Jumped In: What Gangs Taught Me about Violence, Drugs, Love, and Redemption (Beacon Press)

UCLA professor of social welfare Jorja Leap will discuss and sign her groundbreaking new study of Los Angeles gang life, Jumped In.

The author's proceeds from this book will be donated to Homeboy Industries.

“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

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 of the author by Anthony Kaklamanos.

Jumped In: What Gangs Taught Me about Violence, Drugs, Love, and Redemption (Hardcover)

By Jorja Leap

$26.95

ISBN-13: 9780807044568
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Beacon Press, 3/2012

Other Editions of this Title

"Jumped In tells the story of the gangs of Los Angeles in the words of the gang members themselves as well as the people who interact with them on a daily basis--trying to arrest them, control them, and help them. There are priests and police officers, murderers and drug dealers, victims and grieving mothers, and other assorted characters, often partnering in unlikely ways. Jorja Leap's work draws upon intimate material, from interviews to eyewitness accounts, telling the deeply personal stories of current and former gang members who span three generations, as well as the dilemmas Leap herself faces as she struggles to adjust to marriage and motherhood--with a husband in the LAPD and a daughter in adolescence. Jumped In is a chronicle of the unexpected lessons gang members taught her when she was busily studying them. Ultimately, it is a book about attachments and commitments, loyalties and betrayals, drugs and guns, sex and devotion."

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