Gang activity in Bay Area growing

For almost two decades Mike Rustigan, SF State criminology professor, has been tracking violent crime in America. Rustigan, who is writing a book titled "Murder USA," concludes that family breakdown, depersonalization of society and revenge have all been factors in creating our current violent society.

"In the last 25-30 years we've seen a breakdown in the American family, and that breakdown has spawned a more disturbed individual. That is, children abandoned, neglected, abused, molested. There are more damaged goods, more walking wounded, never connected, that never had loving relationships. The great increase in serial murders, mass murders, and especially gangs and stalkers have something to do with the kind of family breakdown we've experienced in our nation," Rustigan said.

Rustigan believes the family breakdown has contributed to the rise in juvenile crime and gang violence in the past 20 years.

"There's been this great growth of the underclass -- that is, juveniles that don't have any hope or don't see promise in the future. The great growth of gangs very definitely reflects massive family breakdowns, but it also reflects a rise in the underclass," Rustigan said. "The most rabid gang development occurs in those areas where kids are out of school, and no job. You especially see this increase in black, Hispanic and now even Asian gangs."

"Seven percent of the youth offenders in San Francisco are serious, habitual offenders, who commit two-thirds of the violent juvenile crimes," Rustigan said.

Figures from the SFPD Gang Task Force support Rustigan. There are 40 known gangs in San Francisco and Daly City: black gangs operate in the Potrero Hill and Hunter's Point districts; Hispanic gangs stake out the Mission district; Asian gangs claim Chinatown; and Filipino gangs roam Daly City.

"There are between 2,000 and 3,000 gang members in San Francisco. A lot of small gangs are popping up, particularly in the Mission district with Latin gangs," said Lt. Ron Roth of the Gang Task Force. Roth attributes the variance in numbers to the mobility of gang members: some moving to other cities, some going to prison, and still others dying from gang fights. Rustigan notes there are a number of "wannabe" juveniles who wear the colors and imitate gang members, but are not actually connected to a specific gang

"Gangs have been getting into drugs heavily since 1985, particularly crack cocaine, and that's increased the violence level of juveniles. That, and the availability of hand guns," Roth said.

"Juveniles join gangs as a substitution for the family. For the poor it's a way of getting income for the family. It's also for safety -- if a kid lives in a gang neighborhood and doesn't belong to a gang, he could be in danger. They have to, for safety reasons, declare an affiliation. And then there is peer pressure. You hear rap singers glorifying being gang members; you see it in the movies; the clothing being sold today glorifies gangs. The peer pressure to join a gang is very strong," Roth said.

Although there has been a decline in adult violent crimes, in California violent youth crimes (those committed by 14 to 17-year-olds) have doubled.

"We have seen an increase of 121 percent in violent crimes by juveniles between 1993 and 1994 -- much of this is gang violence," said Sgt Mark Kerby of the Santa Clara Sheriff's office.

"The breakup of the family has quite a bit to do with violence. There is an evolution of gangs as a replacement for the family. There is an escalation in gangs. Many futurists believe that by the turn of the century there will be more turmoil in gang warfare, too," Kerby said.

Rustigan said, "You find a lot of young males and females who've dropped out of the system -- they're bored, they're idle, drifting around looking for trouble. You can find very strong ties, identity in those gangs -- it's a substitute family.

"Although you can say the gang is a substitute for the family, it's a very poor substitute," he said. "That's exactly why we need to develop our community resources -- after-school programs, recreation programs, sports programs, tutoring programs, mentoring programs. We have to give these kids alternatives to these gangs.

"When I interview violent offenders in prison, with 95 percent of them the first social problem was truancy. Cutting school, dropping out, and those kids that are truant for a while are forming gangs around schools," Rustigan said.

"It's pathetic right now because we think the solution is more prisons. The problem with that is prisons are reactive. We're getting the kids after they've committed their murders, their drive-by shootings, their car-jacks," said Rustigan, who believes children should be taught about the dangers of gangs and steered into community involvement in grammar school.

"Take Richard Allen Davis (accused killer of Polly Klaas). He would talk of breaking into homes, the thrill he would get breaking into homes. All the markers were there and we just let him slide through the system. He got worse and worse and worse. Twelve pages of a rap sheet, progressively more violent crimes," Rustigan said.

"Sure, a guy like Richard Allen Davis needs to be in prison. He's dangerous, a sociopath. Why don't we catch these guys up front? That's called prevention," he said.

"We're spending, on the average, $25,000 bucks per year on inmates in our prison system. Just 'three strikes and you're out' is going to cost us $5 billion by the year 2000," Rustigan said.

According to the California Department of Corrections, for the year 1993-94 each prison inmate incarcerated in one of the 28 California prisons cost the state $20,751. The Department also notes that there are currently 125,000 inmates in California, or one inmate to every 256 state residents. By 1999, the department predicts there will be 245,000 inmates, or one prisoner to every 146 residents.

Since fiscal 1993-94, California has allocated more money to corrections than to the state's four-year universities, according to Dan Carson of the Legislative Analyst's Office. The corrections budget has grown from $3.0 billion in '92-'93 to $3.54 billion this year. State budget appropriations for UC and CSU schools have only this year returned to '92-'93 levels of about $3.5 billion, from a low of $3.25 billion in '93-'94.

"We need to put the resources (money) up front, working with the kids, their troubles, helping high-risk children, helping parents out, after-school programs -- let's see a little money up front," Rustigan said.

"It's an investment, it's not pork as the Republicans say. Recreation, treatment, prevention -- that's pork barrel? It's sound, it's wise, it's hard-hitting to put some energy up front, because once these kids are in the criminal justice system often it's too late," Rustigan said. "They've been in gangs, they're committed to a criminal career, but if we get in there early enough we can turn them around."

[ Golden Gater Online October 17, 1995 ]

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