Here are some findings from the National Gang Crime Research Centers 2006 K-12 Survey Project. A link to the website is at the bottom of this post.
GANG DISTURBANCES MORE COMMON IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS THAN IN STATE PRISONS
The survey included the question “were there any gang disturbances or fights involving gang members inside your school during the last year”. Here we found that 38.4 percent of the respondents indicated “yes”. That is actually higher than the rate of “gang riots” or “gang disturbances” in American state prisons (see: www.ngcrc.com : prison gang research studies). If there was any one “social indicator” that was important for trying to estimate how serious the gang problem is in a local school, this one particular variable would probably figure prominently in such an equation explaining the variance in the severity of the local problem. By which we mean to say: we are predicting more problems in American public schools in the near future with regard to gang violence
MORE THAN A HALF OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS REPORT GANG GRAFFITI IN THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOOD AREA
The survey included the question “in the area surrounding your school location, is it possible to find examples of gang graffiti in the neighborhood (e.g., where a gang marks its turf or puts down another gang)”. Some 62.8 percent of the responding schools said “yes”. Some 37.2 percent indicated “no”.
FEMALE GANGS ARE FOUND NEAR A FIFTH OF ALL AMERICAN SCHOOLS
The survey included the question “are there any all female gangs that operate in and around the location of your school address”. The results showed that 22.5 percent indicated “yes”. Some 77.5 percent indicated “no”.
OVER HALF REPORT FEMALES INVOLVED IN LOCAL GANGS
The survey asked the question “are females also involved in the gangs that operate in or around your school jurisdiction”. Some 59.8 percent indicated “yes”. Some 40.2 percent said “no”.
FEMALES AS AN ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL LOCAL GANG POPULATION
The survey included a follow-up question for those jurisdictions reporting that females are involved in the local gang problem. This follow-up question asked the respondent to “please estimate what percentage of the total gang member population in your area are females”. The results ranged from zero to 60 percent. The mean or arithmetic average was that about 9.7 percent of the local gang members were females. That figure parallels many other similar parameters for the estimate adding concurrent validity to the overall research methodology.
ABOUT HALF FEEL D.A.R.E. IS AN EFFECTIVE PROGRAM
The survey included the question “in your opinion, is the DARE program an effective program for preventing drug abuse among students”. Some 46.8 percent responded “yes”. And 53.2 percent responded “no”.
MOST PREDICT THE METH DRUG PROBLEM TO ESCALATE IN THE FUTURE
The survey included the question “do you predict the methamphetamine problem for your students will grow, decrease, or remain the same in 2006″. The results showed that 57.4 percent felt the meth problem would grow or increase. Only 2.4 percent felt the meth drug problem would decrease. And 40.2 percent felt the meth problem would remain about the same.
Low Ability to Identify Which of the Five Signs Are Gang/Hate Group Signs:
Question number 50 in the survey gave five different symbols, four of which were clearly hate group or gang symbols. How did the respondents do at correctly identifying them?
Question number 50 asked “which of the following types of symbols would not be allowed at your school if a student had these symbols on an item of clothing (shirt, hat, etc). Please put a large “X” through any and all of the symbols that wound NOT be allowed at your school”. Then the pictures of the five symbols followed: (1) Aryan Nations standard symbol, (2) Aryan Nations symbol for security/racial purity, (3) twisted cross or the swastika, (4) a symbol used by the Aryan Nations, and (5) the standard “King” symbol for the Latin Kings street gang.
The standard symbol known as the Aryan Nations symbol was identified by only 42.1 percent of the respondents. Therefore in most schools (57.9 percent) the symbol would be allowed. Allowed, of course, only until the issue blew up in the local media.
A second variation of the Aryan Nations symbol, the hate group symbol for Aryan security and racial purity (also used by the KKK) was identified by only 34.4 percent of the schools; thus in 65.6 percent of the schools it would be allowed.
The third symbol was the twisted cross or a swastika, the fifth SS division, a “hate group” symbol frequently used by Skinheads, and it appeared as symbol #3 in item50, and was identified by 59.7 percent of the schools. But again, 40.3 percent did not identify the symbol.
The fourth symbol is a hate group symbol sometimes used by the Aryan Nations (one of the most well known hate groups in the world), but only 24.5 percent said it would be banned.
The fifth symbol was the Latin Kings, and was identified by 42.3 percent of the schools. Thus, in over half of the schools (57.7%) they would allow the gang symbol for one of America’s most vicious gangs.
Low Ability to Identify the Four Major Chicago Gang Signs
Question number 51 in the survey gave four different gang symbols, all of which were the actual symbols used by four of the largest and most vicious gangs in Chicago. Could the respondents identify these gang signs if they saw them. Again, the survey was more than a survey: it was in many respects a field experiment — could school personnel actually identify these common street gang symbols if they saw them.
Thus, question number 51 asked “which of the following types of symbols would not be allowed at your school if a student had these symbols on an item of clothing (shirt, hat, etc). Please place a large “X” through any and all of the symbols that would NOT be allowed at your school”. Then, four symbols were printed which were: (1) the pyramid and five pointed star symbol with the initial BPSN commonly known as the standard symbol of the “Black P. Stone Nation”, aka “El Rukns”, (2) the King’s crown symbol with five points, and the expression “Amor De Rey” commonly known as the symbol of the Latin Kings, (3) the top hat, and cane, and the initials “C.V.L.” commonly known as the symbols and expression for the Conservative Vice Lords, and (4) the initials “G.D.”, the number “74″, the expression “B.O.S.” under the six pointed Star of David symbol, commonly known as the full set of symbols for what is probably America’s largest gang, the Gangster Disciples.
