A University of Colorado Boulder study found that community interventions can help prevent gang violence, presenting a possible new approach to curbing gang violence in Colorado and throughout the …
Gangs have been part of Kelly Mahana’s family for generations, and it’s at the forefront of some of his earliest memories.
When Mahana got out, he thought he’d go back to prison right away. It was the only life he knew, and without any education or work experience, he couldn’t sustain a life outside his gang or the prison system. “This is the foremost gang prevention in the Denver area, so it was important to determine if it works or not,” Sociology Professor David Pyrooz said. “Should our taxpayers be investing tax dollars into a program like this? Is there a return on the investment economically, does it benefit people socially and psychologically? Those are important questions to answer.”
Mahana said it’s counterproductive to simply tell young people to stop being in a gang and to go to school, especially when some 15 or 16 year old teenagers he works with can’t even spell their name and react badly to the idea of school because it’s the last place they want to be. Pyrooz said there’s a national conversation about how to prevent gang violence, particularly in youth, in more comprehensive ways than police crackdowns and arrests. Community support and informal social control can help a lot, he said.
Mahana was bounced around between family members as a child growing up in California, and his mom left him when they moved to Colorado when he was 12. Mahana was basically homeless, moving frequently to different group homes or juvenile detention facilities. During the entire time he spent in prison, he only had three visits.
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