Gangs Grow, but Hard Line Stirs Doubts
By SOLOMON MOORE
New York Times
SALISBURY, N.C. — The party ended when a group of teenage boys shouted the name of their gang over the sound system: “Westside!” Across the dance floor another clutch of youths responded in kind: “Eastside!”
As more than 200 partygoers emptied into the parking lot that March night, an argument between the two gangs devolved into a shoot-out. The police arrived to find the crumpled body of a 13-year-old girl, Treasure Feamster, an innocent bystander.
The killing here, 35 miles from Charlotte, has helped rally support in North Carolina for a Los Angeles-style crackdown on gangs.
At least 36 states have passed hard-line laws similar to those pioneered in the 1990s by Los Angeles, and enacted statewide in California. The laws prohibit public gatherings of two or more people suspected of being gang members; establish databases to track gang members; deploy broad sweeps of suspects; and lengthen prison sentences for gang-related crimes.
But even as lawmakers in Raleigh have worked to create a similar gang law, doubts have been raised across the country about the value of the approach.
A growing number of law enforcement officials, including some in Los Angeles, suggest that such aggressive suppression tactics may worsen some gang problems by alienating whole groups of people from the police and stocking prisons with thousands of young people, many of whom are transformed into hardened gang members while incarcerated.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
SALISBURY, N.C. — The party ended when a group of teenage boys shouted the name of their gang over the sound system: “Westside!” Across the dance floor another clutch of youths responded in kind: “Eastside!”
As more than 200 partygoers emptied into the parking lot that March night, an argument between the two gangs devolved into a shoot-out. The police arrived to find the crumpled body of a 13-year-old girl, Treasure Feamster, an innocent bystander.
The killing here, 35 miles from Charlotte, has helped rally support in North Carolina for a Los Angeles-style crackdown on gangs.
At least 36 states have passed hard-line laws similar to those pioneered in the 1990s by Los Angeles, and enacted statewide in California. The laws prohibit public gatherings of two or more people suspected of being gang members; establish databases to track gang members; deploy broad sweeps of suspects; and lengthen prison sentences for gang-related crimes.
But even as lawmakers in Raleigh have worked to create a similar gang law, doubts have been raised across the country about the value of the approach.
A growing number of law enforcement officials, including some in Los Angeles, suggest that such aggressive suppression tactics may worsen some gang problems by alienating whole groups of people from the police and stocking prisons with thousands of young people, many of whom are transformed into hardened gang members while incarcerated.
(Continued here.)
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