Gang Violence Cannot Be Stopped Because Our Criminal Justice System Lacks Accountability and Trust.
Calvillo
Esteban
Ms. Best
Eng 92/93
Can We Stop Gang Violence?
Gang violence has occurred mostly in lower class communities, which have grown worse over the years. Our youth today are receiving a poor education, which influences them to join gangs. Our education system is failing our kids to a more promenade future, by neglecting them from a good education. Gang violence cannot be stopped even though our education system tries to reach out to our children; gangs live beyond our school fences and linger in our communities making gang prevention impossible.
Gangs live within our schools and communities and are quickly influencing our children to join. We cannot stop gang violence until we get down to the cause of why are kids are joining gangs and committing crimes. Schools that have high gang activity are usually located in poor areas primarily female-headed families with high unemployment rates. Typically children who live in these environments do not receive attention from adult figures and are more intrigued to what the streets have to offer. In the book Always Running, Luis Rodriguez is a young boy growing up in East Los Angeles with his mother and two siblings. Growing up with a father who was hardly involved, Rodriguez will faced hardships; jumping from home to home, dropping out of school and entered the gang life. In Rodriguez’s experience, “Miguel and the rest of us started thee impersonations because we needed protection. There were other clubs popping up all over, many challenging anybody who wasn’t into anything” (Rodriguez, 42). Because Rodriguez had a hard time adjusting in school, he was forced to make his own gang to seek out protection from others who tried to harm him. It’s hard for a student who is an outsider to make any friends or even participate in school activities. Children like Rodriguez, find refuge in gangs because there are no adult role models in their lives to teach them right from wrong. School officials pretend or simply ignore that there is a gang problem in their schools. Ignoring the problem allows students to act out and gang violence becomes more accepted. Entering high school, Rodriguez was already a hardcore thug. Growing up in a city that is predominately Anglo, teachers would treat students differently based off their ethnic backgrounds and neighborhoods. Rodriguez explains, “The teachers and administrators were overwhelmingly Anglo and whether they were aware of it or not, favored the white students. If you came from the hills, you were labeled from the start” (Rodriguez, 84). In Mark Keppel high school, not all children were treated the same as shown in Luis Rodriguez’s experience. Rodriguez didn’t have much of a choice since the teachers weren’t giving him any special attention, so he acted out and turned into a hardcore thug.
It is no secret to school officials that gangs are growing by the number and the high school dropout rate has increased, due to the lack of support from teachers and parents. Author of “What Can Schools Do to Prevent Gang Joining?” Gary D Gattfredson has conducted his research on school safety and delinquency prevention for more than thirty years. His research on school-based prevention programs has proven effectiveness and has guided numerous prevention research projects. Gattfredson earned his PHD from Johns Hopkins University and now teaches at the University of Maryland College Park. Gattfredson mentions key points on why our school system has failed our children from joining gangs. Gattfredson explains that schools that hold a bad reputation are characterized by its community. Students who have poor attendance, a low achievement rate and show disruptive class behavior do not have a positive adult role model. Some schools have attempted to set up prevention programs to aid kids who have poor academic records and who are involved with gangs. But school officials fail to bring up relevant issues and reach out to those kids who are in danger of joining gangs, making programs weak and ineffective. Gattfredson states, “According to the findings of a large national sample of schools these weaknesses included adopting programs without doing careful planning to match needs, poorly implementing programs with little supervision and failing to engage youths who are at highest risk of gang involvement” (Gattfredson, 94). School officials are not putting enough time into launching these prevention programs effectively. The main issue revolves around the schools’ staff lacking consistency with these students. Students in schools would react differently if they had an adult role model around; students will tend to care more if school officials do. It is a vicious cycle where students who live in areas of concentrated poverty; leads to delinquent behavior and gang involvement. As a result, the schools now inhabit the community’s unattractiveness and loss of quality administrative staff that care for students.
