Gangs, Crime and Violence (California)

By: the California Crime and Violence Prevention Center

No one is immune from the impact that gangs can have on a community. Gang violence is widespread, dangerous and deadly in many California communities.

Gangs are not a big-city or an inner-city problem, any more than they are a problem of a particular race or culture. Gangs cross all racial, ethnic, socio-economic and geographic boundaries. Gangs are not gender specific. They exist in urban, suburban and rural communities.

While many who join gangs are unmarried, unemployed and school dropouts, today’s gang members can also be parents, students, employed and educated. In fact, some gang members are honor students in high school, college students and even active members of the U.S. military.

Belonging to a gang severely harms a young person’s future. Gang members often socialize only with other gang members, reinforcing their limited view of life. They frequently establish a lifelong pattern of involvement with the criminal justice system. They may commit serious and violent crimes that lead to lengthy incarcerations. They may be injured for life, or killed. Their gang membership may place an entire family household at risk. Gang members who do make it to adulthood sometimes become dependent on alcohol and drugs. For some, the gang lifestyle is passed down as a family tradition leading to generational gangs.

To prevent the devastation of crime and violence caused by gangs, and of lost human potential by so many young people, we must respond together, as parents, family members, friends and community. The first step is to take a candid look at our own families and the community around us. Understanding and accepting what might be happening even within our own families is an important step that helps us prepare an effective personal and community response.

A community response means that all of us — parents, youth, clergy, businesses, community-based organizations, educators, law enforcement and local government — work together to prevent gang violence. We now know that there are many potential ways to steer youth away from gangs, and to help those already involved to leave a gang. We have the power of giving at-risk youth options, opportunities and alternatives to gang life. But to do this, we need to take action as a team. Impacting the life of just one young person is a success.

California Gang History

Although the nation’s first modern-day criminal street gangs — of Irish, Italian and Jewish descent — formed in the early 1800’s in the Five Points area of New York, the first California gangs formed in the early 1900’s in the Los Angeles area. Even though California-based gangs are not the oldest in the nation, they are probably the most copied of all gangs. InCalifornia, early Mexican gangs became the model for all other gangs that followed.

Early California gang members were caught between two worlds. Their Mexican heritage provided a rich, family-oriented culture, but Western customs and education forced a change in these young people that caused stress within the traditional family structure. While attempting to adapt to this change, the children became strangers both to their own families and to their new

homeland because they were not fully accepted into the culture. Add social dysfunctions, such as class distinction, bias and prejudice, and an “us versus them” attitude developed. The result is that some of these young people formed gangs. Initially, most gangs formed for protection, but quickly as gang membership grew, rivalries developed and violence escalated. While violence in the early 1940’s involved fist fighting, today it includes extremely violent and deadly acts, often perpetrated with guns.

Even in today’s 21st Century society, immigrant or refugee groups can experience alienation. While social and cultural family stress has been a factor in the formation of many different types of gangs, it is not the sole reason that gangs form. Joining and maintaining membership in a gang is motivated by many other reasons.

Some gang members report that they joined a gang because of a belief that they are missing something at home. It may not be money or material things, but a sense of belonging. Other members report that they wanted to escape an abusive home. Others were curious about the gang life. Some have joined a gang to earn money by selling drugs or committing crimes; others because their parents, brothers or sisters were members. Unfortunately, in gang-infested neighborhoods, some young people join a gang for protection. If they don’t, they or their family members may become victims of gang-related crime. Because there are many reasons that youth join gangs, there are many potential solutions to steer them away from gangs.

Recognizing Denial

One of the most difficult issues to deal with in identifying gang members is denial. No one wants to announce to family, friends or a community, “my son or daughter is in a gang,” or “we have a gang problem.” It is important to recognize that a family’s personal gang problem is related to the community in which that family lives. In small cities or rural areas, too often terms like “wanna be’s,” “misguided youth groups” or “street corner groups” are used to avoid recognizing a real gang problem. Terms like these only aid in the spread of denial. One of the first steps in addressing gang problems in your family, school or community is overcoming this denial.

Overcoming denial begins with becoming informed about gang culture activity and membership in your community. For example, some gangs are not considered a threat to the community and so are not targeted by law enforcement or the community for prevention and intervention programs. In reality, these gangs are a potential serious threat because gangs frequently use violence to settle disputes — violence that eventually will affect the community. An honest community assessment identifies these types of gangs, and potential future problems.

Partnerships for Prevention

Second, a collaborative approach that stresses partnerships between concerned individuals, community organizations and government agencies is often the best solution. Collaborative approaches usually involve the police, schools, churches, local government, parks and recreation, community-based organizations, businesses and programs working with parents and youth. An effective strategy deals with gang problems on three levels: prevention, intervention and suppression. Prevention programs or measures focus on youth before they are involved in gangs to help steer them away from gang involvement. Intervention approaches focus on helping young people get out and stay out of gangs. Suppression efforts are designed to protect the public from violent and criminal gang activities. All three approaches are necessary in order to address the different degrees to which youth become attracted to, involved in or threatened by gangs.

