Fort Worth, TX–The City of Fort Worth recently supplied the following data on “Whom gang members live with”:
40 percent mother only
19 percent grandparent
15 percent both parents
14 percent other
11 percent their own housing
1 percent father only
At most, only 16% of gang members live with their fathers, but it’s probably far less than that. I strongly suspect that much of the “15 percent both parents” classification includes stepfathers or transitional male figures who happen to be living with the mother at the time. It’s quite possible that less than 5% of gang members live with their fathers.
This is not news, of course. There is a very strong correlation between fatherlessness and gangs — a correlation far stronger than that between ethnicity and gangs and race and gangs.
To learn more, see my co-authored column CA Anti-Gang Bills Miss Central Truth About Kids & Gangs (Pasadena Star-News & Affiliated Papers, 3/25/07).
Also see my blog posts Combating Gangs by Combating Fatherlessness and ‘The first thing one notices about the gang world is this: There are no fathers’.
From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, thanks to Don Mathis for sending the information.