so they won’t do it again. They will certainly become more mature after each mistake they made and will become a true mature adult. 

     There are still too much problems in this society, family, and law enforcement. Kids joining gangs for lots of reason, money, power, attention, respect, so everyone has their responsibility to stop gang violence. We should respect everyone, even though they have different color, language, life. Family should to give the kids enough attention and encourage the kids study even though so they can stay far away from the gangs. Police and law should protect the kids, so they don’t need to protect themselves by joining gang. Also, we need to give them opportunity to have a good job so they don’t need to join gang for money. Even though we can’t stop gang violence completely, we can try our best to lower the gang violence.

                         Works Cited

Boyle, Gregory J. "US Supreme Court should give juveniles the chance to prove they've changed." National Catholic Reporter 30 Mar. 2012: 26. Gale Power Search. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.

Can We Stop Gang Violence?

Mandy Deng

Instructor Minkowski

English 9293

05 December 2012

Can We Stop Gang Violence?

            Gangs are a major problem in society. They are found everywhere from countries to cities to neighborhoods of every size. They are groups of young adults who participate in criminal activities which involve violent acts such as – forms of illegal behavior, murder, gun crimes, and drug dealing. Gangs are formed by young adults of all types of race, sex, and age gathering together to create groups due to many different reasons which vary between each individual. The reasons why kids join gangs may include: alienation, power, family, pressure, benefits a gang can provide to their gang members, the community, and the neighborhood kids grow up in can influence them to join gangs. For example, Patrick Du Phuoc Long, author of the book “The Dream Shattered,” interviews a teen who immigrated to America with his family from Vietnam. The teen stated, “I come home from school and nobody is ever home. I am hungry and no one is ever there to make my food… I feel lonely. And a lot of times hungry” (Long 82). Long, a counselor in California acknowledges the fact that family is one of the main reasons why kids join gangs. Kids turn to gangs because they lack love and support from their family. In many cases, kids find that gangs provide them with the love and support they do not receive from their family as well as feeling safe in a group where many other kids feel the same way. The gang activities that gang members participate in may be disruptive to many neighborhoods and residents, therefore, communities search for many methods that can curb gang crime. They seek help from methods such as Prevention programs and gang injunctions. These programs target individuals from certain neighborhoods and perform ways they believe will help stop gang violence. We cannot stop gang violence completely because the misunderstanding between gang members and the community leads to inequality, racial profiling, and civil liberty violations; but we are able to reduce gang crime by improving these problems that are causing the misunderstandings.

            Even though we cannot stop gang violence completely, we can reduce gang crime by understanding the misunderstandings that causes inequality toward gang members, providing a solution to racial profiling, and repairing troubled aspects which violates civil liberties. In order to reduce gang violence, we must first address the root causes of gang crime and violence. The American Civil Liberty Union explains in an article, “Gang Injunctions: Fact Sheet from The ACLU of Northern California,” that gang injunctions are one of the reasons that causes these misunderstanding toward gang members because they do not address root problems before targeting a gang: “Political pressure to adopt prevention and intervention solutions for a community to stop the criminalization of individuals, while providing real services and solutions that address the root causes of crime and violence” (106). The organization believes that providing solutions to address root causes of a gang while funding services that may help young adults receive jobs and educational opportunities can reduce gang violence because this will prevent people to join gangs. However, while we have proof that we can reduce gang crime and violence, there is strong evidence that proves gang violence cannot be stopped. For example, gang injunctions play a big part in why people turn to gangs. Once someone is targeted in an injunction, it could be hard for them to avoid joining a gang because gang injunctions do not provide a way out for individuals. The evidence provided proves that not only will it be impossible to stop gang violence completely; it can possibly increase gang crime in communities. According to the American Civil Liberty Union, “Many gang injunctions do not provide a clear way out for people who are either mistakenly identified as gang members or for those who have turned their lives around. This means that the injunction could follow them for the rest of their life, which can make it more difficult to avoid gang activity” (105). The misapprehension that gang injunctions bring to many people may affect the entire community because they can lead non gang members into becoming a gang member. This brings community residents at risk due to more gang violence and gang intimidation; hence, these misunderstandings between gangs and communities may increase. It is clear that gang violence is impossible to curb completely, but we can reduce gang crime only if we can refine the problems that causes the problems between gangs and communities.

