Chapter Eleven:
Conclusions
Keith Atterberry,
Roosevelt University
Classifying Gang Members:
 Most of the youths who join gangs are
“the people society gave up on”
 For most youths, the gang is the only
real family they know; the gang is
survival, protection, recognition,
education”
Containment of the Underclass:
 Millions suffer from abject poverty,
home foreclosures, job losses and
educational failure
 The Criminal Justice System engages in
punishing the poor for many of these
issues
 The argument that Wall Street and the
“top 1%” have destroyed millions of
lives while raiding the U.S. treasury of
trillions of dollars but goes unnoticed
 Learn more about the underclass from
the following presentation
http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/fel
well/www/Probweb/PDFs/Underclass.
pdf
Wall Street as A Gang:
 Three or more members
 Have a common identity as
“financiers,” “brokers,” “hedge fund
operators,” “bankers,” etc.
 The name “Wall Street” is a common
denominator
 Have some “permanence and a degree
of organization”
 Consistently been involved in a
persistent and high rate of criminality
 More information on Wall street as a
gang
http://www.cjcj.org/post/public/policy/
wall/street/without/doubt/gang
Reforming the Criminal Justice System:
 We must confront the existence of the
crime control industry and all the
profits made off the existence of crime
 We need to look at the social
conditions that create and perpetuate
gangs and gang activities, and about
what should and should not be done
about the problem