NCJ Number
235758
Editor(s)
Rosa Ordaz,
Kelly Presley,
Jerry Ortiz y Pino
Date Published
2010
Length
221 pages
Annotation
This book presents a new paradigm, methodology, and framework for understanding the processes that induce violence in a community, particularly gang violence, and that can also lead to peace.
Abstract
The paradigm reasons that the internalization of feelings of hopelessness; failure; inferiority; and being unwanted, unaccepted, and unacceptable are at the root of every gangster's murderous act that is intended to erase someone else's life that he/she views to be the same as his/her own. For such youth who seek out others like themselves, violence becomes a valued expression of their shared experience and those who engage in it are viewed as heroes. Gang members know, however, that engaging in violence carries certain risks, including death, serious injury, or being arrested by police and imprisoned by the criminal justice system; however, those who either escape or survive beyond the risk will be revered by impressionable youth who view the journey of the violent gang member as a model for their own way of coping with their despair within a society they view as the enemy. This cycle of violence will continue as long as the conditions that spawn the roots of violence exist. The conditions that breed gangs and violence in a community must be the focus of a multidisciplinary strategy that involves the analysis and services of psychology, sociology, urban planners, anthropology, education, and criminology. 61-item bibliography