A recent sociology study by UCLA students and faculty that is currently being submitted for publication found that nearly 60% of Los Angeles area gang members had participated in pinata parties as youths. The study also found that most gang members incorporated pinatas into their ongoing criminal activities.

Examples included:

• shooting at pinatas with shotguns while blindfolded
• using captured members of rival gangs as pinatas, assailing gang members would hand one of their own a bat, blindfold him, send him after the “pinata” and yell out the customary “arriba” and “abajo” to make it easier to hit the suspended “pinata” gang member
• using pinata parties as recruitment tools for young gang members

Personally, I find this behavior both despicable and unsurprising. It corroborates Dr. Hans Fischman’s 2005 study on pinatas as “gateway violence” and proves once again the link between pinatas and violent behavior. Once the study is published, I don’t know how the city and county governments in Orange County will be able to continue to refuse the call for banning pinatas. 

source: Jason Crawley, student researcher on the paper, UCLA