Gabriel Nieves', nicknamed Grim by his California gang members, shares the powerful story of redemption, salvation and transformation. Gabriel's story is a powerful testament to the glorious and transformative power of Jesus Christ. A criminal, drug user, drunkard, and gang member, who is facing the possibility of life without parole. But all that changed when he finally met Jesus and accepted Him as his Savior. Gabriel Nieves left his gang and life of crime to start a ministry that impacts people today through music. His story proves that God can reach anyone with the good news of Jesus Christ.
This edited book significantly contributes to the knowledge on how to address gang problems from a broad community perspective, which takes into account criminal justice agencies, social service providers, and community leaders, along with police, who have implemented collaborative anti-gang policies and practices. As community-wide efforts become more common, it is increasingly important to investigate effective strategies to address social problems. Beyond Suppression: Community Strategies to Reduce Gang Violence explores a demonstration project of one state’s efforts to reduce gang and youth violence through use of a comprehensive initiative, the Comprehensive Gang Model (CGM). The relevance of the CGM as a conceptual framework to guide gang policy and practice is illustrated throughout the book, and tailored gang reduction strategies derived from that framework and rooted in the ecological constitution of communities are showcased. The chapters highlight implementation strategies employed by various communities using a case study methodology that assists in garnering an in-depth perspective of implementation issues and key dimensions of the CGM. This book answers important questions about how communities operationalize the CGM. The results of these investigations are important for scholars, learners, and practitioners who seek to address gang violence using a customized response.
Joint Winner of the 2023 ASSAf Humanities Book Award in the Emerging Researcher Category This book showcases a practical starting point for changing how criminologists think about gangs and street culture – offering hope to those trying to exit gang life, as well as those trying to help them do so.
For decades now tattoos have been potent symbols of the Los Angeles gang-life scene. The black and white tattoos with recognizable gang symbols appear on members' faces, necks and all over their bodies, making their gang affiliation immediately clear to whomever crosses their path. This can mean the difference between life and death on he streets, and just as often, in prison. What does this prominently placed imagery mean for those men and women who somehow extricate themselves from gang life or are released from prison or want to separate themselves from the gang and start life anew? The very tattoos which may have helped guard against the constant threat of rival gangs now bar many ex-gang members from employment, life without harassment, and the freedom to move on from a past they have worked hard to overcome. Skin Deep is a photography project that seeks to show the effects of this ongoing gang conflict in Los Angeles. Photographer Steven Burton set out to photograph realistic portraits of former gang members who are trying to escape the revolving door of death and prison. For these men and women, the aftermath of gang life is not only carried within--it is also scrawled across their faces and bodies. Skin Deep uniquely highlights the impact tattoos have on the way a person is perceived by showing what each participant might look like without them. Utilizing before and, thanks to the advantages of Photoshop, after photographs, these men and women got a chance to see what they'd look like without the inked visual armor. After the bare images were presented to each, they were asked to talk about themselves and their families, what tattoos represent to them, and their aspirations for the future. Seeing themselves without tattoos--many for the first time in decades--naturally brought about a wide range of emotions, recollections, hopes, and dreams, with responses such as: "I am shocked. I don't know what to say about this. I am going to give this to my mom, she is going to be so happy." "I think this guy in the pictures would judge the one with tattoos right off the top." "That's crazy, that looks real crazy. Those came out cool man! I think I like it better without the tattoos." Burton met his subjects thanks to Father Greg Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries in LA, and the entire project is inspired by his tireless work to help rehabilitate these former gang members and give them all a crucial second chance in life. Skin Deep offers a chance to expose the realities these individuals face when trying to rebuild their lives and re-enter society. As importantly, for the public, the project provokes consideration regarding how society perceives and judges people with tattoos and violent pasts and seeks to garner empathy for those caught in the crosshairs of gang life as they try to change their futures.
This book challenges the widely held conjecture that gangs represent 'the new face of youth crime', repudiating claims which situate the gang at the heart of sexual violence, mass shooting and control of the illegal drugs trade and examining how better we might understand the violence of the street and the organisations that inhabit it.
