With unemployment at nearly 20 per cent among Mexico's youth, many young people turn to a life of crime where drug gangs can pay hitmen three times the weekly salary of a factory worker.

With more than 400 street gangs in Ciudad Juarez city in Chihuahua state, it has become a prime recruiting ground for drug cartels.

But a group has come forward with a unique idea to fight this scourge.

As part of his new initiative, a former gang member and others from his evangelical church group dress up as angels and head to crime scenes with their messages of hope.

Al Jazeera's Rachel Levin reports from Ciudad Juarez.