There’s a recent Vox article trending on the Internet: “Ecuador Legalized Gangs. Murder Rates Plummeted.” In 2007, Ecuador decided to adopt a new approach and legalized gangs. After ten years, in 2017, a sociologist from the University of New York and U.S. gang sympathizer, David Brotherton, decided to go to Ecuador and gauge the consequences of the policy change.
Brotherton claims the law change is being used to empower these individuals, male and female, and give them a new sense of worth. This new trust in the system supposedly gives them less reason to fight and be violent. Brotherton has long been a critic of U.S. policies on criminal justice, particularly for gang members.
People continue to share the article with some believing the United States should legalize gangs, too. First off, being in a gang isn’t in itself illegal, it’s already legal. It’s the typical behavior and culture of the gang lifestyle that is criminal. However, it can at times be used as a sentencing enhancer, particularly in the federal court system.
The article boasts a significant statistical drop in the murder rate. In 2007 the rate was 15.35 murders per 100,000, and in 2017 the rate had dropped to 5 homicides per 100,000. This number is understandably impressive.
Brotherton explains that there has been such a dramatic turn-around in Ecuador; some gang members are now crime analysts and work for the police.
It strikes me as odd that the majority of those sharing the article are left-wingers. It’s strange to me because these are the individuals that often refuse to believe statistics regarding crime in the United States but will get excited and accept statistics from a known corrupt system that employs gang members as crime analysts. Seems legit.
In the article, Brotherton is asked how he knew it was specifically the legalizing of gangs that led to the “plummeted” murder rate. Brotherton basically said it was the feeling he got after interacting with gang members around Ecuador and that it wasn’t the newly reformed national police. But I find it hard to believe that the conclusion on murder rate correlation was made by merely talking to gang members.
Could the 40-percent increase in the national police force have anything to do with the murder rate decrease? Could improving technological capabilities like cameras in high-crime areas and new, more sophisticated 911 centers have had anything to do with the reduction? Those questions were not asked. In fact, there is no mention of the overhaul of the national police whatsoever in the article.
Brotherton claims that the U.S. could adopt this philosophy by empowering gang members and winning their trust in the system. Rant: When did everything become the “system’s” fault and accountability an afterthought? Why does a criminal justice system anywhere in the world feel the need to bow to criminals? Choices have consequences and our behavior is a conscious decision. Do not blame the system of government because you refuse to obey the rules and feel entitled to act how you want. That is not reality. America is the greatest country in the world that gives you an enormous amount of opportunity. When you make good decisions, good things happen. When you make bad decisions, you sit around trying to think of ways to justify your poor behavior. It’s not the government’s fault you have questionable morals and a flawed character. If you choose to be in a gang and live the gang lifestyle, don’t be surprised if police across the United States treat you accordingly. This is not Ecuador, and we will never coddle criminals.
Where the law ends, tyranny begins. —Henry Fielding