            First off, gang injunctions must improve their method for solving gang crime in order to receive positive results. Although gang injunctions reduce crime and demonstrate positive affect in some neighborhoods, they don’t address gang crime well enough which increases civil liberties concerns for many gang members because their civil rights are being violated. They also allowed police to have the power to label a person as a gang member which leads to racial profiling and inequality. Discussing the effectiveness of gang injunctions, John Russo and Anthony Batts, author of the article, “Gang Injunctions Is a Chance to Save Lives,” states, “This injunction will empower residents, help take back our streets and reduce the number of bullets fired wildly in our neighborhoods. It defines the community’s right to peace and safety, while safeguarding legal rights fundamental to our system of justice” (120). Russo and Batts argues that gang injunctions are a great opportunity to change gang members and change communities. They address how gang injunctions help our streets by reducing the number of bullets fired in neighborhoods. It helps define the community’s rights and brings safety to the area. However, while gang injunctions are demonstrating positive affect in some neighborhoods, there is information which proves that injunctions are violating ones’ civil right: “People targeted by gang injunctions are not guaranteed their legal rights… or given the opportunity to defend themselves” (ACLU 105). Gang injunctions violate a person’s civil rights by not allowing them to defend themselves when individuals’ are proven innocent. This emphasizes that people are facing inequality due to injunctions being unfair by limiting a person’s rights. Another example of the ineffectiveness in a gang injunction is when racial profiling occurs in the injunction. Gang Injunctions allow police to have the power to label someone as a gang member without any proof or evidence. The ACLU observes, “One of the troubling aspects is that they give police overly-broad discretion to label people gang members without having to present any evidence or even charge someone with a crime... As a result, there is a great potential for racial profiling, with a particular impact on young people of color” (105). Often times, racial profiling occurs because police assumes that people are a gang member based on their race, where they live, and who they hang out with. The evidence provides a great illustration of how gang injunctions demonstrate racism. Also, racial profiling often arises toward Latino and black gangs. While many Latino and black gangs are listed in an injunction list, there is evidence that shows that no white gangs are being documented. David Kennedy, author of, “Don’t Shoot,” reports that white gangs are usually not targeted by an injunction: “The white folks drive in and buy dope, but they’re not getting arrested and their doors aren’t getting kicked in” (DS 131). Kennedy acknowledges the fact that white gangs are doing exactly the same acts as Latino and black gangs, but is not being punished for what they are doing. He notes that white gang members are drug dealing without being arrested, whereas, other race gang members are being arrested and documented on an injunction list for doing the same things. Moreover, this causes misunderstandings between gang members and gang injunctions because members feel that gang injunctions are unfair and racist. Gang injunctions are not a convincing way to approach gangs because they are unable to provide fair and positive results. Many communities feel that law enforcement officials, who are involved in the injunctions, fail to help or improve neither communities nor gangs and they are damaging the communities even more. Ali Winston, author of “Proposed Oakland Gang Injunctions May Complicate Anti-Gang Efforts,” reports that Oakland was awarded the help from Operation Ceasefire also known as a “call-in” which targets gang members who are on probation or parole. While Operation Ceasefire’s call-ins’ were operating, gang injunctions were issued to the same communities as the call-ins’. This means both the call-ins’ and the gang injunction interfered which made residents think that the call-ins’ were just a set up: “’Injunctions were issued in the same neighborhood as the call-ins’ and rumors were circulating that ‘the call-ins’ was a set up for being put on the injunction list” (114). Oakland residents felt that they were awarded the call ins’ only to be set up in the injunction list. This caused many residents to think otherwise about the call-ins’ as well as the gang injunctions. Residents and the City’s attorney also feel that not only does gang injunctions do not work but they are also wasting the city’s money while this method does not curb any violence.  These examples clearly justify that gang injunctions is an improper method of stopping gang crime but can be fixed to reduce and prevent gang violence. This can be repaired by correcting trouble aspects involving racial profiling and violations toward someone’s rights.

