On Jan 9th we met with Alex Vitale, the Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College. He also works there as a professor. We interviewed him about the topic of gang violence.
Alex gave us a lot of good information about Gang affiliation, how the gang hierarchy works, how to get out of gangs, and many more things like how gangs are different in the movies than in real life. We often imagine gangs are a lot more organized which can be true from movies and TV shows but this isn’t always the case.

We learned that kids who are in poverty are most likely to join gangs as they are desperate to earn money. There are several other reasons why people join gangs though. Some join gangs for protection and some join because they can’t get a job. Some even join for amusement and to ”fit in.”
Vitale told us that it is easier to get out of gangs depending on the size of them. Some people age out of gangs or maybe just have kids and don’t want to get their kids involved. For larger gangs, it’s a whole different story. These types of gangs will try to encourage you to stay in the gang. They most likely would use many strategies like bribing or even threatening the member or even their family.

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On Wednesday, January 8th my group interviewed Professor Alex Vitale. Professor Vitale works at Brooklyn College and coordinates the Policing and Social Justice Project. We learned that Mr. Vitale’s project works with community-based organizations that address violence problems in high-crime communities. He has spent 30 years in this field. We talked about how he works with gang-involved people to mediate gang disputes. Alex would travel around the country to speak with people in that area about what they do to mitigate Gang Violence.

He told us that there are several meanings to gangs. He said gangs could range from friend groups that go everywhere together vs. 4-5 people that sell drugs and firearms or do illegal operations. Professor Vitale told us that people join gangs for several reasons. They join because of employment, protection, and entertainment. That mutual protection is very valuable to some people so that is a big reason young adults join gangs. He also mentioned that Gangs stay relevant because of these ideas.

We asked Professor Vitale more in-depth questions. One of the questions we asked him was about gang violence’s supply of drugs and firearms. He simply tells us that Gang turf is usually in places where guns and drugs are very easily accessible. That is why Gangs have these supplies. He also tells us that even though Texas is an easier place to get guns than New York, guns are still available easily in any high-violence area. Typically leaving gangs is easier than portrayed in the media. Some people just grow out of gang life. But it’s hard for gang members to leave gangs because they struggle to get a job and they cannot financially support themselves. However, on the West Coast, people struggle to leave gangs because they are “betraying the gangs”.

At the end of the interview, he told us we could get involved by contacting some youth organization that he would send us. He also tells us that Gangs are portrayed way differently than in movies and overall he taught us a lot of facts.

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