Thread: Professor to hold seminar on MS-13 gang

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Professor to hold seminar on MS-13 gang
BY SARA INÉS CALDERÓN
The Brownsville Herald

September 7, 2006 - When Susan Ritter began to dig for information about the MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, gang, she immediately found herself searching in vain.

“In doing my research, I saw a gap in the literature,” said Ritter, the chairwoman of the criminal justice department at the Uni-versity of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. “Nobody’s ever brought it all together.”

Ritter began to wonder about the Salvatruchas when reports about gang members being arrested locally began to surface, prompting students in her class to ask about the organization.

The inquiries prompted Ritter to take a closer look through academic literature, where she realized that not only the lack of aca-demic articles pertaining to the gang but that only a few existed in humanities, a totally different study.

The MS-13 gang was formed by Salvadoran immigrants on the streets of Los Angeles.

“It’s been a fact-finding operation,” Ritter said of the research that has lead her from curiosity last December to the presentation of a paper at the Academy of Criminal Justice Science convention. “There’s been a lot of news reports on MS-13, but there hasn’t really been a precise look at what they are.”

Ritter on Friday will present her research and findings done with the aid of Department of Homeland Security officials, who she said have direct contact with members of the gang.

Is the gang a juvenile group or is it a bigger criminal organization? Ritter hopes to answer these types of questions, she said, in a global, national and international way.

She plans to expand on her paper to find specifics and pinpoint the extent and nature of the gang.

“This is not just a Los Angles youth gang anymore,” Ritter said. “This is something much bigger.”

sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com


Posted on Sep 07, 06 | 12:00 am

I sure hope they don't go after her.

If information is needed I could help her. We have a lot of information on the gang in Miami Dade County. There have been numerous arrests and deportation of gang members. Last year the gang was discussed at a criminal justice conference in Chicago. Another place for good information on them is ICE as they also are involved in finding them and deporting them. Unfortunately this gang is like a bad rash and members keep coming back!