In the field of criminal justice, it is necessary to communicate with all segments of society. That communication may be one-way - i.e., in the case of prosecutorial aspects of the criminal justice system - or it may be bi-directional, as in the case of what is commonly called "community policing". The nature of a police force in the criminal justice system is that of both conduit for communication and enforcement arm of the system itself. It is an awkward situation to say the least. Nevertheless, it is in both capacities, enforcement and conduit, that a police force must communicate with that segment of society know as "gangs". Just as one interviews an elderly person in a certain manner, a child in another, and so forth - so, too, must the interview with gang members be fashioned to the "fit" of that particular society. This paper will briefly discuss some aspects of that communication process.
We live in dog years, meaning that the life expectancy of a gang member is eighteen years. Being that I'm twenty-eight now, I'm basically a fossil in the gang arena.
Kody, an Eight-Tray Gangsta Crip
There is no homogenous "gang profile" with which to work. Social scientists of the "behavioral" school have loosely defined three primary types of gang - violent, social, and delinquent - but those are analytical terms for sociologists to use; the law enforcement officer must find common ground for communication. So, as a starting point, there is the fact that gang membership tends to be in the 15-30 year-old age range. After that, death, incarceration, injury and family obligations tend to cut gang membership drastically - or the gang itself mutates into something more approximate to an "established" criminal organization. Consequently, when interviewing a gang member, one must constantly be aware that one is dealing with a person who is often immature, undereducated, unskilled and unsophisticated. It will be seen la...