More Intervention, Less Incarceration Says Expert
By 250 News
Monday, November 01, 2010 01:28 PM
Prince George, B.C.- “You are standing at the precipice, the crisis is on your doorstep” that is how Dr. Mark Toten began his address to the Gang Summit in Prince George.
With a Doctorate in Sociology, Dr. Toten is working with groups across the country on developing multi -year gang prevention, intervention and suppression strategies.
In northern B.C., Aboriginal males are disproportionately represented in gangs. Because the only sector of our society where the population is growing is in the Aboriginal community, Dr. Toten says if nothing is done, the number of Aboriginal males involved in gang activity will double in the years to come. He says if nothing is done, then the number of Aboriginal women who go missing, or are murdered, will double.
He says we have to be smart about this, that just working with the youth is not enough that the entire family must be involved “That means you are not working with the violent father, or the mother who has mental health issues.”
He says there five related or distinct pathways into gang life:
1. Serious and prolonged child maltreatment
2. Institutionalization : into child welfare and justice facilities “ How can it be that we set up these systems to help young people but they do the exact opposite of what we want them to do? How many gang members have said I never knew any gang members until I was placed in that foster home, or, I had never met any gang members until I was in that Youth detention centre,”
3. Brain and mental health disorders resultant from FASD injuries, and trauma
4. Social exclusion and devaluation: poverty, race, gender.
5. Development of hyper-masculine and sexualized feminine identities
He urged those in attendance to take a different look at how child welfare is managed. “One in every 10 Aboriginal children is in provincial care. There are more children in provincial care today than there were at the height of the residential schools. The residential school system is still here but we call it something different.”
Dr.Toten says gang affiliation gives some young people a sense of family, a sense of protection, an identity, money and thrills. He warns that while there may be a move towards co-operation among different service providers, police and government, there has to be more “We have to walk the talk,” pushing paper will not accomplish anything. He says that means money has to put on the table to make things happen.
So what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to trying to eliminate gang activity?
1. Cultural Competency: “ a lot of service providers think they are culturally competent because they make dream catchers, nothing could be further than the truth.” He says the reality is that most of the people trying to deal with gangs are white, and most of the gang members are not.
2. Gender Responsiveness: “We’ve developed a youth justice system that is based on the needs of white boys” Says there is a need to address particular issues, problems. He says Ontario has a good example in that all correction services are now gender specific.
3. Child welfare and community programs: Foster parents are not paid well enough or given enough training and given one or two children for the long term. “You’ve got kids shoved in the rafters, they’re interfering with the biological kids and you can hardly get enough money for diapers.”
4. School programs: “ You have to work with the parents, if you don’t then you’re pissing in the wind” he says the efforts should be focused on the highest risk students rather than “spray and pray”. He says suspensions should be “in” school rather than suspended “out” of school where there are opportunities to get involved in negative activity.
5. Positive Youth development
6. Policing and Corrections
“ If the only thing you can stomach from my presentation is the elimination of user fees, then I will be happy.” He says children who cannot attend certain facilities or events because of user fees, they are the same children who will return later, break the windows, spray paint the walls. “What happens to the beginner kid who He says by removing user fees, “We know full well, it costs far less to include than exclude.”
If your only prong in you’re a=gang approach is suppression, you are doomed. Just as important as policing and corrections is the intervention in the zero to 6 age bracket and again in the early teens. There is also a need for education for the whole family ,
He says there has to be a change in what is going on in our jails “Is there away to make prison and corrections safer? He says placing some among high risk offenders only creates a new gang inside the system.
“We need new models of child welfare. The time for tinkering is long gone. If a kid is brought into care that kid needs one or two placements, that’s it, none of this bouncing around from pillar to post. We have to get away from a system that takes 1 in every 10 Aboriginal children into care, that is scandalous.”
“You are staring at a crisis, the question is, do you have the political will to make a change? Punishing the bad guys is needed, but we need to do less of that and look at some of the other ideas we have put on the board.”
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Posted by: Harbinger on November 1 2010 5:23 PM