This book draws on a four-year ethnographic study conducted in the prisons and on the streets of Greater Manchester, England, to examine gangs and organised crime in the North of England. It includes the personal testimonies of active prison gang members and major organised crime figures, many of whom are behind bars, and some active street gang members. It presents an holistic account by exploring the linkages that exist between prisons and the streets, including the lines of continuity between gangs on both sides of the prison walls and how gang affiliation straddles this divide. It offers data on the region’s drug market (specifically Class A drugs) as this market is the lynchpin of the underworld, both within and without prison. It also includes the perspectives and insights of prison officers, police detectives, youth workers, active and former street gang members and the parents of deceased gang members. This is a ground-breaking, contemporary study, analysing English gang compositions and activities, with its findings and results based on qualitative interviews and ethnographic research.
In Offending and Desistance, Beth Weaver examines the role of a co-offending peer group in shaping and influencing offending and desistance, focusing on three phases of their criminal careers: onset, persistence and desistance. While there is consensus across the body of desistance research that social relations have a role to play in variously constraining, enabling and sustaining desistance, no desistance studies have adequately analysed the dynamics or properties of social relations, or their relationship to individuals and social structures. This book aims to reset this balance. By examining the social relations and life stories of six Scottish men (in their forties), Weaver reveals the central role of friendship groups, intimate relationships and families of formation, employment and religious communities. She shows how, for different individuals, these relations triggered reflexive evaluation of their priorities, behaviours and lifestyles, but with differing results. Weaver’s re-examination of the relationships between structure, agency, identity and reflexivity in the desistance process ultimately illuminates new directions for research, policy and practice. This book is essential reading for academics and students engaged in the study of criminology and criminal justice, delinquency, probation and criminal law.
According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, the number of youth gangs throughout the U.S. tops 24,500. The number of teens and young adults involved in gang activity is higher than 772,500. Gangs offer these young people many things that their home, school, and work life do not. There are unfortunate, compelling reasons why they're in gangs, and why they cannot get out once they've become a member. Editor Peggy Daniels has compiled several fascinating essays that discuss the problems of gangs in America. Readers will explore such topics as where gangs are a problem, who joins gangs and why, and the effectiveness of various intervention methods. Give your readers the opportunity to form intelligent viewpoints on gangs, which is an essential tool against potential harm and violence.
Volume 27 of Adolescent Psychiatry focuses on trauma and violence among adolescents, and attends especially to the psychological, biological, and social impact of trauma on its victims, especially the young. Schonfeld Award papers offer a historical perspective on adolescent violence in America, and examine terrorism by looking at the appeal of ideologies that espouse violent revolution to young people. Christopher Thomas and his colleagues, drawing on their groundbreaking work on youth violence in Galveston, Texas, add a study that links gang members with serious violent crime. A series of papers by the Committee on Adolescence of GAP deals not only with the nature, scope, and impact of trauma, but also with its implications for mental health training and public policy, helpfully supplemented by studies that consider the neurobiological effects of trauma and the cultural and gender-based dimensions of trauma. The clinical yield of these new perspectives is addressed in chapters on interventions with traumatized adolescents and on the special vulnerability of late adolescents to combat-related PTSD. Clinical contributions of related interest show how effective interventions can reduce the use of seclusion and restraint with state hospital adolescent populations; and provide an up-to-date understanding of the recognition of, and differentiation between, early-onset schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. James Gilfoil discusses the importance of families' attitudes toward psychotherapy in the outcome of clinical work with adolescents. Saul Levine dissects the various self-deceptions and myths among mental health professionals and policymakers that have militated against appropriate therapeutic care for adolescents. And Volume 27 concludes with an ASAP Position Paper that provides further discussion of the role of societal attitudes about youth in both the perpetuation of violence and the lack of appropriate interventions.
"Discusses the hundreds of murders that occur in Los Angeles each year, and focuses on the story of the dedicated group of detectives who pursued justice at any cost in the killing of Bryant Tennelle"--Publisher's description.
