Part 3 of 3: Why the Gang Culture Exists
Dark Side Activities: Common Gang-Related Crimes
Gang involvement in the drug trade is largely responsible for the rise in violence and crime across the nation, because gang membership provides impressionable teens with the opportunity to make large amounts of money quickly. This is violent, dangerous business; gunfire is a natural course of action.
Drugs have replaced (exponentially) what formerly was America’s illegal alcohol business in the 1920s and 1930s. What is unavailable on the open market (or only available by prescription) is now easily attainable on the streets. The market is staggering: A 2008 study by Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron estimated that legalizing drugs would inject $76.8 billion a year into the U.S. economy—$44.1 billion from law enforcement savings, and at least $32.7 billion in tax revenue ($6.7 billion from marijuana, $22.5 billion from cocaine and heroin, the rest from other black market supply-and-demand compounds and synthetics).
In addition to drugs, other gang moneymakers include:
• Extortion. Some gangs require shop owners to pay for “protection.” Vandalism, theft, arson, and murder occur when shop owners fail to pay. Years ago I witnessed the results of this firsthand: a gruesome slaying victim on the steps of our hotel in Moscow. He was a banker who refused to pay protection. The crime was too heinous to describe.
• Shoplifting. Stealing is common, and it’s also is a form of recruitment. If someone wants to join a gang, he or she may be required to shoplift to prove their bravery and demonstrate how adept they are at not getting caught. Bold, brazen theft is well respected.
• Assault and harassment. Gang members often threaten and intimidate residents in their neighborhood. Witnesses who report a gang crime or testify against a member may be assaulted or killed. Scare tactics are also used to recruit new gang members. Teens not belonging to a gang can be threatened and intimidated into joining one.
• Rape and sexual assault. As a form of control and power, gang members often commit rape and sexual assault on helpless victims as a rite of initiation. Sometimes these are outsiders. Sometimes they are fellow gang members or girls who want to join.
• Drive-by shootings. Gangs motivated by revenge often shoot in the direction or vicinity of a rival gang’s territory. Gang members are not marksmen. They rely on quantity, not precision, to get the job done. Many victims are innocent bystanders.
• Grand theft auto and carjacking. Members may steal a vehicle for the sole purpose of committing a crime to which they cannot be connected. Car owners, especially during carjackings, are often victims of assault and murder.
• Destruction of property. To demonstrate their power over a rival gang or a community, gang members destroy public and private property through vandalism, breaking and entering, and graffiti.
• Gun trafficking. We are a heavily armed society. The FBI estimates that Americans own over 200 million firearms. When you add those owned by the military, law enforcement agencies and museums, there is probably about 1 gun per person in the country. The average gun enthusiast owns several firearms. The FBI estimates that about 1 in 4 people own firearms; and, on average, those firearms owners own four guns each. Today’s gangs are actively involved in arms trading and heavily equipped with a variety of weapons: handguns, semiautomatic rifles, Uzi machine guns, AK-47 machine guns, bombs, grenades, and others. They often have more firepower than law enforcement agencies trying to stop them.
Getting Out
Quitting the gang. Two of the very few options available for successfully leaving a gang are being beaten down or “jumped out.” These are similar to the “jumpin’ in” initiation rite, except the beatings are often so severe the quitter dies. If a member chooses to leave the gang without being beaten down or jumped out, his former friends (gang members) may resort to murder.
Even if a member manages to get out of a gang with dignity (jumped out), he loses the gang’s protection but does not lose his former enemies. He transitions to life with zero protection.
Summary
The excitement of gang activity—which often involves violence, danger, and outward expressions of cultural biases coupled with the acceptance given by fellow gang members–provides social support and community involvement otherwise lacking in the lives of young male gang members. These young men are impressionable and peer-driven, worried more about what others think than comfortable with who, deep down, they really are.
This is a precipitous place to be, a dangerous, guns-drawn hike through an anger-driven social structured governed by violent, vindictive rules with no escape hatch. Those who do leave do so branded with physical and emotional scars.
Our choice is simple: Ignore this, or strive to be a positive influence during a child’s formative years. This can be a tough but noble duty. Kids need role models. Nothing says we can’t be one.
Each of is a product of our environment. How we end up is up to us.