COMMENTARY – According to Sgt. Richard Valdemar who spent 33 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department combating gangs, law enforcement and schools are now encountering second and third generation gangsters. Often, these children become gangsters because one or both of their parents are gang members themselves.
In his Police Magazine blog, Valdemar says that often after a child is born, he or she is abandoned by the gangster dad and left to be raised by the mother. Some of these women are gang members themselves, who might raise the child as aa gang banger.
But a more likely scenario is that the mother will select bad male partners who are bad male role models for her son. She might also be a poor parent herself. The child will then be extremely vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.
Denial of her child’s unacceptable behavior is another issue faced by school officials and law enforcement. In fact, a mother might unknowingly be enabling her child’s gang lifestyle… and even benfitting from it (e.g. extra income from her child’s drug dealing).
Valdemar says women can help their children excape the gang lifestyle, but it requires a significant lifestyle change. Alcoholics Anonymous, Alateen and Alanon, Teen Challenge, Tough Love, D.A.R.E., and community church outreach programs could be the factors that prevent youngsters from joining a gang and landing in prison or dead.
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