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Communities Held Hostage: A Profile of a Laotian Street Gang in Dallas

NCJ Number
172295
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1996) Pages: 307-315
Author(s)
R Cowart; M F Cowart
Date Published
1996
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examines the factors that have contributed to the emergence of Laotian street gangs in Dallas neighborhoods where this refugee population resides.
Abstract
In the early 1980s, local churches in Dallas agreed to sponsor many Southeast Asian refugee families. With the first wave of arrivals, they provided the families with nice apartments in secure neighborhoods. They assisted the children in getting enrolled in school and provided parents with adequate employment; however, Federal resettlement agencies began to use this open channel to send an unending flow of refugees into the city. These agencies settled them in the poor, crowded, multiethnic, high- crime inner-city area of East Dallas, which has been called "Little Asia." The refugees have endured robberies, assaults, burglaries, and vandalism daily; yet few report victimization, because they do not understand how to report crime. Strain theorists believe that delinquency occurs in primarily lower class youth who are frustrated by their inability to satisfy needs through legitimate efforts. Jankowski (1991) contends that many ethnic groups find themselves victims of strain created by a broader society. Asian youth, for example, have been historically stereotyped as hard working, studious, and ambitious. Their parents, as well as American educators, expect them to become successful. For many Asian refugee youth, this is impossible; they are not able to live up to these expectations. Gang membership may be the only way they can be successful, even if only in the eyes of their peers. This article contains portions of an interview with a Laotian-American youth who heads a Laotian gang. Policy implications are drawn from the study. 12 references