I’d like to first thank the residents of Anthony, Chaparral, Columbus, Deming, Doña Ana, El Paso, Hatch, Las Cruces, Lordsburg, Silver City, and Sunland Park for providing me a space to learn about issues of colonization, border politics, crime control, gangs, and the struggle to improve the lives of our children. I’d like to express my gratitude to Jennifer Perillo, Stephen Wesley, Eric Schwartz, Lowell Frye, Milenda Nan Ok Lee, Marielle Poss, and Columbia University Press for supporting this second book project. My thanks go to the blind reviewers and their feedback in improving this final product. I am indebted to several gang scholars who have studied gangs for decades and have continued to provide me individualized mentorship (John Hagedorn, Joan Moore, Avelardo Valdez, David Brotherton, and James Diego Vigil). I thank my scholarly mentors at Weber State University (Brenda Marsteller Kowalewski, Daniel T. Gallegos, Marjukka Ollilainen, Robert Reynolds, and Huiying Wei Hill) and at the University of Colorado (Patti Adler, Joanne Belknap, Arturo Aldama, Tom Mayer, and Robert Regoli). My admiration goes to the activists of Denver (Ernesto Vigil, Shareef Aleem, Rudy Balles, Leroy Lemos, Earl Armstrong, Doug Vaughan, Steve and Vicki Nash), and my appreciation goes to my friends in graduate school who kept me sane (Marcos Martinez, Robert Muñoz, Lori Peek, Patrick De Walt, and Ted Young).
I stand in solidarity with my colleagues from New Mexico State University (NMSU), where I lived and worked for eight years. I am grateful to Carlos and Mayra Posadas, Cynthia Bejarano and Jeff Shepherd, Spencer and Jessica Herrera, Romina Pacheco and Pierre Orelus, RJ Maratea, Dulcinea Lara, Christina Medina, William Eamon, Rudolfo Chávez Chávez, Hermán García, Cristobal Rodriguez, Christina Chavez Kelley, Viola Fuentes, Daniel Villa, William Quintana, Antonio Lara, René Casillas, Louí-Vicente Reyes, Luis Vázquez, Jennie Luna, Rodrigo Mora, Breeana Sylvas, Tom Winfree, Larry Mays, David Keys, and Waded Cruzado. I thank my graduate research assistants at NMSU (Samantha Slim, Wesley Patterson, Lisa Wright, Seitu Porter-Robinson, Israel De La Rosa, and Steven Gregory). Several graduate students, including Maria Bordt (University of Tennessee-Knoxville), Wesley Patterson, Seitu Porter-Robinson, and Charlene Shroulote Durán (New Mexico State University), served as assistant editors for the gang update technical reports, from which excerpts were provided in chapter 6. I thank my social justice–oriented and critical colleagues at the University of Tennessee (2014–2018) and Texas A&M University (2018–present) in the Departments of Sociology. Much respect and gratitude goes to my mentoring networks, including the Racial Democracy Crime and Justice Network, Latina/o Criminologists, Division on People of Color and Crime, Hispanic Faculty and Staff Caucus at NMSU, Interdisciplinary Research Training Institute, National Hispanic Science Network, and the Law and Society Association. I thank the scholars who have reviewed and given me feedback and support for my scholarship over the years, ensuring that I could remain in academia (David Brotherton, John Hagedorn, Aaron Kupchik, Ramiro Martinez, Jody Miller, Alfredo Mirandé, Wilson Palacios, Anthony Peguero, Ruth Peterson, Martín Urbina, and Avelardo Valdez).
I am thankful for the primary data resources housed at El Paso Public Library, NMSU Library, University of Texas at El Paso Library, and from professional associates in District Three, District Six, and from those with the State of New Mexico, for data involving schools, law enforcement, juvenile probation, and district attorney offices. Partial funding for the research developed in this book came from NMSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tennessee start-up research funds, and consulting contracts obtained from District Three, District Six, and the Children, Youth and Families Department of the State of New Mexico. All appreciation goes to Judge Fernando Macias for advocating on behalf of the importance of these studies and for securing grant funding. I’d like to thank the artist Francisco Delgado, Director Mauricio Olague, and Bowie High School students for the “Sagrado Corazon” mural image on the book’s cover. A section of chapter 4 previously appeared in Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice. A section of chapter 5 appeared in Race and Justice: An International Journal. The original articles were written with my friend and colleague Carlos Posadas.
Finally, none of this work could occur without the support of my wife Charlene and our four children: Jazmine, Doroteo, Jocelyn, and Justice. My familia and my ancestry in Nuevo Mexico continues to inspire me, as well as my parents’ efforts to ensure I received the encouragement to push forward with my education. Here is to challenging generations of exclusion!1