Gang Watch

He doesn’t
want to reveal his name. We’ll call him “Jose”.
He was 12 when he joined a gang. Jose says, “I’m looking
at them like, ‘Do I really want to do this?’ And they’re
like, ‘If you’re going to do it you’ve got to
say yes, you don’t think about it.’”

Saying yes meant a three-minute beating from four older gang
members. He says, “They only give you three chances to fall
down. After the third one, you got jumped for being stupid.” He
didn’t fall down. He was beaten and bloody, but he made it
into the gang.

Police say at first, gangs hide the crime and violence from their
new recruits. Corporal Edward Campuzano, a gang officer with the
Cobb County Police Department in Georgia says,

“To them it’s one big party. What they don’t
realize a lot of times, is that it might be like that at the beginning,
but if you stay focused on that gang and you progressively get
older, you’re progressively required to do other things and
start committing crimes and start giving back to that gang.”

He says parents should explain to kids that “giving back
to the gang means” fighting, stealing, and killing people.
Corporal Campuzano says, “That’s when it doesn’t
become appealing to them and they try to get out, and they can’t
get out because now they have to take what is known to them as
a beat out.” It’s a beating to get out of the
gang. Jose says, during the beating, gang members could use any
weapon but a gun. Often kids die….others barely live. Jose
says, “Usually I know guys paralyzed for life…sipping
through straws.”

So Jose left the gang, but he was never “beat out.” Now… and
maybe forever…he is forced to hide.

Jose is now 19-years-old. He never finished school, never learned
to control his temper, and has been fired from several jobs. That’s
why he’s hoping his story will keep others out of a gang.

Gangs are the new mafia, and their organization systems resemble
traditional Cosa Nostra operations. Gang crime runs the spectrum of
offenses, including underage drinking, extortion, prostitution, drug
manufacturing and distribution, and murder. National gang organizations,
with infamous names like Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings, often send
trusted lieutenants to cities across the country to establish local
chapters, called “sets.” Consider the following:

• Gang violence is not an urban problem or a rural problem, nor
  is it a problem for any one economic class – it is a community-wide
  problem.
• In 2002, youth gangs were active in over 2,300 cities with populations
  over 2,500.
• Over 90 percent of large cities (population over 100,000) in the
  United States reported gang activity between 1996 and 2001.
• There are more than 750,000 gang members nationwide.
• Ninety-five percent of hard-core gang members drop out of high
  school, and most range in age from 12 to 24.

The media’s dissemination of gang culture and a restructuring of
the economy (unemployment, increases in the urban underclass, etc.) are
cited as major factors in the rise of gangs during the ‘90s.

A street gang occurs when t hree or more people share
a unique name or display identifiable marks or symbols (e.g. tattoos,
clothing styles, colors, hairstyles, graffiti) and associate together
on a regular basis, often claiming a specific location or territory.
A gang will have an identifiable organization or hierarchy, and a typical
gang will engage in antisocial, unlawful or criminal activity in an
effort to further the gang’s social or economic status. Such behavior
can be carried out either individually or collectively.

Risk factors for gang membership include individual characteristics,
family conditions, problematic parent-child relations, low school attachment
and academic achievement, peer group influences, prior and/or early
involvement in delinquency (especially violence and drug use), association
with peers who engage in delinquency, community context, and disorganized
neighborhoods where many youth are in trouble. Often, a gang provides
young members with comforts society and/or family fails to give them.
A gang can morph into the child’s parental unit and also his/her
sibling. Gangs can provide a sense of belonging, security and economic
opportunity. Unfortunately, most monies are generally attained through
crime.

Gender-mixed gangs are becoming more common. Years ago, females were
considered property of gang members. Today, some gangs are initiating
females as full-fledged members. Estimates indicate between 25 and
33 percent of all youth gang members are female. Consider the following:

• Police see gang recruitment directed toward students as early
  as elementary school.
• A survey of nearly 6,000 eighth-graders in 11 cities found that
  11 percent were currently gang members, and 17 percent said they
  had belonged to a gang at some point in their life.
• Gang members are far more likely than other delinquents to carry
  guns and, perhaps more importantly, to use them.
• Research has consistently shown that adolescents are significantly
  more criminally active during periods of active gang membership.
• Gangs are showing increased sophistication. For example, hard-core
  gang members are shying away from wearing gang colors or getting
  symbolic tattoos, knowing school and police authorities will recognize
  such signs.

Kids often participate in gang activities without their parents’ knowledge,
and children can become interested in gang activity as young as elementary-school
age. As a parent, it is important to be aware of the warning signs
that could indicate your child’s interest in gangs. This is a
partial list of those signs, compiled by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services:

• Your child suddenly begins performing poorly in school
• He/she doesn’t attend school regularly
• He/she becomes disinterested in extra-curricular activities or
  family events
• He/she has negative contact with the police
• He/she writes the name of a gang in graffiti, or you find gang
  symbols in his/her notebooks or in his/her room
• He/she has problems at home
• He/she has gang tattoos
• He/she has friends who are in gangs
• He/she dresses in gang clothing

As a parent, you can play a huge role in helping your child feel
accepted, important, worthy and loved – the feelings he/she seeks.
For instance, if you continually skip meetings with teachers or don’t
attend your child’s team games or extracurricular activities,
your child may begin to feel unwanted or underappreciated, increasing
the risk that he/she will seek approval elsewhere. Experts at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services have developed a list of other
tips to help you minimize the chances of your child joining a gang:

• Get to know your child’s friends, how they influence him/her and
  what they do when they’re together. Discourage your child from hanging
  out with gangs.
• Spend your free time with your child. Give him/her chores to do
  around the house or enroll him/her in after-school activities, sports,
  and community center or church programs.
• Stress the value of an education and motivate your child to do
  well in school.
• Develop good communication skills with your child. Good communication
  means that it’s open, frequent and positive. This will allow your
  child to express himself or herself and confide in you.
• Find positive role models for your child.
• Plan activities for the entire family, such as trips to parks,
  libraries, museums or the beach. Give your child attention!
• Give your child some one-on-one time – your undivided attention.
• Don’t let your child wear clothing that resembles gang wear. It
  might attract attention from the wrong people.
• Set limits and rules for your child. From an early age, let him/her
  know what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. Enforce a curfew.
  Don’t let him/her hang out until all hours of the night.
• Don’t let your child write or draw gang-like graffiti.
• Get involved in your child’s education. Go to his/her school,
  get to know his/her teachers and attend parent-teacher events.
• Learn
  about gangs and gang activity in your community. Get educated!

Faith and the City
Gang Resistance Education And Training
Know Gangs
The National Youth Gang Center
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The Nawojczyk Group, Inc.