New Study on Gangs Contradicts Zero Tolerance Policies

SAN ANTONIO — The organized crime and transnational reach of gangs is limited, and “zero tolerance” policies serve only to spread out young people without solving the problem, according to a new study in Spanish-language newspaper Rumbo.
A soon-to-be released report by 14 investigators in seven countries, “Transnational Gangs in Central America, Mexico and the United States,” contradicts popular wisdom about gangs as an international problem that represents a terrorist threat and is linked to drug trafficking. In fact, gangs change from country to country, Gema Santamaria of Mexico’s Autonomous Technological Institute told Rumbo, and do not present a homogenous problem. Symbols, tattoos and the desire to feel that they are part of something bigger cross borders much more fluidly than their operations and logistics, according to the study. Some 85 percent of gang members in El Salvador have no contact with their counterparts in the United States, the report found. Yet governments in the region continue to view gangs as an international terrorist threat, recently launching “Secure Central America,” a regional strategy to combat gang-related activity.
A 2005 academic investigation indicated the presence of 600,000 gang members in Central America, with another 100,000 in the United States. U.S. authorities even listed one gang, Mara Salvatrucha, as a terrorist organization and created a national task force in response to it. The multinational study recommends dialogue between authorities and communities in each country to address the problems that lead young people to join gangs.

rumbonet.com 7 February 2007