NCJ Number
149100
Date Published
1984
Length
93 pages
Annotation
This fictional story, written for junior high- and high school-aged youth, describes how a nonviolent group of youth was "baited" into a violent confrontation with a criminal gang of juveniles and the consequences of such violence.
Abstract
This story describes the dysfunctional families and peer friendships of a group of youth whose social needs were met in "hanging" around together. They called themselves the Saints. Another gang, led by an ex-offender, attacked one of the Saints while he was alone, and upon learning of this the rest of the Saints felt they had to confront the other gang (the "Punks") in a "rumble" to exact revenge and establish their reputation. The first rumble was broken up by the police before either gang could establish its superiority over the other. Throughout the discussions among the Saints regarding how to respond to the Punks, a girl friend of the Saints' leader tried to dissuade the Saints from engaging in violent confrontations with the Punks. The Saints wanted the rumble to involve only fists and hand-to-hand combat. The Punks, on the other hand, were prepared to use weapons. The second rumble involved only a fight between the two gang leaders. When the leader of the Punks was losing the fist fight, he got a gun from one of the other Punk members and shot the Saints' leader in the chest. He survived the wound, and it became clear to the Saints that risking death and injury was foolish behavior. The Punks were arrested by the police for drug possession, and their leader was charged with attempted murder. See NCJ-149112 for Gang War Workbook