Criminal
Mar. 3, 2006
To Care for Society, Gangs Need a Say in Its Policies
The present response to combating gangs and gang violence is ineffectual. Hiring more police officers and stiffening criminal penalties for gang related offenses is akin to mowing one's lawn. Gangsters are, with varying degrees of frequency, taken off the street, but their ranks are invariably replenished with new members, who often go on to commit new offenses.
The present response to combating gangs and gang violence is ineffectual. Hiring more police officers and stiffening criminal penalties for gang related offenses is akin to mowing one's lawn. Gangsters are, with varying degrees of frequency, taken off the street, but their ranks are invariably replenished with new members, who often go on to commit new offenses.
If the cycle and, more pointedly, the connection between gangs and gang violence is to be broken, it won't come from hiring more police or lengthening prison sentences. Rather, it will come from recognizing that gangs are here to stay and working with them to reduce gang violence.
The first step in this direction is to legitimize gangs and invite their leadership into the political process. The idea is neither novel nor without a rough historical comparison to the Irish Republican Army and Sinn Fein. Internal forces within an organization are inherently better suited to initiate change than reactive forces such as law enforcement. The problem is that presently there are few incentives to promote change from within.
Integrating gangs into the political process requires a candid acknowledgment that they can't be stamped out. Largely drawn from the underclass, gangs fill a vacuum for many youngsters who grow up without a solid social support structure. In the simplest terms, the gang represents a surrogate family. It provides acceptance, friendship, support and structure.
Whatever well-intentioned efforts might be made to pour money into social programs and schools, social workers and teachers can never fully or reasonably be expected to supplant the role of a functioning family.
Despite its best efforts, government will never eliminate the underlying reality of dysfunctional families, or abandoned, abused and neglected children. Some subset of these children have always and will continue to search for and find acceptance in gangs. As a result, gangs are destined to remain a permanent social fixture.
Increased criminal penalties do not affect this reality or, presently, the conduct of those who join gangs. One prosecutor suggested that if gang members knew the penalties attached to using guns, they would go back to using sticks, knives and fists. But the continuing prevalence, if not epidemic, of firearm-related assaults suggests that the rational calculus of prison exposure is of little significance to gang members.
What is of significance is respect. Whether on the street or in prison, respect is among the most important values to gangs and their members. It is also the quality politicians have most ferociously denied gangs. Instead of recognizing the validation, self-esteem, sense of identity and even discipline gangs often provide their members, the political establishment has chosen to trade on the admittedly abundant negatives.
A proposal to legitimize gangs is not a call to forgive or indulge violence. Violent acts, irrespective of the identity of the culprit or gang affiliation, warrant punishment. At the same time, it is appropriate to recognize a distinction between gang membership and gang violence.
Further, gang participation in the political process might be tied to commitments to foreswear violence or surrender weapons. In exchange, gangs would receive a measure of recognition they've formerly been denied and gain a position to advance the interests of their members. To give voice to the underclass, in whatever form, cannot fairly be considered a bad thing.
Of course, the process would be filled with distrust and the risk of recrimination on both ends, and the question remains whether the risk is worth the potential reward. Since criminal prosecutions need not be sacrificed or compromised, the principle risk would seemingly involve establishment pride, a seemingly trivial cost.
Moreover, most communities would agree that our efforts to date have largely failed us and gang members. In the final analysis, sooner or later we must recognize that gangs are here to stay. The choice is ours, whether we wish to continue a policy of hostility or seek reconciliation and cooperation.
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