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A Brief Analysis Of Street Life, Gangs By Victor M. Rios

1905 Words8 Pages

Victor M. Rios was born in Mexico. When he was two years old he immigrated with his mother to Oakland, California. He went through a tough childhood and he and his mother moved several times throughout poor neighborhoods such as West Oakland, The Fruitvale District, and Elmhurst. As a result of growing up in this kind of environments he was forced to be part of Latino East Oakland gangs. Stealing cars, selling drugs, getting into street fights and having problems with police was all he would do until he was 15 years old. One of his best friends named “Smiley” died in a shooting right in front of him and changed his life. Thanks to Mrs. Russ, one of his teachers who helped him out, Victor’s was able to live a different life in which he had the chance to get a Bachelor’s degree. A few years later he enrolled at UC Berkeley and earned a PhD in Sociology. He began mentoring Oakland youth and working with them to get out of a life of crime and into college. (Biography) Victor has written two books: Street Life: Poverty, Gangs, and a Ph.D and Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. The first one was about his own life growing up in Oakland in a gang. The …show more content…

The author based his investigation on criminologists, ethnographers and anthropologists criteria to argument his outcomes which add a solid framework to the entire project. I think the book suggests that there is a lot to do and it’s time to change unsuccessful methods. Despite of some critics, I think “Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys” is an obligatory reading to all people who really want to understand the whys and hows of most of young men who are labeled as criminals and live in marginal neighborhoods. This material also has the merit of describing the way these youths have to coexist with a lot of disadvantages to make a change and get a positive progress in their

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