Latino Experience Experiencia Latina

Ed Ramírez, Linden, CA

The Prevalence of Chicano Street Gangs and Street Gang Violence: La Prevalencia de las Pandillas Chicanas y la Violencia Pandillo-Callejera: Statistics and Gang Suppression -IV

This article continues the discussion of Chicano street gangs and covers the missrepresentation of statistics.

The primary strategies that address the Chicano street gang problem are prevention, intervention and suppression. The greatest investment in recent history has been on suppression executed through the criminal justice system which generates a large part of the available data on street gangs.

While violent crime statistics by race and ethnicity are readily available, getting a true picture of gang membership, the number of blancos; y 3,2 entre hispanos.

En consecuencia, la data nacional contradice el estereotipo que la violencia es, de alguna manera, inherente a la cultura de las comunidades chicanas y latinas, o que los hispanos son más violentos que los negros o los blancos. Y, además, genera la duda ¿Cuáles son las condiciones del entorno californiano que contribuyen a números más altos? Los números más elevados son reportados por las agencias policiales que tienden a usar métodos menos rigurosos gangs and the degree of gang involvement with violent crime is more difficult to determine. There are significant differences in the numbers available depending on the source and methods used to gather data (e.g., law enforcement reporting versus self-identification studies, etc.).

Nevertheless, the numbers indicate that there is a significant problem with gang related violence in the Hispanic population in California. For example, in 2010 of the 1,809 homicides reported 805 were homicides of Hispanic persons and 48.7 percent was attributed to Hispanic street gang violence. This

para recolectar data. Sus métodos para identificar y cuantificar pandillas y miembros de pandillas son, frecuentemente, basados en forma de vestir, sobrenombres, colores que visten, tatuajes, grafiti, asociación con otros, fotos de grupo confiscadas, etc. —método basado en estereotipos que es impreciso y sujeto a presunción tanto respecto a afiliación pandillera como a su relación con algún incidente de violencia pandillera.

Por ejemplo, durante un repunte de homicidios en 2011 (48) y 2012 (71) en Stockton, California, el Departamento de Policía de Stockton (SPD) se valió de grafiti para identificar a 70 pandillas con 3300 miembros y atribuir la mayoría de la violencia ocurrida a pandillas callejeras “mexicoamericanochicanas”. Esos números —basados en grafiti— justificaron la supresión o “desmantelamiento” de pandillas que le siguió, tarea efectuada por medio de múltiples agencias.

Pero, desde una perspectiva de confiabilidad investigativa, esos números son bastante subjetivos y, por lo tanto, cuestionables. Respecto de la cuestionable identificación de violencia pandillera, la Unidad de Supresión de Violencia Pandillera (GVSU) del SPD aseguró que el 52 por ciento del cricontinúa a la vuelta was the highest number of homicides among all ethnic/racial populations (Blacks, Whites, Pacific Islander, etc.) in the state.

However, on the broader national level Hispanics rank behind both Blacks and Whites in violent crime victimizations. For example, during 2012-2015 U.S. residents experienced an estimated 5.8 million violent victimizations. Based on information provided by victims the offender was white in about half (49%), about a quarter (23%) black, 13% Hispanic and eight percent two or more races. Also, in 2012-2015 the rates of intra-racial serious violence was black-on-black 6.7 per 1,000 persons, white-on-white 3.7 per 1,000 persons and hispanic-on-hispanic 3.2 per 1,000 persons.

Thus, the national data challenges the stereotype that violence is somehow inherent in the culture of Chicano and Latino communities or that Hispanics are more violent than Blacks or Whites, and it raises the question - what environmental conditions in California contribute to higher numbers?

The highest numbers reported come from law enforcement agencies that tend to use less rigorous methods for collecting data. Their methods for identifying and quantifying gang members and gangs are often based on criteria including style of dress, nick names, wearing colors, tattoos, graffiti, cohort associations, confiscated group photos, etc., a method based on profiling that is imprecise and subject to misidentification of both gang membership and incidence of gang violence.

For example, during a spike in the murder rate in 2011 (48 murders) and 2012 (71 murders) in Stockton California, the Stockton Police Department (SPD) used graffiti to identify 70 street gangs with 3,300 members and attributed the majority of the violence that occurred to “Mexican-American/Chicano” street gangs. The numbers based on graffiti justified the multiple agency gang suppression or gang “takedown” that followed, but from a research reliability perspective the numbers are highly subjective and therefore questionable.

Reg a rd i ng continued on next page JUNE

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Statistics and gang suppression -IV

continued from previous page misidentification of gang violence, the SPD Gang Violence Suppression Unit (GVSU ) asserted that “52 percent of all violent crime” in Stockton could be attributed to street gangs in 2011-2012 and, by 2019, SPD attributed 70 percent of the total to them. However, SPD does not make a distinction between street gang involvement and personal altercations in how it categorizes a violent incident. In 2019 a SPD representative stated,

“(…) if it’s committed by a gang member,

Stockton police don’t see a difference.

We would still consider it gang violence because of their association with gangs, the possibility for retaliation….It’s kind of hard not to have that association there when a gang member is shot.”

