Introduction
What do Probation Officers need to know about gangs? The
gang problem is an epidemic approaching pandemic proportion. It has spread
throughout the nation and is showing no signs of slowing down. Even if you are
not actively supervising a gang specific caseload, I guarantee that you have
someone on your caseload that has a gang connection. Maybe they’re just a
hang-around. Or perhaps their brother, sister, uncle or cousin is an active
gang member. This still places them at risk to the gang lifestyle.
Worse of the Worse Supervision
In the world of supervised release, there is a progression
of levels of service. The levels start
at banked (not assigned a probation officer), then kiosk reporting, to group
level reporting, then individual reporting and then to task force
supervision. The highest level deals
with those that are at highest risk to re-offend, whether it is narcotics sales
or acts of violence in the community. In
supervising these offenders, you have to hope for the best, but prepare for the
worse. Of course you want them to see
the error of their ways and their dangerous lifestyle, but again, gang ties are
strong and so is the lure of dope money.
There has been a long standing debate of the strengths of
nature versus nurture. Is it in the
person’s DNA or is it their environment? So what do you do when nature is a
little off (or a lot off) and nurture was basically a case of raised by
wolves?
We are dealing with many people who were gestated while
their mom smoked crack or shot heroin and have been since the 1980’s. And now the use of methamphetamines is
becoming more widespread, so mothers are smoking that while pregnant. There is also research out that suggests that
what the father is using is also affecting the makeup of the child. And then add in all of the genetic
propensities for mental health issues that a person’s lineage may have. You can end up with some people that were
pretty messed up from birth. They may
have looked normal, but the wiring in their heads just wasn’t up to code.
Taking the other half of the equation into consideration
has a myriad of other considerations.
While most families have some degree of dysfunction, some go off the
scale. It’s way worse than dad drinks
too much and beats mom (or vice versa).
There are generations of children who are being raised by their
grandparents. Like in a two parent
traditional family, the vast majority do turn out good. But when the grandparents are older and in
failing health, no matter what their best is, they can’t keep up with the
raising of the child. The kids that have
been introduced into the juvenile justice system end up running the house and
not in a good way. Their own parents or grandparents
are afraid of them and won’t act like parents because of that. And in some extreme cases, the parents are
there and maybe even still together, but the father insists that his child be
raised being allowed to do whatever that child wants to do. And in serving as an example, the father
supports the family through dealing dope and brings the violence associated
with that around the family. That is
what I mean by the phrase raised by wolves.
The kids don’t stand a chance.
And while most of them are boys, there are girls raised that way. Gender equality in the culture also means
that girls have an equal opportunity to be gang bangers and dope dealers. It also means that they are increasingly
being the perpetrator of violence and pulling the trigger.
P. O. Doe
#probation
#probationuncovered
Twitter - @PODoe2015
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Email - probationuncovered@gmail.com
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