PERSPECTIVES ON GANGS : Deference to Gangs Makes Them Kings of the Roost

Federal, state, and local programs aimed at reducing gang violence often channel their efforts through the gangs themselves, thus reinforcing frequently loose confederations of peers. Without external reinforcement, many street gangs often spontaneously disintegrate.

Our major mistake is to assume that inner-city youth are clamoring to join gangs. In reality, even in gang-infested neighborhoods many youth steer clear of them. The rest often join because membership represents the best option out of a miserable few choices.

Gangs are loose groups of teens through fortysomethings who are there because they have few alternatives. The toughness and reputation of a gang derives largely from its numeric strength.

In addition, individual gang members tend to be less violent when alone or in small groups. It is when they congregate in large groups that they egg each other on and feel the need to prove themselves, with violence more likely to occur.

We also need to rid ourselves of the false perception that street gangs dominate the drug trade. Street gangs have neither the structure nor the resources to do so. Individual gang members may sell drugs, but it’s on their own, with the profits pocketed by the individual. The bulk of drugs are sold by organized drug syndicates, which are often violent business enterprises. When we confuse drug syndicates and street gangs, we paint a false picture of drug money reinforcing street gang cohesiveness. The reality is, there is virtually no financial gain from street gang membership.

Given all this, a partial solution to street gang proliferation is to further weaken--not reinforce--gang structure. Thus, midnight basketball, scholastic outreach, and related programs should be channeled through parental groups, housing groups or and neighborhood associations. Gang affiliation should be irrelevant.

By misunderstanding gang dynamics and mythologizing gangs as being at the core of the drug trade, we reinforce their cohesion and strength. By channeling programs not through gangs but through independent groups, we weaken the gangs and their propensity toward violence.

The choice is ours to make.

There are popular misunderstandings about gangs, who joins them and how to handle street violence.