Simplistic and misguided, at worst. Wholly political and decidedly impractical, at best.
President Clinton is talking tough on gangs again this week, and the people who work on the front lines trying to reduce gang violence are responding just as toughly toward Clinton, questioning his motives and his proposals.
The president wants more punishment, longer prison sentences and more police intervention as a way to solve the nation’s gang problem. But critics say this kind of approach didn’t work for drugs; why would it work for gangs?
Those who work with juveniles say the solution is to prevent kids from joining gangs in the first place, and that has to be done in the home, schools and communities.
It’s not that they’re anti-law enforcement; it’s just that they’re realists. Time and again, they’ve seen law-enforcement officials take bows for large gang busts, only to watch new gangs fill the void or the old gang re-emerge with new leadership.
Time and again, they’ve seen lawmakers pass harsher laws aimed at juveniles–again to little or no effect. And prison has proven to have a very predictable effect–it often turns mean juveniles into even meaner adults, usually with stronger gang loyalties, because of the grip gangs keep on many correctional facilities.
“I think it’s a terrible mistake,” said Dr. John May, assistant medical director of the Washington, D.C., jail, commenting Tuesday on Clinton’s new gang policy.
Clinton proposed legislation Monday calling for juveniles who deal drugs, use guns or engage in violent crimes to be tried as adults. He also proposed longer detention of youthful offenders.
“Unfortunately, the criminal justice system actually fosters and develops criminal behavior, so you’re going to take a young kid who might otherwise be able to be turned around and introduce him into a system that will become a way of life for him,” said May, who formerly worked as a staff physician at Cook County Jail.
“If you take the kids when they are young and provide alternatives and invest in the kids instead of investing in the prisons, you’ll have much better results.”
Others who work in gang intervention programs locally say Clinton’s priorities are misplaced.
“My reaction to his proposal is: Where are all these jails going to come from?” said Jose Morales, who directed the youth gang and drug prevention program for the Chicago Commons Association before it became a victim of federal budget cuts six months ago.
Morales said his program was funded for five years in 1992 with a $750,000 grant from the federal government to help prevent gangs and drugs in the West Town area and near the Henry Horner housing development. But the last two years of the program were canceled after last year’s budget stalemate.
“Jails can’t handle what they have now,” said Morales. “So they will have to spend more money to build more jails and the efforts to keep people out of gangs and criminal activities are going to be turned down.
“Those of us who believe that prevention has to be part of any package to attack this problem . . . we are not going to be listened to in this climate.”
Clinton’s comments this week can be seen as a way to play on middle class fears of crime and the encroachment of gangs into the suburbs; they also appeal to some residents of the inner city.
“Maybe there would be less crime and less violence if they changed the laws,” said Regina Williams, 34, a lifelong resident of the Cabrini-Green public housing complex and a tenant patrol member in her building. “The laws are not stiff enough now.”
Bill Davis, 51, also of Cabrini, sounded like a hard-nosed politician as he argued that young people are not afraid of jail or prison. “If they go back to like it was in the old days–bread and water, chain gangs–that would give people something to think about,” he said.
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Clinton is already under fire from U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, as being soft on crime. Clinton’s gang proposal came as Dole stepped up his attack on the president, charging that his crime-fighting proposals were mere rhetoric.
“While they are battling for the presidency, the kids are being victimized,” said Jeffery Haynes, executive director of the Reach Out and Touch organization. “I think we are using kids as scapegoats. These kids are the victims of society’s neglect.”
Haynes said he agreed with Clinton that there needs to be stiffer penalties for youthful offenders, but he also wants to see more money going to preventive measures and rebuilding the family structure.
Moreover, Haynes said, many children who join gangs and begin by dealing drugs have a hard time understanding that what they are doing is wrong.
As an example, he cited the mixed messages from society and elected officials that youths receive. While some legislators are advocating stiffer drug penalties, others–including some judges–are arguing that tough drug laws aren’t working.
Ed Bone, a Chicago police officer who often deals with gang members, said police are divided over Clinton’s proposals. Bone said most police officers favor the proposals because they believe younger children are becoming more violent and should be locked up.
But those officers who believe in a community policing strategy would like to see money spent on educational programs for gang members.
At Senn High School on the city’s North Side, as many as 50 students are arrested each month for offenses connected to gang activity or other offenses, said Jeri Daniels, a counselor at the school.
Gangs have marked off their turf outside the school, and many students not in gangs avoid walking down Ridge Avenue, for instance, because they know gang members will confront them.
Probation officers from juvenile court hold weekly meetings at the school with up to 12 students who are on probation, mostly for gang activity, Daniels said.
It is these types of programs that Daniels prefers over the president’s proposal–ones that deal with counseling, intervention and peer mediation. Daniels said she has observed better responses from students when counselors interact with wayward students one on one.
“There needs to be more parental involvement and there needs to be more counseling to get these kids on the right track, and yet I understand what Mr. Clinton is talking about when he talks about the harsher type punishment, especially with the older kids,” she said.
“My feeling about that is the harsher punishment should be for hard-core criminal kids in high school.”