It is important not to wait for violence to occur. Family and community members should take action at the first sign of gangs in a community. Many times these signs are overlooked because they are not considered to be gang-related or a threat to the community. These signs can include, but are not limited to, graffiti vandalism, petty thefts, fights at school and delinquent behaviors. Many gangs evolve through a maturing process. When gangs first form, they usually do not immediately engage in drive-by shootings, robberies and murders. It takes time for gangs to develop a reputation on the streets. It is during this time that prevention, intervention and suppression programs have the greatest impact. Yet, because of denial, all too often this opportunity is missed. Many programs that target gang activity sometimes begin only after a major incident, such as a death or a shooting.

Once people come together, an assessment of the level of gang problems in the community will help answer many questions like: How many gangs are in my community? What kinds of gangs? What types of problems are associated with the gangs in my community? Are the gang problems new and emerging, or have they been entrenched and steadily growing? When the answers to these questions are completed, you and other concerned community members will have a better foundation to develop solutions to those problems.

What is a gang?

The ability to properly identify a gang is an essential part of any community collaborative approach. The definition of a gang may change by geographical area; by jurisdiction; and even between health, school and law enforcement agencies. Some street gangs are continually involved in more serious crimes, including assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, homeinvasion robbery, homicide, drug-related crimes, drive-by and
walk-up shootings, arson, intimidation of victims and witnesses and vehicle theft. Having a history of this type of criminal activity could qualify the gang to be reclassified as a criminal street gang, as defined in the California Penal Code.

Criminal street gangs are defined by California Penal Code section 186.22 (f) as:

“any ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as one of its primary activities the commission of one or more [specified] criminal acts, having a common name or common identifying sign or symbol, and whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity.”

The specific crimes associated with this Penal Code Section are listed in Penal Code Section 186.22 (e). For the purposes of this publication let us use a more basic definition:

A group of three or more (adult/juvenile/male/female) In association with each other (on regular or part-time basis) Some type of identifier (like a name, sign, symbol or color) Committing crime (any crimes — misdemeanor, felony or against county/city ordinances) Many communities still use the standard of felony criminal activity to qualify a group as a gang. However, criminal activity does not have to involve a felony for a group to be classified as a gang.

Many gangs still form along ethnic and racial lines. Some youth join a gang for economic motives, or for the glamour, excitement or “high” achieved by committing acts of violence and participating in crimes. Turf” is not a requirement, nor are special characteristics relating to education, gender or social status. Today, some gangs allow anyone to join, and have adopted different membership and operating strategies. These gangs may claim an entire city as their turf and allow mixed-race members in a traditional ethnic-based gang. These groups are known as “hybrid gangs.” Some examples of gangs based on ethnic ties include:

Asian

(includes Korean, Vietnamese, Hmong, Cambodian, Thai, Laotian, Filipino, Samoan,South Pacific Islanders, Japanese or Chinese) Well-known Asian gangs include the: Asian Boys and Wah-Ching.

African American

Well-known gangs include: The Crips and Bloods

Hispanic

Well-known gangs include the: White Fence, Los Vatos Locos, 18th Street and Marasalvatrucha or MS-13; Sureno- 13 and Norteno-14.

White

(includes White Supremacist, Satanic, Punk or Heavy Metal) Well-known gangs include the: Insane White Boys, or the PENI Skins, short for Public Enemy Number One; and the NLR or Nazi Low Riders.
Other gangs identify themselves by a name derived from a street,  neighborhood or housing project where they are based; a rock band; the activity they are involved in; the ethnicity of the membership; or a telephone area code. Gang names can change as the gang’s activities or membership does.

Age

Many people believe that most members of street gangs are juveniles. This is not true. A high percentage of gang members in the United States are between the ages of 14 and 24. Why is this fact important? This is the most active age for criminal behavior in the country. Substance abuse problems for this age group are also increasing. With these demographic and substance abuse trends converging, it is easy to see the potential impact of street gangs to create further violence in the future.

Gang Migration

In the past, migrating gang members have not been a large problem for communities and law enforcement. Today, gang migration is causing a significant effect on communities in many parts of the state. Gang members move from one part of the state to another for many reasons. Commonly, it is the movement of the family. Often, if a family moves in search of employment, a new start or better living
conditions, so do family members who belong to local gangs. There is a tendency for these gang members to establish a clique, or set of gang members, in the new area where they live.

Young people new to a neighborhood are easy targets for existing gangs. If there are no gangs in a neighborhood, gang members who have migrated to these new communities might start a gang. Sometimes, the relocated youth bring with them a reputation of being a member of a specific gang. In the culture of gangs, this reputation can bring “status” to those individuals and danger to your communities.

For example, some southern California gang members have slowly and sporadically moved to areas east and north of Los Angeles. Their presence, in some cases, has led to an increase of violence and other crimes between them and the northern California gang who already lives in the area.