One must be cautious in any criticism of “renowned gang interventionist Father Gregory Boyle.” With that in mind, I offer the following: I am a retired Los Angeles County (10 years) and federal (26 years) probation officer. No one who has spent much time over the past decades in the criminal justice system could be unaware of Father Boyle.
Although I do not intend to purchase his book— and did not choose to attend his promotional event at the [Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association] Literary Society— I have read many of his published speeches and articles over the years. He seems seldom, if ever, to give equal time in his “circle of compassion” to those who have dedicated their lives to law enforcement and the protection of the citizen from gang violence. In fact, I have noted him treating them somewhat harshly in his remarks.
Additionally, although he has obviously done a great and needed service in the interest of some gang members’ improving their lives and becoming productive citizens, I have often searched his presentations in the hope that his remarks will also include, within The Power of Boundless Compassion, the victims of their crimes. However, while preparing sentencing reports on their ongoing crimes, I have found that more often it is their victims who “…are damaged by terror and who have seen torture,…violence or abuse…” brought into their lives by gang members. Many of their victims have done nothing more than to mistakenly stray into areas which gang members claim as exclusively their own. This transgression has cost these victims their lives.
Father Boyle states that his program draws on ideas from Mother Teresa and to the philosophy that seeks “…to include everyone: gang members, felons, the traumatized and the broken.” I would never deny that many gang members truly deserve the understanding, sympathy and publicity which Father Boyle accords them, and that he has converted many of them into a new and positive way of life. However, just as deserving of his attention are their “traumatized and broken” victims who have also been a part of the lives of gang members— and the life of Father Boyle.
If those who have read his book and listened to his presentations have found that Father Boyle has taught them as much sympathy and compassion for crime victims and those who protect and serve society as for gang members, I apologize for my own remarks.
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Jeremiah Flanigan
Long Beach
