Mean Streets: Gangs Going Digital

Feb. 19, 2007 — -- Imagine being a prisoner in your own neighborhood.

That's how Wichita, Kan., police Chief Norman Williams describes communities struggling with the unexpected and emerging epidemic of gang violence in U.S. cities.

"They feel that there is no way out, that there's no hope, and so they just have to live with it. It has a tremendous impact on quality of life in a in a neighborhood," Williams said of those communities.

Williams says that there's a new generation of gang members, and that they're starting as young as ages 11 to 14.

"The concerns you have with that generation is they do not have a criminal history. And so because they do not have a criminal history, we don't have a lot of information on them," Williams said.

Without that information, Williams says, members of the new gang generation will commit many crimes before they develop criminal records -- acts that will instill fear and danger within many communities.

"What we're finding is a lot of our kids have no respect for life. They don't respect their life, and thereby they don't respect other peoples' lives. They think that the violence is like playing a video game. You turn it on and off. And it's not," he said.

According to a recent survey by the Justice Department, there are currently more than 21,000 gangs in the United States. Their membership is 700,000 strong and growing, and they're using the Internet to recruit members.

By posting online content that glorifies the thug lifestyle, gangs are using the Web to recruit -- some using children as young as 8 years old as part of the online recruiting process, known as "Net Banging."

They sell drugs and guns, run car theft and prostitution rings, and use "bling" -- money, cars, and jewelry -- to entice troubled teens from poor neighborhoods, many with little or no family to speak of.

And the types of gangs fueling the country's surge in violence run the gamut: international gangs like MS-13, the Bloods and Crips, motorcycle gangs and local street gangs.