Myths About Gangs By Kayla Chase

Myths About Gangs

Kayla Chase The first myth is that if we solely rely on law enforcement it will wipe out gangs. It is believed that law enforcement can turn gangs away at the city or county borders. It is also believed that law enforcement can remove all of them from the area by arrest, prosecution and confinement. This concept is call gang suppression. Though this belief may seem plausible it does not have a history of success when used by itself.

The most notorious gang sweep that used this concept was called Operation Hammer in 1988. The officers were apart of the CRASH unit. It was made of LAPD officers and stood for Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums. One thousand police officers swept through the area

Zero Tolerance means that certain behaviors will not be tolerated. The Zero Tolerance concept starting appearing in the late 1980’s. This policy was originally intended to restrict drug use, gang involvement, and gun possession. Unfortunately this policy evolved into a way to punish minor student misconduct.

With its evolution, the Zero Tolerance policy moved into schools as a disciplinary policy that sends the original message by punishing all offenses severely, no mater how minor. With this policy suspension became the most common punishment. The reality is that Zero Tolerance can actually contribute to delinquency. To enforce the policy schools placed armed officers in schools which results in more juveniles being sent to court for minor forms of misbehavior that should be dealt with in the school as disciplinary. These policies have four cumulative

This leads to students experiencing more time with delinquent peers and can lead to the onset of delinquency. This also leads to high drop out rates. When students fall behind in their work they start to see it as unimportant which leads to dropping out of school. When a student drops out the rate of delinquency is ten times higher than a juvenile who is still in school.

The third effect it that the involvement in delinquency can increase gang involvement, which can also increase the presence of the juvenile in court. When juveniles are left without supervision they turn to their peers for guidance. A gang can easily substitute for a family in a juveniles life and this leads to their involvement in the gang.

The last effect is that teens who become involved in the juvenile system are much more likely to become gang members. The teens now feel like “bad-asses” who can do anything. They find other teens like them, usually gang members, and the delinquency continues to progress. These cumulative effects prove that pushing Zero Tolerance policies in schools or in law enforcement do more harm than