Breaking the cycle of youth violence and gangs

Youth gangs. The nightmare of young people involved in violent crimes and other lawlessness is tormenting not just our already hard-hit city neighborhoods. It’s a plague that’s also badgering our supposedly peaceful suburbs, as well as our outwardly serene small-town and rural communities. Young people bent on drug trafficking, robbery, aggravated assault, rape, murder — these kids don’t pay a lot of attention to maps and stereotypes.

Indeed, the National Gang Center reports “a steady resurgence of gang problems” in the past few years. But what is a youth gang, anyway? The center notes that to “earn” this infamous classification, a group includes three or more members, generally 12 to 24 years old, and as a whole the group shows “some permanence and a degree of organization.” Also, gang members by and large:

•Share an identity, typically linked to a name or other symbols.

•Call themselves a gang, and are recognized as such by other people.

•Commit more crimes than other kids. Way more. (Or, to use more refined phraseology, they participate in “an elevated level of criminal activity.”)

By reason of sheer population numbers, our own communities in and around Tacoma, Everett and Seattle frequently get the lion’s share of violent headlines. Sure, when the talk turns to crime in general, and to youth gangs in particular, Pierce, Snohomish and King counties tend to receive the most ink, air and screen time in newspapers, and on TV, radio and the Internet. But our colleagues representing most of Washington’s nearly 300 other communities and every one of our state’s other 36 counties know too many tragic stories of young lives shattered forever — and of other citizens and families shattered forever.

We are sponsoring bipartisan measures aimed at breaking the cycle of youth violence and gangs — before any more kids and communities are broken. You bet this mission is a top priority. Our proposals will employ evidence-based practices and programs. These programs have proven effective and successful at breaking the cycle.

It is in everyone’s best interest to promote intervention and prevention programs that work in our local communities. We are talking about stopping gangs from recruiting new members and winning back young people who have already been recruited. Simply put, the best way to address the gang problem is to convince kids not to join one. If they do get tangled up in a gang, we must — for their renewed safety, as well as for the safety and peace of mind of our communities — bring these young people back into the fold of their community.

This first proposal (House Bill 2432) would set aside $5 million in the general fund for the 2013 fiscal year. We envision the program working this way: Folks representing nonprofit groups and local governments will form coalitions to apply for program grants we’re advancing in the legislation. No later than 13 months after the grant is awarded, a coalition will be called upon to report the progress of the young people served (i.e., the program’s activities and outcomes).

A second measure we’re proposing (House Bill 2535), which includes no appropriation, would authorize “gang courts” to work at reclaiming gang kids before they get any farther down the awful, dangerous path they’re on. Juvenile-gang activities in cities and communities of all sizes are a threat to public safety, as well as being a dangerous menace for so many children themselves. We need to set up this strategic and collaborative approach to halting the escalation of juvenile gangs. Many kids involved in gangs:

•Come from dysfunctional families.

•Have been or are being abused or neglected.

•Are using drugs.

Gang courts will provide young people the tools, the opportunity, and the help they desperately need to safely escape the cycle of youth violence and gang participation.

We have a good deal of work to do here in Olympia in the next several weeks. A new state budget — and finding the right revenue package to pay for it — will be front and center in the morning paper and on the nightly news. Even so, battling this Great Recession is far from the only entrée on our legislative plate. Getting our young people back from the edge, not to mention winning back those young people who have gone over the edge, are two goals very much deserving of a top spot on our agenda.

State Rep. Connie Ladenburg, D-Tacoma, and state Rep. Luis Moscoso, D-Mountlake Terrace are members of the House Public Safety &Emergency Committee. Ladenburg is the vice chair of that committee.