The importance of community-based responses to gang violence
Gang violence devastates American urban life. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2000 there were over 24,000 gangs and over 700,000 gang members nationwide. The Child Trends Databank reports that almost three-quarters of teen deaths resulted from gang violence in 2002. These statistics bespeak the necessity of combating gang violence however possible. In order to do so, communities and law enforcement must work synchronously. Community programs that offer alternatives to drug use and gang lifestyle are key to engaging at-risk youth; the creation and strengthening of such programs, along with unified community opposition to gangs, is essential in preventing violence.
Parallel efforts by law enforcement alongside such community efforts have increased the productivity and quality of the results of these projects. Indeed, the ideal role for government agencies and officers in the fight against gangs is a community-enabling one; laws should be made and enforced in a way that focuses on people rather than crimes, and law enforcement should support the strategies used by community organizations to stop adolescents from using drugs and joining gangs.
Efforts on the parts of communities to stop gang violence have been successful in several instances. KSBW News reported that in Oxnard, Calif., a coalition of pastors, policemen, and social workers formed the Oxnard Clergy, which worked to reduce violence by speaking directly with gang members. In 2007, the Clergy successfully reduced gang violence in Oxnard by 60 percent. A decade earlier, in the mid-1990s, Boston, Mass. had implemented a successful program called Operation Ceasefire. Operation Ceasefire used a comprehensive approach that included police, prosecutors, street mentors, religious leaders, and social service agencies but used law enforcement as sparingly as possible. According to David M. Kennedy, who studied gang violence in Boston while a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, Operation Ceasefire led to a very impressive two-thirds decrease in youth homicide rates. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts and organizational challenges, Operation Ceasefire ended in 1997, and youth homicide rates rose once again. Nonetheless, Operation Ceasefire’s temporary success proved that a comprehensive community-based approach could have a significant impact on gang violence.
Approaching the Issue
Integral to such efforts to reduce gang violence are programs that focus on steering young people away from the gang lifestyle. Teenagers are an especially vulnerable population, and youth homicide rates are alarmingly high. Gang-related homicides of young people in the United States have increased by 50 percent since 1999. In a report issued by the nonprofit organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, Los Angeles Chief of Police William Bratton urged funding for programs that intervene and offer at-risk children alternatives to joining gangs. In an interview with the HPR, Ulysses Plummer, Executive Director of The Amer-i-can Program, a Los Angeles based nonprofit, said that the “key elements [of gang violence prevention programs] are reaching the individuals that are affected in the community. I think one of the things that Amer-i-can does is that it really reaches the community. It reaches the youth that are at risk.” Amer-i-can, founded by former NFL player Jim Brown, is a program that focuses on teaching life management skills such as motivation, goal setting, effective communication, and job search and retention.
Billie Weiss, founder of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles, believes that gang violence should be approached as a public health problem. In an interview with the HPR, Weiss cited an alarming statistic: in Los Angeles County, the top killer of 15- to 24-year-olds is homicide. Gang involvement is fatal and spreads rapidly, affecting all segments of communities. The best tools in the fight against gang violence, Weiss argues, are primary prevention programs. She explained that many young people join gangs because they see no other real option. In fact, belonging to a gang can seem safer than not being a part of one. The key is to provide programs that show young people that alternatives do exist.
The Role of Criminal Justice
The public health approach Weiss advocates for preventing teens from joining gangs can also apply to another aspect of the problem. The effects of drug trafficking and drug use on gang activity cannot be overlooked. While legalizing illicit drugs may be improbable, treating drug use as a public health problem could steer people away from using drugs altogether. As Neil Boyd, professor and Associate Director of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, insisted to the HPR, “Like alcohol, consumption represents a public health problem; it shouldn’t be treated as public law.” Approaching illegal drug use as a matter of public health would provide a completely different method of dealing with America’s drug problem, one that seeks to inform and aid the public about the effects of drugs and aggressively prevents illegal drug use. Additionally, community organizations can, and have, taken active roles in preventing youth from using drugs. The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America is a non-profit organization that aids community groups in their fight against drug use. Collaborative efforts between communities and law enforcement can work together to stop drug trafficking and thereby undermine gangs.
Indeed, cooperation between criminal justice agencies and community-based agencies is crucial. Law enforcement can play an important supportive role in the fight against gang violence. For example, the fact that people are often afraid to report or publicly take measures against gang violence for fear of harsh repercussions allows gang activity to go unchecked. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed into law the California Gang Reduction, Intervention, and Prevention Program, a bill that doubles funding for protection for gang violence witnesses. Without such protection, convincing people to actively fight crime or even report gang violence when they see it becomes far more difficult.
While there is no simple, one-step method to fighting gang violence in America, a collaborative effort between communities and law enforcement is the best possible way to do it. This is too large of an issue to be handled solely by law enforcement; communities must take an active role in supporting young people and steering them away from drug use and gang activity by providing them with alternatives. When local communities do tackle this challenge, experience shows that their leadership can further the cause of ending urban gang violence.