The gangs of Los Angeles--typically known as the "Crips' and the "Bloods"--are now responsible for two killings a day in Los Angeles County. Some authorities blame the increasing bloodshed on gang members obtaining more sophisticated weapons. Others agree that most of the violence centers on illegal drug sales. Gang members have been linked in several cities to the increased sale of "crack" cocaine and the establishment of fortified rock houses, where they sell it. And their influence is spreading. As they attempt to establish bases for narcotics in markets where it is most expensive, they are expanding throughout the United States and even North into Canada. The fighting going on, then, is not always over turf but rather over the result of the gangs selling each other bad drugs or skipping out on paying for cocaine purchases or robbing each other's rock houses. The violence escalates as gang members not only sell cocaine, but also abuse it. The popular "crack" induces more paranoia and violence than most any other drug, though POP or "angel-dust" can be as bad or worse. This desperation among users, who are prepared to rob and kill for the money to buy it, along with the avid competition among sellers, who are eager to establish trafficking monopolies, heighten the explosive mix. The firepower and the disregard for innocent life exhibited by gang members is astonishing. "Drive-by" killings for trivial reasons have become commonplace.

Why do they have so much influence?
Though gangs are violent and dangerous, they continue to grow in numbers everyday. Younger and younger recruits are joining their ranks. Eight percent of 9th and 10th grade boys in poorer neighborhoods denied using or selling drugs, but 28 percent admitted carrying a concealed weapon, 17 percent had participated in a group attack; 13 percent admitted selling drugs, and 5 percent had shot, stabbed or killed someone. It is estimated that there are 13,000 people in approximately 60 gangs in Los Angeles.

Gangs are a culture. They represent a society which provides its members what they can't do don't get from their families nor from society as a whole. Gangs can mean a sense of power for the teenager who has no other feeling of control in life. When kids don't get the attention, guidance and a sense of belonging or importance within their homes, they can always find it within the structure of gangs. Gangs have their own language, they tell their members what to wear and how to act, and their discipline is brutal. Gangs become "parents" for many youth.Add onto this the events which many children witness in society everyday. They see murderers get off with two years probation and return to the streets a hero. They see generous drug pushers driving expensive cars and wearing the finest clothes. Such an influence is hard to beat.How can Gang influence be resisted?The best way to fight the influence of violent gangs is by strengthening the influence of parents and preparing youth for life. The only way to reduce the power of the gang culture is to strengthen other more positive cultures--such as that in the home, schools and in the community at large.