NCJ Number
149165
Journal
New Statesman and Society Volume: 1 Issue: 23 Dated: (November 1988) Pages: 27-30
Date Published
1988
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The author contends that the youth violence epidemic has ben inflated by law enforcement agencies and the media, especially in California where the Los Angeles city attorney's office estimated hard core gang membership at 10,000 to 50,000 and media estimates ranged from 70,000 to 80,000 in 1988.
Abstract
The article discusses the efforts of Los Angeles Police Chief Gates to control gang activities, often at the expense of individual civil rights, and considers the war on gang violence in the city to be exaggerated. The author compares the police tactics advocated by Gates to those used in South Africa, Chile, and Haiti. He discusses legislative aspects of gang criminalization in California, inadequacies of the existing approach to juvenile crime in Los Angeles, inequitable treatment of blacks versus whites in gang prevention efforts, the trend toward militarization of Federal drug law enforcement, and the effects of gang violence and drug addiction on low-income communities. An alternative model is suggested to modify the youth culture in inner cities, one that is more humane and that minimizes social polarization.