6 Theories About the Recent Dramatic Reduction in LA’s Gang Violence

Homeboy Industries provides job training and gives ex-gang members jobs in places such as its cafe or grocery store. (Courtesy of Homeboy Industries) | Courtesy Homeboy Industries

Huffington Post reports on six theories about why Los Angeles has been seeing a dramatic reduction in gang-related violence and crime.

“From 1988 to 1998 — known to some as the “decade of death” — close to a thousand people per year were killed in Los Angeles. Gangs didn’t run all the neighborhoods, but the ones they did, they terrorized. Drugs moved openly on street corners, drive-by shootings occurred with dispiriting frequency, and wearing the wrong color T-shirt on the wrong street could be interpreted as a death wish.”

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So, what accounts for this drastic decline? The only thing that everyone — from police representatives to community organizers to Sam Quinones, the author of the Pacific Standard piece — can agree on is that there’s no single answer. But if you consider the six theories below, and how they interact and build on each other, you can begin to see why city officials say Los Angeles hasn’t been this safe since the Eisenhower administration. ”

1. More police, smarter policing.

2. The RICO effect.

3. Location, location, location.

4. The decline of the corner boy.

5. The Mexican Mafia is just way too frightening.

6. Intervention over suppression.”

Read the full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/24/gang-violence-decline_n_6656840.html