Gang Violence

I recently read a statistic that youth gang violence has increased by 50% in North Carolina over the past five years. As you may have guessed, I have a few things to say about this trend, its causes, its impacts, and the opportunities it presents.

It is worth noting that young men have always been violent, and this is not inherently bad. Throughout history and across cultures, it has been young men who have fought their nation’s wars, defended their families, and protected their property. As the apocryphal quote states, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” A well-known but seldom-discussed feature of this system is that when these “rough men” have neither a place to employ the violent portions of their natures nor the necessary self-control to regulate them, they can cause great harm to the communities God designed them to protect.

For various reasons, today’s young men are perpetuating such harm in communities across the United States. Within a few miles of my home, an 18-year-old murdered a man and fled the scene. When the cops, unaware of the murder, tried to stop him for a traffic violation a few minutes later, he fled the scene and shot the officer numerous times. When additional law enforcement arrived, the young man engaged in a shootout with them, but they ultimately killed him before he could harm anyone else. That story, while tragic, is over.

Of course, there is a marked difference between an individual engaging in violence and the violent and chaotic mobs running rampant in communities across the country. Over the past several weeks, one gang was engaged in a series of drive-by shootings in my hometown. Another gang in Hickory, NC ambushed a pool party, killing one and injuring 11 others. In Rock Hill, SC, a group of around 50 teenagers surrounded a 17-year-old girl’s car before reaching inside it and physically assaulting her. Another group of teenagers in Columbia, SC shot into a vacation rental, killing another teenager and wounding three others. A fifth group in Pineville, NC took over a parking lot around 4:00 AM and began fighting with each other when someone began shooting at multiple people. This is just a recent sampling of local news, but it reflects a consistent national trend. What used to be confined to major metropolises is trickling into smaller cities and towns at an unprecedented rate, leaving behind a wake of bodies, injuries, and destruction.

How much of a bump is 50% over the past five years? For starters, the estimated population growth over the same time is less than 7%, so this isn’t simply a statistical reflection of there being more teenagers. Gang violence is increasing faster than the population. Also, while I’m not certain of the methodology behind this report, I understand this to mean 50% more than pre-pandemic levels. A lot of data post-pandemic data spikes are simply a return to pre-pandemic numbers. However, exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 50% is a major concern.

What has caused this crisis? It would be convenient to just blame the breakdown of the family, the mass exodus from church, rap lyrics, video games, and the general cultural decline, all of which are partially responsible. Left unchecked, these forces would eventually lead to this outcome, but I believe something else has fueled its intense 5-year growth trajectory.

During the pandemic, these young people were kept home, isolated from their friends and teachers, and forced to live as hermits. I believe they learned two lessons from this experience. First, they desperately want to belong with a group of other people. I believe that this generation’s unspoken fear of loneliness is so great that it drives them to do anything the group wants, as long as they can remain a part of it. The acceptance and approval of the group matter more to them than nearly anything else. Second, they learned that they cannot trust authority. The people who should have protected them from this isolation are the ones who prescribed, permitted, and perpetuated this travesty against them. So when an authority figure tells them, “Go home; you can see your friends tomorrow,” you can understand how they reflexively recognize the emptiness of this promise.

This longing for peer acceptance and mistrust of authority is the perfect recipe for gang recruitment. How can we help these young people? I recommend connecting them with a strong friend group whose shared purpose is to build up one another, rather than tear down society. This could be a church group, performance ensemble, scout troop, sports team, or other similar organization. As they develop a strong sense of belonging within these groups, it will open opportunities for trusted mentor relationships, and eventually, a restoration of trust in authority. This will happen gradually, but it is preferable to the alternatives of maintaining the status quo, allowing our nation to devolve into complete lawlessness, or eliminating the threat through exceeding their numbers and levels of violence.

The situation for young men in the United States is dire, but it is not hopeless. The best time to act may have been five years ago or 80 years ago, but the next best time is now. Help the young people in your sphere of influence, or partner with the work I’m doing through the ChASM Project. Together, we can make the world a better place.