By Neil Hopwood
editor

An extended effort is under way locally to curb the expansion of gangs, led by community leaders who have been meeting with parents, students and organizations to develop a game plan for doing so. Last week The News and Press reported on an effort that includes Coker College Provost and Dean of the Faculty Ron Carter, gang activist Stedman Graham, Dr. Zenobia Edwards of I Am Beautiful, Rev. Wiley White of the Empowerment Christian Center and others.

Click here to read part one.

Members recently introduced a framework for addressing gangs that includes such steps as mentoring programs, family intervention, family counseling, drug courts, and other steps.

The main speaker at two events, one held at Coker and the other at Mayo High School for Mathematics, Science and Technology, was S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice Executive Director Judge William Byars, who said youths are attracted to gangs by four primary forces: family tradition, the need for protection, making money and earning respect.

The majority of gang members are from broken homes, and are not changed by punitive efforts. In fact, punitive efforts have effectively rounded up gang members and helped them recruit each other. He went as far as to criticize schools for over penalizing students for minor violations.

Darlington Police Chief Jay Cox, who attended the first gang event at Coker College, said that he wasn't completely in agreement with Byars' stated views about how best to handle gang members.

“I still think most of the programs that are in place, and this includes in the schools, that there isn't enough emphasis on the family unit,” Cox said. “They can say there's no father and the mother works, but still though, why is this problem here? Every session I go to, there's talk that there's no father figure. But why is that? Obviously that's been going on for years now. No one wants to address that problem.”

His department works with local high schools to identify gang members. The city of Darlington foots the bill for every child sent to DJJ in Columbia, he said, so it's not that the police are simply taking the easy way out by arresting youths.

“You can't allow for one or two students to disrupt class or a function to where the majority suffer for it,” Cox said. “You have to deal with the issue, and if that means sending them to Columbia they have to go. Is that the answer? Probably not.”

Cox conceded that Byars was right that many kids learn the ropes about crime while in custody, but said that there have to be punitive consequences for major misbehavior. Again, until parents face jail time for poor parenting, the problems will continue, he believes.

“You've got a lot of deadbeat parents out there who absolutely do not want to do anything,” he said. “I think they need to be held accountable. But there is no one answer. We just can't forgive parents who absolutely will not raise their children and want the government to raise them. All the kids we've taken to family court, I've yet to see a parent put in jail by a family court judge for not being a parent. And I don't think they ever will. Why?”

But City Council member Dyan Cohen, who attended the same event, agreed with Byars that arresting youths won't solve the root causes of gangs.

“Another thing that's encouraging is that he said that our gang situation in the county isn't so bad that we can't manage it and turn it around,” Cohen said. “But if we don't turn it around, do something about it, we can get into a situation where things are more unmanageable. So it's critical we act now.”

People interested in working with youths or to help with the issues should call local leaders, DJJ officials or others, because there are many people who want to help.

“People can serve as mentors, arbitrators, or a probation officer as a volunteer working with kids who have made some mistakes,” she said. “Just connect with someone who can help you do that.”

At the same meeting, council member Gloria Hines said that the public needs to understand that the gang problem is spreading. Youths need opportunities that keep them out of trouble, and mentoring is one way to reach them.

“It's getting worse—[gang members] are having to do certain tasks to prove they are worthy to be in a gang, and [you or I] might be the one(s) that get in the way. These meetings are good, but we've got to start doing some things.”