“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” - The New Testament’s 1st Corinthians 12:26
Paul the Apostle was seeking in the above writing to resolve divisions in the early Christian church. What can that have to do with the gangs proliferating now in Atlanta?
So many of my criminal cases involve gang activities, especially among youth, an already at-risk group. We seek not to excuse these activities, which typically end in tragedy, but to understand them. Why do kids take up an enterprise they know squeezes the life out of its members? Gangs are not blind to risk.
If we should be one body of citizens in this city, then gangs are the mocking response, a sterilized faith. Under Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, participation is the offense, with specific crimes being only one aspect. It is truly a law of guilt by association – and it is difficult to combat a mindset.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Most of my clients with gang charges are minorities in distressed households – a tenser issue because of the racial component. Often a single mother works two jobs and can’t supervise her kids enough. Common, too, is the sense of exclusion, not least of all from the very community, the same minority families, trying to survive.
Troubled youth think, “If mama is hardworking and this is all she has to show for it, what hope is there for me?” And we can’t forget that the immediate community always comprises the primary victims of gangs.
In a broader sense, gangs despise the world they perceive as straight, because they perceive they’ll never be included in it. It’s society’s shadow, a construct of loyalty, respect and fear, providing its participants with a semblance of control. The rewards are money and power over drug addicts, over the weak, over other gang people – the group is filled with followers of leaders who won’t hesitate to sacrifice those followers, as I’ve seen both in and out of court.
On many a visit to the Youth Detention Center, I’ve had to inform a young man that his Big Homey or his mom ratted him out – as he stares back in disbelief. Snitches are gangs’ nemesis.
So what’s the payoff?
Gangs provide kids a reference point in a divided and uncertain city. They get assigned tasks and roles, chances to impress like-minded kids - it’s another family in a way. They get to know who their enemies are. The complexity of real life disappears, at least for a time, until the inevitable brick wall appears at the end of the tunnel – betrayal, prison, even death.
But kids keep getting in. Why?
Think of it another way – we in the upper classes toil endlessly in a disloyal corporate world. Sometimes the ruthless advance can be mind-numbing. We seek out the “best” neighborhoods to live, the “best” schools and churches, in order to cement ourselves into whatever manner of security. Our lives can become empty so seamlessly - the only thing missing for us is the criminality. That may be a stretch for some of you, but think about it as an analogy.
Of course, it’s unfair to blame gangs on people who have more opportunities – don’t get me wrong. Not all disadvantaged and marginalized youth go this route, nor are they so inclined. It’s still guided by individual choices. My gangbangers know it’s wrong, but they believe they have it all under control, because the rest of us are straights and suckers.
So what can we do? First, it’s a law enforcement problem – organized crime has increased across my counties. The GBI under Vic Reynolds’ leadership not long ago implemented a statewide program targeting street gangs. There have to be arrests – sometimes, force must be met with force. Georgia prosecutors are getting better at identifying those actually responsible, but gangs are a mentality. It’s not easy to prosecute a fractured way of thinking in an already-fractured society.
I speak to my gang kids about their lives and families before we discuss the charges and evidence. I want to know what things in life let them down. So often I find a frightened child, not a killer. Some of them are really intelligent. A group of kids at the YDC laughs at me, but I stand unflinching and say their judge doesn’t like gun cases because people die.
They agree.
Using Paul’s analogy, if we Atlantans are of one body, gangs are a cancer. The body will not die if we realize that the gang mentality thrives less on lack of opportunity than on lack of hope of a future together. And we’re all in it together, like it or not.
Douglas D. Ford is a commercial litigation and criminal defense attorney in metro Atlanta.
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