            Prevention programs for gangs have been established in many communities to prevent and reduce gang crime. Even though we cannot completely curb gang violence, we can reduce gang crime with prevention programs by addressing the issues that leads young adults into gangs. They protect individuals without threatening the community’s safety by providing jobs and educational opportunities to people who are in need of it. An example on how prevention programs are an effective method to reduce gang crime is confirmed in a journal article, “Impact of a Comprehensive Whole Child Intervention and Prevention Program among Youths at Risk of Gang Involvement and Other Forms of Delinquency,” author, Stephen Koffman notes, “…prevention program in Los Angeles, targets at-risk students by using a systemic, whole child approach--a holistic perspective in which all aspects of a child are treated and supported. JIPP instills positive change in students' behavior, academic performance, and family interactions and builds psychosocial and emotional coping skills… The macro goal is to provide clear, coherent, and supportive interventions that will enable students to experience success in school, in the home, and in the community. The micro goals are to reduce suspension rates, behavioral referrals, dropout rates, truancy, and gang activity” (n. pag.) He observes prevention programs that mainly target young adults who are in school and to prevent kids from participating in gang-related activities. The method they use to prevent kids from participating in gang-related activities is to reduce dropout rates and suspension rates. Gang prevention programs approach kids with treat and support; therefore, it makes it easier for them to reduce gang violence because this makes kids feel that prevention programs are reliable. In the book, “Always Running,” Luis Rodriguez explains how a prevention program can reduce gang crime by hiring a former gang member to advise and help kids out of gangs. Rodriguez writes, “…the Bienvenidos Community Center hired Chente Ramirez. His credentials included a lifetime in the White Fence barrio in East L.A. – known as the oldest ‘street gang’ in the country. But Chente managed to avoid gang involvement…” (113). Rodriguez decided to join a community center where they hired Chente, a former gang member from the country’s oldest “street gang.” Chente was someone who was able to avoid gang involvement by going to school and working; this influenced Rodriguez to look up to him as a role model. Rodriguez wanted to be like Chente because he felt that Chente was someone he could learn from: “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. He didn’t need to act bad to operate. He was the kind of dude who could get the best from the system – education, karate training – without being a snitch or giving in. I wanted to be able to do this too” (114). Rodriguez was a kid who immigrated from Mexico to America; he was treated poorly and face inequality as well as discrimination. He joined a gang because he wanted to have the power to bully someone instead of being bullied. After meeting Chente from a community center, Rodriguez realized that he does not want to be in a gang in order to have power. He was impressed by Chente because Chente did not have to be in gang in order to operate and have the power to protect himself. The prevention programs assist youths in withdrawing themselves from a gang by slowly breaking down a kid’s gang involvement habit. It is definite that prevention programs can help prevent and reduce gang crime by addressing the root causes of gang violence and why kids join gangs.

            In conclusion, kids join gangs due to many major reasons; but we are able to prevent and reduce individuals from involving in gang crime and gang violence. In order to do so, we must improve and solve the problems that are causing the misunderstandings between gang members and communities. This means gang injunctions need to work on providing further and better understandings of the root causes of gang crime and gang violence as well as correcting some troubled aspects that involves in the injunctions before approaching any individual. However, prevention programs should be enhanced in more communities because they provide better results for the gang members and communities!

Works Cited

Koffman, Stephen, et. al. “Impact of a Comprehensive Whole Child Intervention and

            Prevention Program among Youths at Risk of Gang Involvement and

            Other Forms of Delinquency.” Children & Schools. 31 (2009): 239-245.

            Consumer Health Complete. Web. 06 Dec. 2012.

           

           

           

Stopping Gang Violence

          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.