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Ganging up over gangs

Posted on December 20, 2007December 20, 2007 by Staff

Sarah Preston

Recently, a number of North Carolina mayors came together to call for the state Senate to address the gang problems facing the state. The group complained that the General Assembly has not effectively handled the problem and said they will work to see the so-called “Street Gang Prevention Act” (a bill passed by the House of Representatives last July that would have created a number of new criminal offenses, upped numerous penalties and promised to swell the state’s prison population) pass the Senate next year. There is nothing wrong with wanting legislators to address a problem causing a great deal of concern, but adequately handling this situation takes careful consideration.

Besides the myriad civil rights concerns that these punitive gang measures raise, a similar bill to the one that passed the House was estimated to cost close to $25 million and require 364 new prison beds in its first year. Further, the legislation would cost approximately $60 million over five years, with an ever-increasing price tag as more offenders get locked away, with the key not only thrown away but lost forever. According to the Legislature’s nonpartisan Fiscal Research Division, this is the minimum price tag – meaning the cost to North Carolina’s youth and young-adult population could be substantially higher.

If we are truly willing to invest this kind of money into fighting gangs and gang membership in North Carolina, a better, more productive approach would be to focus on why and how young people join gangs.

A recent study by the Carolina Justice Policy Institute found that most gangs are made up of young people who are alienated from the mainstream and are attracted to the “mythical world of excitement and danger” that gangs present. The same study found that most young people age out of gangs within a year. Indeed, many interviewed subjects stated that part of the reason they left the gang was the dangers presented by participating in gang activity.

Twenty-five million dollars would go a long way in educating North Carolina’s youth to what so many former gang members already know. Sixty million dollars over five years could fund any number of programs and projects to prevent young people from feeling and becoming alienated from mainstream society.

Gangs do present a tough problem for the state to face, but simply demanding that lawmakers pass more of the same old “get tough,” “lock ’em up” laws is not the best way to deal with it. If we hope to bring about long-term solutions, we desperately need to start investing in our children. The laws to handle existing gangs already exist. Criminal activity committed to benefit a gang is already subject to enhanced penalties. It’s time that we focus on preventing youths and young adults from joining gangs in the future and stop rushing to give up on those who already have.

Sarah Preston is the legislative coordinator of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina

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