GANG MEETING ILL-ADVISED, PROFESSOR SAYS
GANG MEETING ILL-ADVISED, PROFESSOR SAYS
St. Louis Post-Dispatch; 10/5/1993; Bill Bryan; Of the Post-Dispatch Staff
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
10-05-1993
Dealing directly with St. Louis’ street gangs will give them recognition and make a bad situation worse, warns a professor of criminology who has studied gangs.
“I applaud the mayor for trying to do something, but dealing with these gangs is not the answer,” said Scott Decker, head of the criminology department at the University of Missouri at St. Louis.
On Saturday, Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. and about 35 members of local gangs signed a “peace accord,” with the young men agreeing to “strive for peace and not commit violence.” About 10 of the area’s 60 identified gangs attended the meeting.
Bosley acknowledged then that the accord was probably “more symbolic” than binding. And he noted that while some gang members may observe it, others “are going to go out and get involved in violence.”
Decker contended Monday that the meeting itself was a negative.
“Giving the gangs legitimacy will in turn give them resources, power,” Decker said Monday. “This was done years ago in Chicago and Los Angeles, and it solidified the structure of the gangs. We know what the gang problems are in those cities.
“In Chicago, for example, the Disciples and the Vice Lords gangs were put in direct control of receiving federal grant monies.
“It didn’t work.”
St. Louis gangs are weakly structured, making a peace accord meaningless, Decker said. “The gangs here lack common group goals,” he said. “There is a lack of roles within the gang, and there is a lack of leadership. Combine all of that and you don’t have a structure that allows you to go to a leader that allows you to affect change.”
But recognizing gangs will solidify their structure and give them power, he said.
“One thing the gangs lack now is resources,” Decker said. “When you give gangs access in the determination of jobs programs or recreation programs, for instance, that gives them resources, and gangs become more attractive to join.
“By giving the gang these resources, you’re giving them increased credibility in the community.”
Decker said that given the longstanding social problems that led to the creation of gangs, “you’re not going to solve those problems overnight with a proclamation.”