So, how well did the school respondents do in identifying these actual gang symbols?
Not very good, overall is the answer. About “half and half” is another way of looking at it. Half of the time they would get it right.
The first sign in item number 51 was an actual real gang sign: the sign for the Black P. Stone Nation (BPSN). For the Black P. Stone Nation, only 45 percent got it right: some 45 percent of the respondents indicated this symbol would not be allowed at their school. Which means, 55 percent of the time, the symbols would be allowed; until parents or the mass media discovered this symbol was associated with one of the first middle eastern foreign terrorism attempts on U.S. soil (their leader Jeff Fort had agreed to blow up some U.S. planes for Libya’s dictator).
For the second sign in item number 51, the standard Latin King street gang sign, unmistakable to anyone who knows about this gang, some 50 percent of the respondents indicated the symbol would not be allowed at their school. Which means, of course, that half of the schools in America would in fact allow the symbol: because they would not know it was the symbol of a very large American street gang.
The third symbol, that for the Conservative Vice Lords, one of the oldest gangs in America, which has existed since 1959 —- only 46.4 percent of the respondents indicated the symbols and the expression would not be allowed at their school. Thus, in most cases (53.6%) the schools would overlook the violent symbolism. Until, of course, someone outside of the local school authority structure discovered this trend.
The fourth symbol, was the standard set of symbols for the Gangster Disciples, said to be the single largest gang in the United States. Here some 57.2 percent of the respondents said by crossing it out, that the symbol would not be allowed at their school. Still, though, some 42.8 percent did not reject this as a blatant gang symbol.
Low Overall Ability to Identify Verbal Taunts/Verbal Phrases/Standard Shout Outs of Gangs/Hate Groups
How would the school officials perform in correctly identifying which if any of a set of verbal phrases were actually the standard phrases or shout outs of gangs and hate groups or which unrelated to gangs/hate groups? Again, we tested this in the research. Item number 52 provided five subtests, five different phrases or alphanumeric expressions, four of which were obviously gang/hate group related.
The first of these was the expression “14 words - 88″, and this is patently racist in its nature as a phrase. It refers to the infamous “14 words” that racist extremist groups use as their mantra, and “88″ refers everywhere in that subculture to “Heil Hitler”. Only 23.4 percent of the respondents indicated that this expression would not be allowed at their school. Thus, in over three-fourths of American schools, the phrase would in fact be allowed because the people in charge lacked the ability to identify it as a patently racist/hate group expression.
The second of these was the expression “1-3-22-12″, a series of numbers, again, though, a standard gang code. The numeric code is the traditional prison gang alphabet code (A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc) of the Almighty Conservative Vice Lords gang, which originated in Chicago, and now exists throughout the USA — thanks in part to federal aid and foundation grants to spread the gang back in the 1960’s. Some 21.6 percent of the school officials indicated they would not allow this expression of the Vice Lords at their school, which means that most other schools would allow it.
The third symbol was the expression “Free Larry Hoover” and is a kind of t-shirt commonly sold in shopping malls throughout the USA, and refers to specifically the gang leader “Larry Hoover”, who is portrayed as a political prisoner, a ghetto prisoner. Larry Hoover is the leader of the Gangster Disciples, said to be the single largest gang in the world. Only about a fourth of the school officials responding to the survey (24.8%) indicated they would ban this phrase at their school, which means at three-fourths of American schools they would not recognize the significance of the symbols until it was perhaps too late.
The fourth expression was the phrase “Level 74 Clothing” which is in fact the commercial name for a fashion clothing line having nothing to do with gangs or hate groups. It is widely marketed to American youths But, here, strangely, we get a “false positive” situation: because 21.2 percent of the school officials indicated they would ban it, when in fact it meant nothing in the context of gangs or hate groups. They would get sued in court, and they would lose. They would have a lot of egg on their face in the mass media as well if they banned such a symbol.
The fifth expression was “Boulders for your Shoulders”. This is a drug phrase. It means “rock cocaine for sale”. It is a standard expression in that particular drug subculture, which overlaps obviously with the gang subculture, because the gangs run the crack houses and have a lot of control over crack distribution. So, how did the school officials in this survey do? Not very good. Only 20.7 percent indicated they would not allow the phrase at their school. So, about four fifths of American public schools would not recognize the significance of the phrase and clearly allow the use of the phrase on clothing until perhaps it was way too late.
These are just a few of the questions posed in the survey. The answer to these and other questions lead us to wonder if there is a set National policy in our schools concerning gangs. Do schools feel gang activity is not a problem? Should schools take a harder stance on gangs? We do know that racing team T-shirts that have alcohol labels on them are not allowed, yet according to this survey our kids are allowed to wear gang or drug slogans. Remember this is k-12. We do believe this needs looking into.
We also realize there are a lot of people who wouldn’t recognize gang codes or symbols. Tomorrow we will start a post on them. We’re sure once you see them you will realize these codes and symbols are in our community.
You can see the entire survey on the website- http://www.ngcrc.com/k12report.htm
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