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We asked Dianne Finnegan - she's a seasoned mediator and counsellor for at risk youths. She says that a community without care is at the root of the problem:...

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Explain if you can the pathology of the rage that is driving this campaign of violence to civil war."

Dianne Finnegan
"What we are seeing right now is a carless confused society who's acting on their own in several different ways."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"You have been involved in some mediation recently. What is driving this relentless violence?"

Dianne Finnegan
"And you asked me about the issue of Ladyville and what is taking place there. Anything that you leave alone you let be, will continue to grow. Anything that is being fertilized will continue to grow and that is the issue with crime and violence. If there is no intervention happening to bring these individuals together to speak to them to get to the root of why is it that this is happening within their community. Why is it that you are hell-bent on fighting over a dead man? Then it will continue. But when you are dealing with individuals who are experiencing hurt and going through their own bitterness inside, there's no question as to how they'd react if they see you passing by."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"You are simplifying things, the fact is that at least 3 of these murders are from what we can tell, related to the drug trade which strives on San Pedro. You can't counsel if people are killing each other over drugs and over turf and there's been a lot of that in the past few months. It has reached an apex of this recent San Pedro one. But that's true."

Dianne Finnegan
"People will do what they need to do in order to survive. You've got to open their eyes to understand you're next. Just that it hasn't reached you as yet. But you're next, because this game is a cruel, dangerous and personalized game. It's about a drug dealer whose focus is just about him. If you die you will be replaced. If you end up in prison, you will be replaced."

But, the truth is - those who have survived gang wars for decades have already learned that lesson, or learned how to insulate themselves from violence. But, there's a new generation of youths under them who were raised in the dense violence of impoverished communities - and Finnegan warns they are the ones who need to be watched now:...

Dianne Finnegan
"If you look at what is happening right now and the names that are surfacing, you don't see a hulky, you don't see our barber, you don't see the regular names, you don't see a battery and a drive and a Big Tom, you don't see those names surfacing. You see kids who can't even show their pictures on the airwaves, because of the fact that they are minors. They are not of age, which means that it's a new generation of young people who are taking actions in their own hands. We are saying we need to address the issue on hand now because it is poisoning the rest of society and if we don't invest in them to bring about busy productive individuals, we're going to lose the entire society. I can care less who's on the team, I'm just saying let's get it done. Look at Mario Vernon, he is a product of the apprenticeship program. Look at Jahmal Humes who is still missing. He is a product of the apprenticeship program. Quincy, who was just buried is a product of the apprenticeship program. It matters to me."

Though she has been publicly discouraged from mediating by the current southside commander, Finnegan says she still engages in mediation when called upon by rival groups