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About SG: Mission Statement
Welcome to Streetgangs.com. This site started on a University server in 1995 and has been using its own domain name since 1998.
The initial purpose of this web site was to share information about the history of gang formation in Los Angeles which is key into understanding the scope of the current gang situation.
Some of the historical research on gangs was published in Territoriality Among African American Street Gang in Los Angeles. The information on this web site is useful for parents, educators, and at-risk youth in understanding how the geography of gangs has had a major impact on the residents of Los Angeles and the surrounding communities.
It is important to note that this site is not intended to exploit, glamorize, or perpetuate the street gang culture but to help in understanding how and why the gang phenomena has become so pervasive. Some gang members do frequent the site, but parents, law enforcement, politicians, and attorneys have frequented the site.
Here are a few positions that Street Gangs maintains.
Gangster rap music has done more damage than good with regards to exporting gang culture to other cities. This is not a criticism against Hip Hop, but more so towards the gangster rap element. It is through the lyrics of some of our most prominent rappers, their lifestyles, their imagery in videos, their clothing style, concerts, vernacular, etc., that gang names, culture, and identity has been transported to other cities across the United States and the world. It took less than a year before youth all across America wanted to learn and do the "Crip Walk" after seeing it featured in a rap video by W.C. and gang names that only have appeared in music lyrics (i.e. Dogg Pound Crip Gang) are being copied in several American cities.
Not all gang members are criminals, therefore the gang itself should not be thought of as a "criminal organization". There are rogue elements within the gang that independently engage in consistent felonious activity and that exhibit predatory behavior, but those actions do not represent the totality of the gang. It is estimated by scholars, gang surveys, and law enforcement alike, that the gang population in any given neighborhood represents about 5 - 10 % of the neighborhood youth and about 5 - 10 % of that group represent the hard-core segment of the gang responsible for the majority of serious crime that is usually credited to the entire gang. We also contend that those gang members that exhibit predatory behavior, use the gang as an outlet for those behaviors, and if the gang did not exist as an outlet for those individuals, they would have exhibited those behaviors in another fashion.
Gang Injunctions are politically motivated gang suppression strategies that city officials use to gain popularity with their constituents to secure elected positions, and to impress the interests of concerned residents. The injunction itself is not about crime or gang abatement but more so about protecting special community interests, including but not limited to middle class communities, public and private institutions, business development and gentrification projects. Most gangs that have had injunctions filed against them are not the most active and violent gangs in the City, and nearly every gang injunction filed from 1987 to 2002 had political motivations. Also during this period, a gang injunction was never implemented in South Los Angeles or East Los Angeles/
Boyle Heights areas where gangs are most active and where residents desire the most relief from the gang violence. If you were to map every gang injunction in LA County, you will observe a pattern of what we called "privileged adjacency," gangs in areas with a mainstream interest. Additionally the money spent on injunctions would be better served trying to mitigate crime through intervention efforts that are focused on encouraging cease-fires between warring gangs and improving public schools programs. Some judges have been extremely reluctant to grant gang injunctions and many other judges have been misled as to the true nature of the gang injunction. Nevertheless, they remain a popular tool that the City and District Attorneys use in their effort to combat gangs but to date, they have never been proven to combat gang activity long term, and in the City's recent list of the top ten most violent gangs, seven had previously had gang imjunctions filed against them.
Gang enhancement penalties (186.22 California penal code) have often been misapplied against defendants with current and former gang backgrounds. We have testified to this fact many times in court and have witnessed prosecutors attempt to convince a jury that John Doe robbed the bank for the benefit of the gang (increase penalty), when the fact is that John Doe robbed the bank for the same reason anyone else would rob the bank, i.e., personal, selfish, motivations, and not for the benefit of the gang. Contrary to popular belief, gang members commit non-gang related crimes in the same manner that non-gang members do. They should be prosecuted in that manner when it can be exhibited that the crime does not fit that standard of "gang-related". Unfortunately, defendants with poor representation combined with over zealous prosecutors can result in a defendant receiving longer sentences unjustly. Many prosecutors believe if an individual is a gang member, EVERY crime that individual commits, is for the benefit of the gang which is completely untrue.
Los Angeles' definition of a "gang-related crime," specifically "gang-related homicide" is too broad and general and should use more specificity that distinguishes the true motive of a crime. Just because a crime is committed by a gang member does not necessarily mean that the crime was motivated by his gang affiliation. In Los Angeles, nearly every crime committed by a gang member is defined as "gang-related." For example, a 17 year-old gang member that kills his aunt in a heated domestic violence conflict will be defined as a "gang-related" murder when in most instances the gang affiliation had little to nothing to do with the assault. This type of categorization tends to inflate gang crime statistics in Los Angeles, in an effort to paint a more bleak picture with regards to Los Angeles' gang situation. Why? Those statistics can be used and have been used to request more law enforcement resources to police gangs and more money. Over the years, this concept has generated millions of dollars for LAPD's C.R.A.S.H. program that has policed gangs for over 25 years. That program has come under much scrutiny in 2000 when LAPD officers from Rampart's division were arrested for corruption. Although 2006 had a typical gang year with respects to crime, that year has been characterized as a crisis year, with the Mayor visiting Washington, the FBI Director coming to Los Angeles, and the US Attorney coming to Los Angeles to address what local officials are calling a gang crisis in an effort to request federal dollars.
We are opposed to the City's naming a "top ten" gang list that they introduced on February 9, 2006, in their efforts in reducing gang violence. We see no benefit of identifying gangs when efforts should focus on individuals. This list is an example of glorifying these gangs, giving credibility when not needed, and perhaps influencing other gangs that did not make the list. Additionally, we do not believe that all the gangs identified on their top ten list are in fact the most violent. Read what we wrote on that list (See article Feb. 10, 2007).
Street Gangs Media Blog for more on these issues.
Streetgangs.com is currently working on a project that will be mapping all the Hispanic gangs in LA County to determine what areas are most impacted by gangs, and we are also examining the effectiveness of gang injunctions in LA County. As of February 2007 there are 50 gang injunctions passed in California with Los Angeles leading the state in this trend in gang abatement.
We receive dozens of email every day so forgive us if we cannot personally respond to your message, but we will do our best to answer ALL serious questions. We receive over 6 million page visits monthly so please do not email us to help you with your high school paper or to ask silly questions. Please see the bibliography for tips on good books to read and for articles to download, or visit the topics to read recent news articles. If you have a serious question about gangs visit the billboard where your question may have already been asked and answered.
If you would like to write an article for Street Gangs Magazine please follow the submission guidelines and forward your essay. Media requests should be made from the contact page.
Thanks for stopping by
Streetgangs.com and God bless
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