black…MYstory

This is a prime example of how to exacerbate a situation.

Across the country, police are cracking down on gangs. Good, right? However, the methods of enforcement are actually creating stronger gangs.

It seems that by locking up young people, particularly those as young as 12, for extended prison sentences, is putting them into situations where they can interact with other gang members and actually form stronger gang allegiances.

This is based on a report today from the Justice Policy Institute, a D.C. think tank.

While critics call the findings as coddling criminals, the report actually deals with the need to address the root causes of why people join gangs:

Arthur Lurigio, other academics and gang intervention workers have echoed elements of the report that found gangs need to be viewed as a symptom of other problems in poor communities, such as violence, teen pregnancy, drug abuse and unemployment.

The report says Los Angeles and Chicago are losing the war on gangs because they focus on law enforcement and are short on intervention.

Sadly, reports like this will be placed on the back burner until we get people in positions of power who are more interesting than treating the disease than the symptoms.

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