Jumped In: What Gangs Taught Me about Violence, Drugs, Love, and Redemption [Hardcover]

Jorja Leap (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 6, 2012

When Jorja Leap began studying Los Angeles gang violence in 2002, she encountered a myriad of proposed solutions to the seemingly intractable “gang problem” and set out to discover what was really going on. The stakes—then and now—could not be higher: a child or teenager is killed by gunfire every three hours—and homicide is the leading cause of death for African American males between the ages of fifteen and thirty-four.
 
In Jumped In, Leap brings us stories that reach behind the statistics and sensational media images to the real lives of those stuck in—and trying to escape— "la vida loca.” With the eye of an anthropologist and a heart full of compassion, this small, tough woman from UCLA travels some of the most violent and poverty-stricken neighborhoods, riding along in police cruisers and helicopters, and talking with murderers and drug dealers, victims and grieving mothers.
 
Through oral histories, personal interviews, and eyewitness accounts of current and former gang members, as well as the people who love and work alongside them, readers come to understand both the people pulled into gangs and those trying mightily to forge alternatives and help their community. In delving into the personal lives of current and former gang members, Leap aims not only to find out what leads them to crime and how to deal most effectively with gang activity, but also to hear the voices of those most often left out of the political conversation and to learn from leaders who offer a different kind of hope, through community outreach and jobs programs.
 
As she forges lasting friendships in this community and becomes immersed in others’ triumphs and tragedies, Leap’s personal and professional lives intersect in sometimes incendiary ways. With a husband in the Los Angeles Police Department and a daughter in adolescence, she faces plenty of family dilemmas herself. Ultimately, Jumped In is a chronicle of the unexpected lessons gang members taught her while she was busily studying them, and how they changed her forever.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is a bullet-train of a book. Jorja Leap writes about gang members with objectivity and compassion. Her descriptions of her private life are a fusion of dead-on honesty shot through with humor. A remarkable read.”—Leon Bing, bestselling author of Do or Die

“Jumped In…sprints way past scholarly and educational, aiming for the outright transformational.”—UCLA Today

“…Raw and engaging…must-read, an eye-opener and heart-expander.”—The San Francisco Book Review

“Leap, a professor of social welfare at UCLA, crafts a fascinating if troubling ethnography of gang culture in Los Angeles… There is much to admire about Leap’s study: its novelistic style, how well the dialogue conveys the inner lives of Leap’s interviewees, the mosaic-like organization.”—Publishers Weekly

“Why are nearly five thousand kids and young adults still shot to death each year in America—and what can be done about it? Jumped In is the haunting, funny, tragic and revelatory tale in which Jorja Leap takes us into the heart of these questions. Leap’s frank and enthralling personal narrative introduces us to a parade of cops, gangsters, homegirls, drug dealers and unlikely heroes, each in possession of a fragment of the needed answers. We watch as Leap’s own existence is fundamentally altered by these often deeply intimate encounters. And, in accompanying her, we too emerge humanized and wiser for the experience.”—Celeste Fremon, author of G-Dog and the Homeboys, editor/founder of WitnessLA.com and The California Justice Report

“What makes Jorja Leap a gang expert is not just her years of experience and indefatigable research, but her heightened reverence for the enormous complexity of the gang dilemma. Jumped In gives us a window into a world of a sub-grouping of the poor who few understand and too many demonize. Her view is both “aerial” and “in the weeds” while always staying heartbreakingly compassionate and true. Her work gives me hope.”—Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., Founder and Executive Director, Homeboy Industries

“Dr. Leap uncovers the good, the bad, and the ugly reality facing the Los Angeles Police Department, the thinly staffed county departments that provide social services, and the school districts that attempt to educate children who emerge from often dysfunctional families. The journey of Jumped In will put a reader on an emotional roller-coaster ride from indifference to sorrow to sympathy for this portion of society so many Angelenos comfortably drive past.”—Lee Baca, sheriff, Los Angeles County

“Leap’s strength is her comprehensive investigation into organic campaigns, community initiatives, research, and political maneuvering to decrease gang activity.”—VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)

About the Author

Jorja Leap has been on the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles Department of Social Welfare since 1992. A recognized expert in gangs, violence, and crisis intervention, she has worked nationally and internationally in violent and postwar settings. Dr. Leap is currently the senior policy advisor on Gangs and Youth Violence for the Los Angeles County Sheriff.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press; 1 edition (March 6, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807044563
• ISBN-13: 978-0807044568
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jorja Leap has been on the faculty of the UCLA Department of Social Welfare since 1992 and has served as a lecturer, researcher, and consultant. A recognized expert in gangs, violence, and crisis intervention, she has worked nationally and internationally in violent and postwar settings. Dr. Leap is currently the senior policy advisor on Gangs and Youth Violence for the Los Angeles County Sheriff.

Photo Credit: Anthony Kaklamanos, 2010.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Straight Up and Extremely Compelling March 8, 2012

By Ming L. Winton

Format:Hardcover

I am fortunate to know Dr. Jorja Leap. I am a student of hers at UCLA, and I firmly believe Beacon knew what they were doing when they offered her a book deal. The first chapter had me in tears as I read it on a campus shuttle. I haven't been able to put it down, and I even walked into a wall whilst reading it [she would be proud, I'm sure]. My best friend laughed at me as I told her of this, so I bought another copy for her in hopes that she also suffers the same embarrassing fate.

I've been working in the field of social welfare and human rights for the past ten years. Throughout my childhood and the course of my career, I have experienced firsthand some of the things Jorja writes about; it's what led me to seek an MSW at the age of thirty. This book touches home in so many ways, and I can't even begin to tell about the flood of memories that resurge when I read this book. This book, if anything, helped reaffirm the reality that social work is my calling - - and I hope that for those that aren't completely aware of the world that they live in, of the poverty right under their nose, and of the people living alongside us that are living (and dying) through the hell of drugs, poverty, gang life, and incarceration - - I hope they would sit down and read this book. Jorja's work is commendable, and I can only hope that one day I will be half the social worker she is.

Whether you're someone that works in a helping profession, or you're someone that has never seen a second of poverty, or you are someone that has lost a friend or family member to drugs and gang violence - - I strongly urge you... I beg you to read this book.

I also learned that the proceeds of this book go to Homeboy Industries... you learn something amazing, and you benefit an organization that saves countless lives... it just goes to show you where her heart is (if the pages of the book don't already make it clear enough).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read! May 21, 2012

By Mary Jo Hazard

Format:Hardcover

Jorja Leap has written a fascinating book about gangs and their culture. it is a terrifying and tragic story about young men and women caught up in this violent lifestyle through no fault of their own, and the people, like Greg Boyle, who struggle to save them. Jorja shares the complexities of her life while writing the book, and the commonalities she finde with the homies she calls "godchildren".

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking, but recommended April 2, 2012

By wjb VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This eye opening account from someone on the front lines also taught me about violence and love. It was heartbreaking to read the history of some of the gangbangers. A good number have come from childhoods filled with neglect, abandonment and abuse both sexual and physical. It was easier to understand why they would gravitate to a group. This group, however, dysfunctional, is all that many know. They get hooked to a neighborhood, a way of life, and this is how they survive and cope with life on a day-to-day basis. However, this pressing social problem has to be addressed and the violence tempered. Young people should not expect to be incarcerated or killed. What kind of life can that possibly be? If you care about people, pick up a copy of Ms. Leap's book. It will change the way you feel about your fellow man, and yes, these are our brothers and sisters.