Anti-gang policies need improvement, panelists argue

Speaking as part of a panel on anti-gang initiatives in Robertson Hall yesterday evening, Robert Bowser, the mayor of East Orange, N.J., made one point about young, potential gang members very clear: "We have got to get these kids some other opportunities."

The panel, entitled "Bloods, Crips, and Beyond," was hosted by the Wilson School's Policy Research Institute for the Region, a small think tank that focuses on policy issues in the tristate area. It is the second in a series of events hosted by the institute's undergraduate fellows to explore regional public policies for underprivileged youth.

The other members of the panel included Wilson School professor Jean Baldwin Grossman, who served as moderator, and Peter Moskos '94, a professor at John Jay College. After graduating from Princeton, Moskos enrolled as a graduate student in sociology at Harvard and then decided to do field research as a police officer in East Baltimore, one of the country's most violent neighborhoods. He opened his remarks by discussing his experiences.

"The worst neighborhood in New York is heaven compared to Baltimore," Moskos said. "If you are a man growing up in East Baltimore, which means you are a black man, you have a 12 percent chance of being murdered in your lifetime."

Moskos warned, however, of quickly dismissing these problems as rooted in gangs.

"There isn't a gang problem in the traditional way we tend to think of it," he said. "Groups that sell drugs are called gangs. Groups that are poor and black are called gangs. I think we tend to draw those lines on race and class rather than on any concrete organizational structure."

Moskos noted the strong correlation that exists between gangs and drugs, arguing that the drug trade is what funds most gangs and leads to the violent crimes they commit.

From a law enforcement perspective, he said that police need to define gangs more successfully and switch organizational pressure away from making extra, often unnecessary, arrests.

Bowser, speaking after Moskos, said there is no reporting mechanism that shows whether or not violence was gang-related. Such a tool, he said, would be useful to keep track of local gangs.

"A lot of mayors don't know what is available in their community for youth," Bowser said. "We need to start understanding gang culture and give opportunities and options not to join gangs."

This involvement is especially important in the face of older gang members who start recruiting children as young as six years old, and comes best from local schools, churches and nonprofit organizations, Bowser said. He gave an example of how he encouraged a local men's group to start visiting a nearby high school. The graduation rate at this high school jumped from 50 percent to 92 percent.

As chair of the Governor's Gang and Youth Violence Task Force, Bowser said he has helped identify three key areas that need to be improved, including law enforcement, prevention and smooth reentry into the community.

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In East Orange specifically, the mayor has worked to put up cameras in a three-block area notorious for high gang activity. The video is also available online to residents, who can watch activity and immediately send a message to police.

Despite these measures, Bowser said there continues to be gang-related trouble within New Jersey. Out of 566 municipalities studied by the task force, 90 percent have potential gang problems. In these communities, he said, youth often buy reversible clothes so they can wear blue in certain areas and red in others, depending on which gang is found there.

After Moskos and Bowser made their remarks, the floor was opened to questions. One audience member asked about why nothing had been discussed about the root causes of gang violence.

In response, Moskos said that it was easier to reduce crime than to address racism, poverty and bad education. Grossman added that many programs begin when potential gang members are younger, but as they grow older, it becomes difficult to maintain their interest.

"Kids who might consider being in gangs don't want to go to the Y," Grossman said. She said there needed to be more outreach and individually-tailored programs that build on strengths rather than fixing supposed deficiencies.

Blake Sercye '08, who attended the panel with the rest of the Student Volunteers Council (SVC) executive board, said he wanted to learn more about the areas in which student volunteers work.

"I was really interested about what the panel had said about treating the symptoms rather than the causes of gang violence," Sercye said. "Overall, it was a wonderful talk."