Many people in America think that gang violence is concentrated in the inner cities of New York, Los Many people in America think that gang violence is concentrated in the inner cities of New York, Los Angeles and other isolated metropolitan areas. They are mistaken, says Loren Christensen, a veteran Portland, Oregon, gang-enforcement officer. After completing Skinhead Street Gangs, Christensen went back to the streets to see what's happening with gangs, and what he found scared the hell out of him! He found that gangs are everywhere and are here to stay - in the big cities and small towns, in the suburbs and the rural areas, on both coasts and in the heartland. His research also showed that gangs are equal-opportunity destroyers. Their members - and victims - are white, black, Hispanic and Asian. His most disturbing discovery was that gangs are nastier than ever. Ten years ago gangbangers fought with fists, clubs and pistols. Now they have lots of incredible firepower, and they don't think twice about using it. Here, Christensen lets gang members, former gang members and street cops tell you in their own words how gangbangers think, why they are so violent, who they target and what (if anything) can be done to curb the growth of gangs in America.
Mr. Christensen began training in the martial arts in 1965 and continues to this day. Over the years he has earned a total of 11 black belts, eight in karate, two in jujitsu and one in arnis. As a result of his tour in Vietnam and nearly three decades in law enforcement, Mr. Christensen's focus in the martial arts - writing, teaching and training - has always been on street survival, not competition. He has starred in seven martial arts training videos.
In August of 2011, Mr. Christensen was inducted into the martial arts Masters Hall of Fame in Anaheim, California, receiving The Golden Life Achievement Award.
As a professional writer since 1978, Mr. Christensen has penned 46 published books with five publishers, dozens of magazine articles, and edited a police newspaper for nearly eight years. He has written on the martial arts, missing children, street gangs, school shootings, workplace violence, riots, police-involved shootings, nutrition, exercise, prostitution, and various street subcultures. His first first fiction--Dukkha: An Eye for an Eye--was recently published by YMAA Publications.
