| The problem I have seen in regards to gangs is that the law is always lagging. In many communities where gangs are spreading, you have to hit them hard with the wrath of the law and community. If they get seeded, like in Dodge City for example, they are pretty much there to stay. Gangs have an organizational structure with the head bangers recruiting the young kids to go out and do their dirty work (graffiti). I recently read where the fed's used the RICO statutes to go after the bangers in Wichita. Gangs are about a textbook example of RICO applicability because of the violence, intimidation, theft, prostitution etc and Dodge City is no example.
All the security cameras in the world won't make much difference if the criminal penalty is a low level misdemeanor. Expanding on some of the posts in this thread, I think that increasing the penalty for gang related graffiti to felony level would be a start. Possibly adopting a state version of the RICO statutes could be used to bring in a whole group of them instead of singling them out. The gang leaders are the ones running the show but keep their hands clean in terms of being linked to the street violence but use something like RICO could help bring them down.
As far as punishment, I really like the idea of tent city (Maricopa County Jail). No cozy jail cell with three meals a day, medical care, TV, and air conditioning at the taxpayers expense without some kind of real punishment. Get a chain gang together and have them scrub or paint over the graffiti, pick up garbage , or something. Oh yeah, and make the family pay the tab especially if they are juveniles.  |