Locked into Violence: Gangs, Incarceration, and Racial Profiling

A recent report released by the Justice Policy Institute entitled Gang Wars: The Failure of Enforcement Tactics and the Need for Effective Public Safety Strategies has brought to light some interesting issues in regards to gangs and gang policy in the United States. The report concluded that many of the law enforcement and incarceration tactics aimed at reducing gang violence are actually exacerbating the problem of youth engagement in gangs.

The report argued that by locking away children in correctional facilities or prisons law enforcement officers are changing what would most likely be transitional gang members into something far more serious and long-term. A child may enter a correctional facility as a transient gang member and leave fully assimilated to gang culture and criminal behavior. The report argues that incarceration alone is not it a functional solution to gang violence in the United States.

Keeping youth engaged in school and non-gang related activities by implementing social service interventions have shown to lower gang involvement and gang violence in ways that enforcement and incarceration do not. The more life options that are open to at-risk children the less likely they are to join gangs. The argument is made that most youth who join gangs do so in a transitory fashion and if coaxed into other social networks will soon outgrow the gang lifestyle. In contrast, if a youth is incarcerated for gang involvement at an early age he or she will more likely be caught into a criminal lifestyle and become a long-term gang member. The lessons in gang life, gang solidarity and collective anger that are learned during incarceration are taken with the young offenders into their adult lives. Because gang policies like those employed in Los Angeles treat juvenile gang members like criminals instead of adolescents it is not surprisingly that they leave the system behaving like criminals. The Justice Policy Institute argues that incarceration and law enforcement tactics alone actually worsen the gang problems in the United States.

The report instead argues in favor of more community based intervention. The Justice Policy Institute’s report argues that through providing basic social needs and community support gang involvement in at-risk communities would drop significantly. Differences in gang-control in New York and Los Angeles and their results back up the report’s claims. New York focuses on intervention, social support, and law enforcement, whereas Los Angeles places almost all of its resources on Law enforcement and incarceration. D.C. has a model similar to New York, and they have seen a similar reduction in gang-related violence. “Suppression [enforcement] alone, that doesn’t work,” said Sgt. Juan Aguilar of the D.C. police. “That’s only a Band-Aid. You’ve got to get to the root of the problem. It’s social.” Creating positive opportunities through which gang members can leave their past, as opposed to ineffective policies that lock people into gangs or strengthen their attachments, can help to improve public safety.
But perhaps the topic most pertinent to race in the report’s finding is the disparity between incarceration rates along racial lines and the actual racial profile of gangs in America. Law enforcement figures estimate that over ninety percent of gang members are non-White, whereas a 2005 census survey found that Whites actually account for forty percent of adolescent gang members. This gross miscalculation signifies that a preconceived notion of what gang members should be is distorting the findings of the United States law enforcement teams. This miscalculation is also perpetuated by the media who tend to depict gangs as being only a Black or Hispanic phenomena. The widespread use of racial profiling that is found when discussing gangs is terribly problematic. By characterizing gangs as being non-White, Blacks and Hispanics are in turn criminalized and Whites are seen only as victims or cops. Because of this all young Black and Hispanic males are instantly viewed with suspicion as being potential gang members. Race profiling and combating gang violence seem to go hand in hand for police officers in the United States. The Justice Policy Institute report found that “African Americans and Hispanics were roughly fifteen times more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be identified by the police as gang members.”
Besides the problematic moral and ethical issues that arise from a racist approach to gang violence control, there is are tactical downsides as well. Because forty percent of gang activity is not being investigated, reported, or punished, racial profiling is detrimental to the prevention and control of gang violence. By ignoring the issue of White gangs, law enforcement officers are condoning forty percent of adolescent gang crime and youth involvement. The stereotype of the Black or Hispanic gang member is so pervasive that affects law enforcement surveys and practices. The dissemination of incorrect and slated statistics on gang violence and gang membership is hurting everyone whose lives are touched by this practice. From the criminalization of youth of color, to the perpetuation of criminal activity, to the overlooking of White crime- society is hurt by racist and sensationalist gang policies like those employed in Los Angeles.

This was written for Advancement Project’s Blog www.justdemocracyblog.org

by Clare Bakota