Defeating Gangs in Your Neighborhood and Online by Philip Wolny

Author:Philip Wolny
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

Police and gangs are often perceived to be in conflict with each other. However, in recent years, there has been a shift in some people’s thinking to embrace dialogue and nonpunitive youth intervention to address gang problems.

The Police vs. Gangs

We often think of law enforcement and gangs at odds with each other. However, it is sometimes police officers that have the closest familiarity and contact with gang members, their families, and environments. This intimate knowledge leaves police uniquely positioned to intervene in the lives of many troubled youth.

Suppression

Police intervention in the gang problem can take several forms. The most familiar is through “suppression.” Suppression efforts concentrate on harshly punishing gangs and their members. Many people point out that heavy police suppression can have the opposite effect than intended: it can give gangs more resolve to rebel against society and the system, fostering an “us vs. them” mentality. Suppression also casts a wide net and often ensnares non-gang members, too. It makes community-police relations tense and often results in the kind of harsh policing that angers communities, leading community members to feel that they are occupied by police rather than protected.

Zero Tolerance: The School-to-Prison Pipeline

Valuing security and safety above all else can make even sensible people overreact and make problems seem bigger than they are. One example has been zero tolerance policies in schools. These became popular in the 1990s after a series of school shootings, including the Columbine massacre. A series of panics over drugs and gang activity in schools also made many school administrators, parents, and police embrace these measures.

Zero tolerance policies penalize even minor infractions with harsh penalties. Many juveniles, and even children in junior high school and elementary grades, have been suspended, expelled, and even jailed for offenses as minor as talking loud in class, drawing a picture of a gun, throwing tantrums, or even simply horsing around with friends.

Such policies disproportionately target children of color and disadvantaged students in general. These minor offenses have left thousands of children nationwide with permanent disciplinary records, and even criminal records, which alienate youth and often push students into criminal behavior. This is a phenomenon known as the “school-to-prison pipeline.” Meanwhile, teachers and administrators turned over what used to be disciplinary matters handled by schools themselves to the harsher discipline of law enforcement.

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