Anti-Gang Programs Criticized

Most programs aimed at reducing gang violence are ineffective or actually worsen the problem, a USC sociologist told a city committee Thursday.

“The overwhelming evidence is that [anti-gang programs] are at best ineffective at achieving behavioral change,” Malcolm Klein, a professor of sociology, said before the City Council’s ad hoc committee on gang violence and youth justice.

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Klein, who has studied gangs for more than 30 years and is author of the 1995 book “The American Street Gang,” proposed that the city hold off any new anti-gang initiatives for a year and that a focus group of public and private experts review current understanding of gang culture and reevaluate past efforts.

“Do not launch any new initiative in the absence of independent evaluation,” he said. “There’s been no gang program that I know that has demonstrated success independently.”

Councilman Mike Feuer said that while he thought suspending current programs would be devastating, he agreed with much of what Klein said. “He’s right that most of this stuff is not evaluated,” Feuer said. “That’s scandalous.”

Since the 1970s, the number of gang members in Los Angeles has increased tenfold, from 15,000 to 150,000--”not counting all the wannabes in suburbia,” said Diego Vigil, associate director of UCLA’s Center for the Study of Urban Poverty.

The city spends $156 million a year on anti-gang programs, of which $123 million is aimed at prevention and intervention, said Joyce Sloss, senior analyst with the city administrator’s office.

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While such programs draw some youths out of gangs, Klein said, they also can reinforce the solidarity of remaining gang members. Police sweeps round up a lot of gang members quickly, but do not hold them very long. “The message we send to gang members may not be the message they’re receiving,” he said. “Is he going to say, ‘I’m deterred’ or ‘The [police] couldn’t hold me’?

Prevention and intervention programs, while perhaps effective at stemming delinquency and other youth problems, usually do not directly address gangs, Klein said. “We have to think more carefully about whether these programs are truly gang-relevant.”

The meeting Thursday at Dorsey High School in Southwest Los Angeles was the second in a series by the committee, whose 21 members include council members, community activists, business people, police and educators.

“We’re still trying to work through it,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, chairman of the ad hoc committee. The shooting Thursday of an elementary school teacher “makes our deliberations more urgent,” he said.

After a few more meetings, the committee will offer recommendations in June, Ridley-Thomas said.