NCJ Number
167332
Date Published
1997
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Juveniles who commit gang-related crime and violence have not received adequate discipline from their parents or from society; these juvenile should be given strong punishment to help them turn their lives around.
Abstract
"Kids really want to be disciplined," Jeffery Haynes, a youth worker on the South Side of Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune. "They get discipline from the gang they don't get at home." Haynes might have added that they get punishment and protection from the gang they do not get from the law. Most boys learn lessons on responsible and positive behaviors from their fathers and then from friendships of mutual support. This is what middle- class and upper-class fraternities and clubs are all about; they provide comradeship, loyalty, discipline, and protection. These clans do not always live up to their own high standards and often descend into an "animal house," or their members become intolerant snobs, but their creeds usually demand adherence to specific virtues. Similarly, poor boys seek succor from gangs. Such gangs do not have to become violent. The 11-year-old Chicago child named "Yummy" who was identified by an eyewitness as the murderer of a 14-year-old girl belonged to a gang whose symbol is a six-pointed star that represents "love, life, and loyalty," which lead to "wisdom, knowledge, and understanding." The gang's rules include a taboo on consuming addictive drugs, and all gang members are instructed to help each other. No amount of moralizing can save the "Yummies" of the world, but until a cultural revolution occurs in the United States, one that reinforces a child's universal desire for discipline and that builds on a father's love, there will continue to be expanding numbers of slum kids without conscience. In the interest of public protection, such kids must be incapacitated in institutions. Perhaps there they will learn to discipline their lives to live responsibly.