chapter 4 - DRK

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Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)76CHAPTER 4Urbanstreet gangsUrban street gangs are made up mostly of marginalized young men between the agesof 15 and 24, a sector of society that commits a disproportionately large share of violentacts. Some of the reasons people join gangs include finding a sense of belonging,reacting to repressive treatment, resisting the status quo, climbing out of poverty andachieving social status. (See Box 4.2.)The appeal of American gang culture has spread into Latin America and the Caribbean,often with members who brought it back to their countries of origin after being arrestedin the United States and deported. Between 2000 and 2004, around 20,000 youthsassociated with gangs in the Los Angeles slums were deported to Central Americancountries many had never even visited. Their families had fled to the United States inthe 1980s to escape civil war and children born into or brought up in the slums driftedinto gangs and criminality and fell foul of the crackdown that followed the 1992Los Angeles riots. The notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, for example, started in theLos Angeles region and is now entrenched in Central America, sending youth homiciderates soaring.Nairobi’s gang names are inspired by conflict and political movements, such as Talibanand Boys of Baghdad. Sometimes they work as mercenaries for political leaders. Thestreets of Lagos, Nigeria, are plagued by the Area Boys, tens of thousands of looselyorganized delinquent youths who harass, threaten, bribe and extort money from passers-by.What started as a small band of hoodlums in the 1980s has grown with theinflux of unemployed migrants to the city, in an oil-rich country where up to 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.The costsIt is difficult to measure the exact costs of urban violence, both tangible and intangible,but they are substantial, affecting the economic, political and social development ofcities and nations. A study in El Salvador, for example, put the total national cost ofviolence at 11.5 per cent of GDP.Lives lost and ruinedOne simple calculation is homicide rates, which are highest in Latin America, theCaribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. Drug-producing countries have a homicide level35 per cent higher than the average rate for the rest of the world. In Mexico, violentconfrontations between drug cartels have killed some 23,000 people since late 2006.In Rio de Janeiro, the homicide rate has tripled since the 1970s. In São Paulo, it hasquadrupled. In some cities of Latin America, the homicide rate is as high as 120 per100,000 people. In Jamaica last year, the murder rate reached 1,672 – one of the highestrates per capita in the world. A worsening economic climate has been blamed for asignificant increase in other violent crimes including theft, robbery and rape.
Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)Economic developmentIn economic terms, large numbers of dead, injured and imprisoned people mean a lossof work productivity and income, a lower GDP, higher hospital and healthcare costs,increased expenditures for policing, justice and prisons, and more. And while urbanviolence is rooted in underdevelopment and inequality, there is a vicious circle bywhich urban violence undermines development and further weakens state institutions.Significant levels of crime and violence discourage foreign investment and impedeentrepreneurs from investing in their own country. Insecurity can lead to capital flightand a brain drain. Tourists stay away. Property values plummet. Geographical segregationworsens, as small businesses and educated middle-class residents flee high-crimeneighbourhoods, leaving these areas to the criminals and those too poor to leave. As aresult, the situation continues to deteriorate.Social costsUrban violence damages social capital, prevents social mobility, destroys communalbonds, erodes neighbours’ trust in one another and in police or local authorities, andcreates a wall between marginalized communities and the establishment. The worstaffected are the most vulnerable people, who become poorer, more segregated and lessequal.Simply the fear and anxiety that persistent violence engenders can increase the coststo society. While the rich shut themselves off behind elaborate security systems, theunderprivileged are forced into slum settlements or stigmatized neighbourhoods. Themost vulnerable – women, the elderly, the destitute – may stop going to work, dropout of night school or keep their children at home. A nationwide survey revealed thatin South Africa, fear of crime prevented about one-quarter of respondents from startingtheir own businesses or taking public transport. In Lagos, 70 per cent of thosesurveyed feared becoming victims of crime.Democratic freedomHigh levels of urban violence constrain the exercise of democracy by weakening institutions’legitimacy through corruption, undermining the authority of local governmentand preventing political participation through fear and intimidation.There is a loss of press freedom when gangs and criminal groups target and sometimeskill investigative journalists who report on their activities. “Scores of reporters andnumerous news outlets are engaging in self-censorship for fear of retribution,” warnsthe Committee to Protect Journalists. Crimes are underreported and corruption isunchecked.The militarization of law enforcement in a growing number of countries also threatensfreedom. To confront the drug cartels behind so much of the urban violence, states areWorld Disasters Report 2010 – Focus on urban risk77
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214INDEXStrictly under embargo unti
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The International Federationof Red
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