School programs can reduce gang violence if they implement an evidence-based strategy, by targeting youths who are at high risk of gang involvement. Gang prevention programs are not done over night but take careful planning in order to reach out to students and meet their needs. Stephen Koffman and researchers wrote an article on “Impact on A Comprehensive Whole Child Intervention and prevention Program among Youths at Risk of Gang involvement and other forms of delinquency”, this program analyzes delinquency behavior and school performance and used this information to execute a uniform prevention program. In 2006, the juvenile intervention and prevention program (JIPP) began in Los Angeles at Belmont high school; a program which “addresses academic, social and mental health outcomes among students with multiple risks who have exhibited delinquent behavior in a community setting that is characterized by personal and collective trauma”(240) The program provides community support from the Los Angeles unified school district, LAPD, families in school and the California State University. The objective is to identify the main influence in a child’s life. Belmont High School is known for holding one of the worst notorious gangs in all of Los Angeles 18th street gang and the Mara Salvatruchas. Children don’t have the opportunities to have a good future because they grow up in communities that harbor gangs and are primarily low-income based including immigrants and many families that have high school dropouts. JIPP involve law enforcement to help students who are in danger of joining gang and exhibit delinquent behavior. “The officers introduce strict codes of behavior through a comprehensive physical training modality that is aimed at getting the students more in tune with appropriate boundaries and at building self-esteem through the achievement of physical proficiency” (241). Using law enforcement to target students who have low self esteem and show delinquency is a perfect approach to shape their characters. Law enforcement puts these students through boot camp to enforce discipline because children who show delinquent behavior are disobedient and need structure. A great example of a former gang member who turned their life around is Isis Sapp Grant. In The article A Need for Power and Respect Encourages Gang Behavior” Grant is a troubled teen who lives with her mother and siblings in Brooklyn. Grant was not receiving enough attention at home when she got involved in gangs. She becomes obsessed with the gang life style, the power and respect she gets from it. Having respect from the Gang and others gives grant a boost in confidence as she becomes more violent. Isis did not attend school often because teacher found no interest in her because of the reputation she held. But “when I did go to class, a couple of my teachers began taking an interest. Mr. mason. He encouraged me to write about what I was going through in the gang. One other person helped save my life: a cop” (Grant, 29). When school staff, law enforcement and other key adult role models take an interest in a troubled student; students will most likely take an interest in them selves. It’s very important to have a role model in your life especially during the transition years when you are exposed to gang violence and drugs. In grants case those key role models made the difference in her life to move away from the gang life style and focus more on school.
Even though children who live in poverty stricken communities are at high risk to join gangs, there are ways we can prevent our children from heading down that road. To understand why our children are joining gangs, we must identify the issues in their environment. Jorja Leap author of “What should be done in the community to prevent gang joining” is a well-known author and anthropologist who focus on violence, culture and identity. She has conducted numerous evaluation studies. Dr. Leap received her PhD from the university of California, Los Angeles where she is a faculty member of twenty years. Dr. Leap goes over key components on why community based prevention programs are one of the most effective methods into reducing gang violence. Project star “a community based drug abuse prevention initiative for adolescents; is an example of a well evaluated program that uses a comprehensive approach to addressing multiples levels of influence” (Leap, 109). Project star is one of many programs that build a network between everyone in the community, school officials and parents. The program lasts over a five-year period where children develop the skills to resist drugs from school programs, parents and the community. The most important part of the program is consistency, to raise a child in a community that’s unified and set a foundation for their children to stay away from drugs.
Gang violence is like an uncontrollable disease, you can set up school prevention programs, involve the community and even law enforcement but to stop gang violence altogether is close to impossible. Evidence shows that gang prevention programs have helped students with their social skills and academics, decreasing the dropout rate. Gangs in America seem to have an effect on vulnerable children who live in poverty stricken communities with single headed families. Our school education system tends to oversee those students who are more susceptible to joining gangs and simply ignore the problem all together. These schools tend to hold a bad reputation, not only academically but maintaining good staff and students is difficult when the community lacks involvement. Do I think we can stop gang violence? Gang violence goes beyond implementing prevention programs and having a few community leaders involved, gangs will always be around because people simply don’t care or fail to reach out to those who are in danger of joining gangs.
References
Rodriguez, Luis J. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone, 1993. Print.
Koffman, S, et al. "Impact Of A Comprehensive Whole Child Intervention And Prevention Program Among Youths At Risk Of Gang Involvement And Other Forms Of Delinquency." 31.4 (2009): 239-245. . Web. May 2015.
Excerpted from “Gang Girl: The Transformation of Isis Sapp-Grant,” by Isis Sapp-Grant, as told to Rosemarie Robotham, , August 1998. Reprinted with permission.
Gottfredson, Gary. "What Can Schools Do to Help Prevent Gang-Joining?" . Print.
Leap, Jorja. "What Should Be Done in the Community to Prevent Gang-Joining?" . Print.
