Gang `Jump In' Likened To Fraternity Hazing

They call it a "jump in." And a former gang member says it's as common to gang culture as a hazing is to a fraternity.

Gang members physically throttle the newest inductee to test his mettle. They might pound him with sticks or punch him with brass knuckles, but feet and fists are the norm.

It's a gang tradition that hasn't changed much in more than a quarter of a century.

Ron Carr ought to know. As a warlord in a Chicago gang, Carr, 41, used to beat up new recruits all the time.

"It's a way of establishing what kind of heart you got," said Carr. "If you're crying and bawling after 15 seconds, you're weak. If you stay for the duration, the other guys can trust you. You're not going to punk out on them."

The beating is also a test to determine where a youth ranks in a gang. Those who buckle under to pain may wind up the gofers, while those who stand their ground are the ones who may be chosen for bolder acts such as drive-by shootings.

Carr, a former Golden Gloves boxer, now works with teens through the King County Department of Youth Services to try to steer them away from gangs. His is a risky undertaking: Gang members have shot at him and confronted him at knifepoint.

Gangs don't view their initiation rites as criminal, Carr says. And that's probably why a group of gang members had no objections last month to two King County police officers videotaping them beating a new recruit.

"They don't care how others perceive them," Carr said. In fact, he says, being videotaped may have added to the rites' sense of importance.

But, says Lt. Sue Rahr, head of the county police's gang unit, "It's shocking for the public to realize these things happen. The gang lifestyle is its own society in a sick and twisted kind of way."