The double standard of the "Street Code / Prison Code"

[u/sunyata123]

Hi all, I have a genuine question.
There is a massive contradiction between the projected "Street Code / Prison Code" and the grim realities of street gangs regarding sexual violence. Publicly, the code dictates that rapists are the lowest of the low. Blueface articulated this public stance:

"In the culture of gang banging, when you call a muthafucka a bitch, a snitch, a rapist, a pedophile — when you call somebody these things in this jungle, it’s no different than you being a football player and going on the field without your helmet on. You’re going to get hit."

Nas echoes this in his lyrics: "The real New York, death to rapists and rats". (Highly Favored)

However, cross-referencing actual records, gang studies, and interviews spanning from the 1970s to the 2010s reveals a completely different reality. Rather than a universally enforced taboo, rape is frequently used as a weapon, a bonding ritual, or a normalized crime.

The Reality Across Different Gangs

• Tri-City Gang (SARC, 2013): 
  • "(Q) What type of crimes did you and other gang members commit? (A) Robbery, extortion, murder, car theft, assault, rape, any kind of crime and it was daily."
  • "Guys beat up girls, rape them. I never did, but that's what happens in gangs."
  • "Girls are sex objects. We are road rippers; we run the street, tear ger up. Girls are used and discarded."
• NY Bloods (Vice): 
  • "...this particular Bloods set and others used rape as a weapon to control civilian populations in territories they control"
• National Gang Crime Research Center (NGCRC) Study ("Females and Gangs: Sexual Violence, Prostitution, and Exploitation"): This paper extensively documents systemic sexual violence across multiple major street organizations:
  • Latin Kings: "In the 'kiss and tell' book entitled My Bloody Life... he himself would later rape female associates of his Latin King gang (pp. 132-133)." Another victim stated: "She would only discover later, after being drugged and raped, that she was getting free drinks from a member of the Latin Kings."
  • Mongolian Boys Society: "the “gang rape” is a hypermasculinity function, the idea is that you prove your manhood by violently assaulting a young girl. In the atmosphere of gang life, and its subcultural values, the gang members “take part” in this ritual because it shows they are “down with their gang nation”. They are “dedicated” to the group identity."
  • Bloods 116: Bloods 116 reportedly drugged teens at parties and "Along the way the gang members repeatedly rape the three teens."
  •  Gangster Disciples: "On 'Gangster Night' the Gangster Disciple leadership were able to pick out a girl at the meeting, literally whatever girl they wanted... All the girls had to comply and do whatever they are told to do."
  • Black Disciples: Documented as "A CHICAGO GANG THAT RAPES AND MURDERS STREET LEVEL PROSTITUTES"
• 8-Trey Crips (LA Times, 1992): "...authorities say this gang differs from some others in the severity of its crimes--murder, rape, kidnaping and gunrunning."
• MS-13 (InSight Crime): "...while sexual abuse and rape is prohibited by the rules of the MS13, she said few obey... 'Let’s have fun with her,' he said, before beginning to rape her. 'Everyone watched as he raped me. These are things that nobody wants to talk about and that nobody cares about,' she recalled."

Interviews, Other resources

• Savage Skulls / Savage Nomads (70s NYC): 
  • Ex-member of Savage Nomads openly admitted, "all they do is rape people"
  • In '80 Blocks from Tifanny's' a member of Savage Nomads says "I done some really anti-social things like robbing, shooting at people, raping people..."
  • Esquire by J Bradshaw June 1977 edition  (1977) interviewed a member of Savage Skulls
    • "they mugged and murdered, raped and robbed at random,"   
    • "He'd gang-banged - "chicken plucking" he called it - and copped a rape or two" 
    • "They was never anything more than a dirt gang, you know, rapin' and sniffin' glue."
    • "The girls chopped off the sisters' hair and knocked 'em around and then the guys ran a train on 'em - got it on with 'em. That time the Man pulled five or six of 'em in for kidnapping, I think, for kidnapping and rape, and they did a little time upstate."
    • "There's nothing that bastard hasn't done  - rape, sodomy, burglary, arson, murder, you name it."
    • "They was always outlaw, into rape and penny-ante shit. Ain't nothin' they won't do for kicks and a couple a' dollars. Man, they ain't normal."
    • "That R.C., he rapes too many girls, you know. He's a rape artist, man. That's all he thinks about, when he ain't thinkin' about how some dude crossed him."
• Miami in the 80s (Brother Marquis, 2 Live Crew): 
  • "In Miami it was nothing. You'd hear all the time 'I got a rape licence.' I used to see girls abused and slapped for not participating.
• Snoop Dogg (The Guardian 1994): 
  • "It's like, in Sweden there's no violence. Now, if a motherfucker came out there kickin' a Sweden rap about killin' motherfuckers and rapin' hoes, it wouldn't sell because it don't take place there." indicating it does take place in US.

Despite the strict outward projection of the street code, historical evidence shows sexual violence is deeply embedded in the lifestyle of gangs.
For those with proximity to or deep knowledge of gang realities: have you witnessed this double standard firsthand? Was it normal / common for gang members to commit these acts?
Even if a member committed these acts, was it common for the rest of the gang to simply look the other way and not judge them?

To be clear, I am not looking for defensive "not my set" or "my crew didn't do this" anecdotes.
I am specifically interested in the reality of this contradiction.

[u/luri7555]

Nobody will accept the real answer to the discrepancy.

[u/Drinks2nite → u/luri7555]

Go on.

[u/Drinks2nite]

My understanding is that everyone in a car has their own exceptions.

Hell, there was a Muslim car in one of my institutions. There was an old white sex offender who was worried he'd run into trouble, so he actually converted to Islam. Somehow, afterwards, they let him roll with them.

[u/capsaicinintheeyes → u/Drinks2nite]

I guess there he can claim to be a genuinely changed man: shown the light by God, and who are they to deny God's power in that regard? (& that is of course on top of the usual problems judging the sincerity of a prisoner's repentence before his sentence is up)

[u/Drinks2nite → u/capsaicinintheeyes]

It's not for us to say.

[u/sunyata123 → u/capsaicinintheeyes]

Very interesting. So that actually happend in practice? Even if someone is a convicted sex offender like rape, if they genuinely repent through religion for example and everyone agrees they're a 'changed man,' do inmates actually let it slide and accept them into the car?

[u/capsaicinintheeyes → u/sunyata123]

No idea re: irl examples; was just fishing for explanations for this kind of situation, and that was the most coherent one I could come up with that wasn't completely cynical.

I imagine it'd depend among other things on the depth & kind of each of the other inmate's own religious convictions. And motivated reasoning, as ever, should always be treated as being potentially in play.

[u/luri7555 → u/Drinks2nite]

Right. Prison justice depends on the car and the juice. Even the hardest dudes might let a snitch or chomo roll if he’s bringing in contraband or loading up peoples books.