Injunctions Against Gangs

* Re “Gang Injunction Considered for Drug-Infested Neighborhood, Aug. 14.

Many people have planned different ways of curbing or slowing the growth of gang activity. These have been good efforts, but the best one to build on in my opinion is the injunction on the gangs themselves. When you take away their ability to group, when you take away their numbers, you decrease their strength. Gangs function as a unit and it is only in large numbers that they truly have power. Yet this alone is not enough, not when the problem has already reached such epidemic proportions.

To abolish gangs, you must attack their chain of command. By that you take away their shot callers, their leaders. You remove the influence and use them as examples of what a waste life behind bars can be.

That is the time to go after young repeat offenders and treat them as adults when charged with a crime involving a gun. Send them to boot camps, not to summer camps called juvenile halls. These kids need tough stays while locked up.

After those steps have been well executed, [make] all gang-related murders punishable by death. Only then can we focus on the next generation, catch them early with “scared-straight programs,” after-school playgrounds, summer camps and other programs that make them feel good about themselves. Once we rid the neighborhoods of gangsters and give the people their streets back we can end the tragic cycle of violence that faces us today and our children tomorrow.

ROBERT A. OLIVARES

Mission College ASO Vice President

Northridge