Good Intentions

The good intentions of bringing former gang members back into efforts to reduce gangs cannot work without a deep commitment to professional training, academic education and an internal spiritual transformation to leave the criminal world—with honor—and be able to effectively transform others.

This program in Los Angeles has not yet reached that goal but appears to understand some of the elements that are needed.

We wish them the best.

An excerpt.

“Marlo "Bow Wow" Jones was a well-known gang intervention worker in South Los Angeles. Last March, the former member of the Grape Street Crips was working on a gang reduction effort with USC football Coach Pete Carroll.

“Connie Rice, the prominent civil rights attorney, called Jones a charismatic figure who could bring rival gang sects together.

“Police officers who worked with Jones said he helped prevent retaliatory shootings.

“But on Saturday, Jones was arrested on charges of robbing and beating a member of the rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at the Universal City Hilton hotel.

“His arrest has again shaken the world of gang intervention, which relies on former gang members to help police prevent violence and get gang members out of the life.

“Jones is the latest of several well-known gang intervention workers to be accused of falling back. And some believe his case underscores the need for changes in the city's gang strategy.

Rice, who wrote a lengthy report on Los Angeles' anti-gang strategy last year, said Jones' arrest raises a key question: how to keep former gang members from slipping back into gangs.

"He was very useful and made himself a go-to person," Rice said.

"He was not a professional. He didn't have the value system of a professional and the dedication of a professional," Rice said.

“The Rev. Jeff Carr, who oversees the mayor's anti-gang programs, said Jones' arrest is resonating.

"They are devastated and worried that their comments will be characterized in the frame of this individual," Carr said. "But that's not the lesson that should be learned."

“Rice and Carr believe officials need to do more to monitor gang intervention programs, including criminal background checks and drug testing.

“At the same time, there is a need to build more professionalism by giving gang interventionists a salary, healthcare benefits and training, they said.

"This is a more high-risk enterprise than most. It's the reality of the business," Rice said.

"We are trying to create a profession here. The [anti-gang] groups are going to stumble. The agencies are going to stumble. This is an experiment," she said.”