When a distinction is made between a personal altercation and gang-related violence the numbers are significantly lower. In fact, in 2010 the California Department of Justice’s publication on homicides reported, “Of the homicides where the contributing circumstance was known, 36.1 percent were gang-related and 35.4 percent were the result of an argument.” This distinction makes SPD’s numbers for the percentage of gang violence questionable and probably inflated. Gang expert Dr. Jesse Ed Ramírez Linden, CA De La Cruz argued, that there were other valid reasons for the murder rate spike other than increased Chicano gang activity. Based on his self-identified gang member sources in Stockton —the site of his doctoral dissertation research— numbers related to gang violence generated by police and the media were “overblown” and most of the violence was related to drug and alcohol abuse.

Additionally, the misidentification of gang members may result in labeling individuals as gang members when they are not. Chicano youth are particularly vulnerable. For example, studies have shown that adolescent non-gang member Chicano youth often adopted stylistic dress, language, art, etc., attributed to street gangs and have a strong identification with their neighborhoods or barrios and their friends that live there. As a result, their appearance and neighborhood associations or friends could cause them to be gang-profiled. A worst scenario would be that neighborhood or barrio identity and relationships would be arbitrarily labeled as gang based and targeted by law enforcement.

From a law and order perspective aggrese x perie

sive gang suppression works, and it often has Chicano community support. In 2020 regarding gang suppression, the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that incarceration reduced gang-related violent crime by ten to fifteen percent.

While the impact of gang suppression or gang “takedowns” is swift with short term benefits, it has substantial long term detriments. Gang suppression is a significant aspect of the punitive social control complex described by sociologist Victor Rios that contributes to the development of oppositional culture that is a major factor in the persistence of gang formation over time affecting generations of barrio residents.

Chicano scholars Alfredo Mirandé and James Diego Vigil argued, that the vast majority of barrio residents are law abiding citizens who support law, order and even gang suppression strategies, but Mirandé argues that gang suppression is often detrimental to their communities. From his perspective it is essentially internalizing the oppressor’s definition of Mexicans and Chicanos as violent and criminal.

Even if one disagrees with Mirandé’s assessment regarding oppression, at a minimum, the Chicano community must develop a critical understanding of the role of gang suppression and its concludes on page 26 impact on future generations of barrio youth and advocate for alternative strategies.

Ideally, support will develop for a shift in resources from gang suppression to comprehensive programs for street gang prevention and intervention or diversion. However, real solutions would require community development and the improvement of educational and economic opportunities for barrio residents. Also, as Dr. Victor Rios argued, there must be a shift from a culture of punitive social control to a culture of care. To be continued

Estadísticas y supresión pandillista - IV

viene de la vuelta men violento del 2011 y 2012 en Stockton se podía atribuir a las pandillas callejeras y, para el 2019, el SPD les atribuyó el 70 por ciento. No obstante, el SPD no distingue entre involucramiento pandillero y altercados personales para categorizar un incidente de violencia. En el 2019, un representante declaró,

“(...) si es cometido por un pandillero, la policía estocktoniana no ve la diferencia. Todavía lo consideraremos violencia pandillera por su asociación con éstas, la posibilidad de retaliación (...) es algo difícil no concluir que hay esa asociación

Bibliography

Adams, M. A. (2019, September 4). Inside Stockton’s history of gang violence. Retrieved from ABC 10

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Center. (2020). GANGS, CRIME AND VIOLENC E. California Department of Justice. (2010). California

Homicide Statistics for 2010. California Department of Justice. (2019). Attorney

Generals Annual Report on CAL GANG for 2019. Cruz, J. S. (2014, July). Mexican American / Chicano

Gang Members’ Voice on Social Control In The

Context of School and Community: A Critical

Ethnographic Study in Stockton, California. Retrieved from a Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of

California State University, Stanislaus. Mirande, A. (2020). Gringo Injustice:Insider

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University of Texas Press. cuando se balea a un pandillero”.

Cuando se hace una distinción entre un altercado personal y violencia relacionada con pandillas, los números son significativamente menores. De hecho, la publicación sobre homicidios en el 2010 del Departamento de Justicia de California reportó, “de los homicidios donde se conocen las circunstancias que contribuyeron al hecho, el 36,1 por ciento fueron relacionados al pandillerismo y el 35,4 fueron el resultado de una discusión”. Esta distinción pone los números del SPD respecto del porcentaje de violencia pandillera en tela de juicio y es, probablemente, exagerada.

El experto en pandillerismo, Dr. Jesse de la Cruz, arguyó que habían aún otras, válidas razones, para que repuntara la actividad chicano-pandillera. Basándose en fuentes auto-identificadas como pandilleras en Stockton —donde realizó la investigación para la disertación que le obtendría su doctorado— las estadísticas relacionadas con la violencia pandillera generada por la policía estaba sobredimensionada y la mayor parte de la violencia tenía que ver con abuso de drogas y alcohol.

Además, la presunta identificación de miembros de pandilla puede resultar en individuos etiquetados como concluye en pág.26