The article discusses the efforts of Los Angeles Police Chief Gates to control gang activities, often at the expense of individual civil rights, and considers the war on gang violence in the city to be exaggerated. The author compares the police tactics advocated by Gates to those used in South Africa, Chile, and Haiti. He discusses legislative aspects of gang criminalization in California, inadequacies of the existing approach to juvenile crime in Los Angeles, inequitable treatment of blacks versus whites in gang prevention efforts, the trend toward militarization of Federal drug law enforcement, and the effects of gang violence and drug addiction on low-income communities. An alternative model is suggested to modify the youth culture in inner cities, one that is more humane and that minimizes social polarization.