Letters to the Editor

Dysfunction breeds gangs

Gangs and the violence they bring to a community grow from the seeds that are sown in dysfunctional families. These families are usually composed of a single parent, almost always the mother, a number of children and no adult male or father in the home.

In many, if not most cases, the single mother has difficulty in maintaining control of the children both in the home and in their schoolwork. If the area in which the family lives is composed of more than 25 percent of such families, social order begins to break down, according to the belief of at least some anthropologists and sociologists.

Adolescents in that area are prime candidates for gangs and violence. The gang is one of the most primitive units that humans can form. It is really a form of tribe and they are aggressive, territorial and often loyal to the death. This is why gangs, once formed, are so difficult to break up.

The place to begin combating gangs is in the dysfunctional families from which they spring. Every family that requires help from the state to survive should be required to practice family planning. It is absurd for the state to support a system that encourages the production of children who are at high risk for joining gangs and eventually winding up in prison.

Fathers who beget children and then fail to raise them properly bear much of the responsibility for our violent culture. In some cases, the fathers belong to the same gang that their sons do!

Parents, particularly those who have at-risk children, need to cooperate with the schools and youth organizations who are involved with their children.

These are only a few of the things communities and families should be doing with at-risk children. We need to bear in mind, too, that the United States has a greater proportion of its population in prison than any other nation in the world, including Russia.

Louis Lagger

Joliet