Time to Try Another Approach to Address the Growing Gang Problem – and Not Just in L.A
By Judge Greg Mathis 

Throughout this country, street gangs and their criminal activities devastate communities. Gang-related shootings, robberies and drug transactions leave residents in fear. For decades, the country has tried to arrest its way out the gang problem, but that has done little to help and, now, the game has changed.

The city and the residents of Los Angeles, the nation’s most gang-ridden city, with nearly 40,000 gang members, have watched gang activity spread from impoverished, urban areas to safer, middle-class neighborhoods. Experts hired by the city have recommended a gang intervention strategy that moves beyond arrests and shuts down gang recruitment at its base: the children. This won’t be cheap; it could cost up to $1 billion during the first year and a half of the program. The price tag is high, but it’s a worthy investment. The city of Los Angeles should make it a priority to see that this plan is implemented, and the federal government should take notes and execute a similar plan at the national level. With all the recent talk about terrorism and the focus and spending on foreign matters, it seems many of our leaders have forgotten the havoc that is being wreaked on city streets across America.

Los Angeles is under attack. The enemy: Street gangs. Gang crimes in L.A. rose 14 percent last year, and nearly 60 percent of the city’s murders were gang-related. The gang problem isn’t confined to L.A., however. According to Justice Department statistics released last year, there are between 700,000 and 900,000 active gang members nationwide. Gang activity around schools and on college campuses has increased, and one-time rival gangs are now cooperating to traffic drugs. Gang members are not so easily identified by “colors;” in fact, it is very difficult to distinguish a gang member from any other young person. Realizing gangs have become more sophisticated in their operations, researchers recommended that L.A. utilize a multi-faceted approach, one that mainly focuses on keeping kids out of gangs and in anti-gang programs that include intervention, prevention and economic development.
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