EVENT RECAP: The pull – and pain – of Boston street gangs

 

EVENT RECAP: The pull – and pain – of Boston street gangs   CommonWealth Beacon has had a longstanding commitment to covering issues at the heart of making Massachusetts a vibrant place of opportunity and good quality of life for all. Nothing could be more central to that than having safe communities as a foundation for residents to raise their families and pursue their goals.   That made it an easy call for us to convene an event last week, co-sponsored by The Boston Foundation, on the book It Started with the Hats: Life Experiences of Boston's Founding Street Gang Members.   Author Paul Joyce, a former Boston police superintendent who is now chair of the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island, conducted in-depth interviews with 30 former gang members to better understand the factors that pulled them into that violent world during the height of the city’s gang violence epidemic of the late 1980s and early 1990s -- and what it took for them to leave that life for healthier pursuits.   After delivering opening remarks about the book, Joyce was joined in a panel discussion by Roy Martin, who directs the City of Boston’s Safe and Successful Youth Initiative, and Larry Mayes, a senior vice president at Catholic Charities Boston. CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas moderated the conversation. Joyce identified neighborhood, family, and education as three big factors influencing whether young men were susceptible to the lure of gangs. His book documents the ways those same variables – along with work life – played important roles in the ability of these men to separate from gang life. At every stage, he said, individual decision making – “human agency,” in research language – ultimately shapes what turn people take.   From left to right: Larry Mayes, Michael Jonas, Paul Joyce, and Roy Martin Martin, one of the former gang members Joyce interviewed, reflected on the chaotic nature of life in the Jamaica Plain public housing development where he grew up, with so many young people leading largely “unsupervised” lives.    Mayes, who was a Boston street outreach worker in the 1990s, pointed to the ethos of greed that dominated popular culture during that time, whether embodied by the suits in the movie “Wall Street” or showcased in more violent fashion in “New Jack City,” which captured the drug wars of New York City.   When it comes to the key turning point in his break with gang life after serving time in prison, Martin said it was fatherhood and the realization that he could either return to his old ways or be a caring and present parent, but not both. “I don’t hate anybody more than I love my kids,” he said about giving up the vengeance and retaliation-fueled world of gangs.  If the success Boston had, starting in the mid-1990s, in dramatically reducing gun violence can be explained in a single word, it would be partnerships, Joyce said. He pointed to the police department’s embrace of collaboration with government service agencies and community groups, which offered young men pathways out of gang life through counseling, education, and job training.   “There were no shortage of arrests during that period of time,” Joyce said. “I think when we started thinking in a broader perspective about not only enforcement, but intervention and prevention as a key components of our policing strategy, we started to make real inroads with the community.”  It was part of a reframing of gang violence as a problem of both public safety and public health. Mayes helped build that public health infrastructure as chief of human services under Mayor Tom Menino, while Martin now directs the city’s main program that connects “proven risk” young people with services -- the state-funded Safe and Successful Youth Initiative.   The key to this partnership – and to gaining the trust of the young people he works with -- is what Martin calls a “one-way stream of information.” Police help identify individuals who could benefit from SSYI services and programming, but there is a clear understanding with the police that no information from the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative will flow back to law enforcement.  Boston has seen periods since the early 1990s when gun and gang violence moved back up. Though the city has recently enjoyed some of the least violent years on record, Joyce warned – again with a single word – that the biggest threat to that success is complacency, urging leaders to remain vigilant and maintain the partnerships that have been so critical to keeping the peace.   Through our journalism at CommonWealth Beacon and events like this, we’re doing our part to ensure that these vital issues and the safety of all Massachusetts communities stay on the public radar.   Read CommonWealth Beacon

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