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You're right about some of them, especially the leaders. However from what I've seen, a lot of these kids just need some discipline and to be SEPARATED from the rest of their hoodlum peers. The whole reason for these gangs is the pack behavior you see in groups of wild animals. Once they are separated and made to follow rules(but not abused, as that causes them to group and rebel) they can be quite civil and productive. Also, instilling a work ethic and showing them the rewards of hard work can turn just about anyone around and onto the right path. Just my experience though, may not be accurate. :)

Sounds good and I respect your opinion.

Maybe in the 1930s - 1940s when the had the CCC (someone older than me probably knows what that was). The government took young men into work camps taught them discipline, put them to work on government projects and paid them too, that would have worked.

These kids are criminals almost from the beginning and I have seen the same gang mentality here in Panama and teenage rapists, murderers and thieves grow into adulthood, if they are not killed before, and continue a life of crime, often forming their own gangs.

I have to agree with most of the other posters we don't have the time to play social games with these thugs. We have to seal our borders and start deporting these people back to Mexico. How many thousands more Americans have to killed or victimized by these criminals before we get serious about solving the problem?