Former Child Soldier Shows Path to Help Gang-Involved Teens

Charles Wratto knows what draws young people into violence because he lived it. The former child soldier turned peace researcher now sees striking similarities between his past and the paths American teens take into gangs.

Between 2021 and 2024, the FBI recorded 69,273 gang-related incidents across the United States. Young people ages 13 to 16 were the most common offenders, and current approaches focus heavily on arrests and incarceration.

But Wratto's research and peacebuilding work reveals something crucial. In places like Mali, South Sudan, and Nigeria where he's negotiated the release of abducted children, he's learned that young people rarely join armed groups at gunpoint alone.

Instead, they're drawn in through relationships, social networks, and the promise of something they desperately need: safety, identity, and belonging. In neighborhoods where opportunities feel limited and instability runs high, armed groups offer structure and recognition.

American gangs follow the same playbook. A 2025 study of 1,808 male teens in Oregon found that exposure to gang-involved friends and relatives strongly predicted gang membership. Social media amplifies this draw, spreading images of status and power far beyond neighborhood boundaries.

Gang leaders, like warlords abroad, position themselves as protectors and mentors. They provide rules, settle disputes, and offer purpose to young people who feel excluded or disconnected. That sense of belonging becomes a powerful form of control, making it difficult to leave even when staying becomes dangerous.

The Bright Side

Wratto's work points toward solutions that actually work. Removing young people from violent situations matters, but it's not enough if the conditions that drew them in remain unchanged. His research on child soldier reintegration shows that successful programs address the underlying needs that made violence attractive in the first place.

This doesn't mean avoiding accountability for harmful actions. Instead, it means combining consequences with genuine alternatives: creating pathways to real belonging, building stable support systems, and offering young people the recognition and purpose they seek through positive channels.

Cities and programs that adopt these insights could transform outcomes for thousands of teens currently caught between limited choices and dangerous promises.

The answer to breaking cycles of youth violence may not lie in tougher penalties alone, but in understanding what drives young people toward violence and building better alternatives that speak to those same fundamental human needs.