U.S. skinhead violence on the rise: watchdog group

[deadparrot]

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Violence by skinhead gangs in the United States is on the rise because of splits in the extreme right movement, a U.S. watchdog group said on Friday.

The Hammerskin Nation gang has long dominated the skinhead scene, but in the last two years other gangs like the Outlaw Hammerskins and the Vinlander Social Club have rebelled against them, said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project.

"When these small groups are trying to prove themselves you see an upsurge in extreme violence," said Potok who estimated that tens of thousands of people belonged to U.S. skinhead gangs.

"The remarkable thing of this rebellion is that it is a rebellion of the ultraviolent against the extremely violent," said Potok.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061020/us_nm/crime_skinheads_dc

[bemildred]

1. The fruits of our high rate of incarceration. nt

[bleedingheart]

2. and the lack of opportunity for those who are not incarcerated.

there are loads of poor white kids in the sticks who think that minorities are the reason why they have no opportunities in life ...some of them end up in the US Army where they stew in those juices even more.

[bemildred]

3. True.

It would be much cheaper to give them jobs, even good jobs where they don't really do that much.

[Phx_Dem]

4. You make is sound as though this is a rational choice

for kids. The two primary variables leading to gang affiliation is single-parent families and poverty. While this helps explain why kids join gangs it does not absolve them of responsibility for their behavior, or justify it in any way.

[bemildred]

5. Didn't sound like that to me at all.

I thought he was pointing out the effects of bad public policy, somewhat like you did too.

[Phx_Dem]

7. Yeah, I wanted to clarify things

The drug laws in this country are absurd, especially mandatory sentencing and three strikes laws. What a lot of people don't understand about gang affiliation is that much of it is due to substance abuse that occurs in high risk pops.

[bemildred]

8. Certainly the drug war, in all its aspects, is a failure.

Going to High School is like going to Drug Camp these days.

[DBoon]

6. wait until these misfits start being used by more mainstream RW groups

I'd be very afraid if these gangs started being used as covert "enforcers" by other,more mainstream RW groups, to intimidate political opponents.

Imagine a corrupt politician paying off one of these gangs to beat the crap out of a political opponent.

[High Plains]

9. This is pretty bogus...

If you actually read the Southern Poverty Law Center report that is the basis for this article, you see that what is being described is the disintegration of the skinhead movement as it splinters into tiny pieces. The report does not indicate any increase in violent attacks on anybody except other skinheads.

But the SPLC thrives on ginning up threats. It's good for fund-raising.