Youth Gangs in the UK

1
Youth Gangs in the UK

• How different are they from their American
  counterparts?
• Judith Aldridge, Juanjo Medina, Robert Ralphs
• University of Manchester, UK

2
Outline comparisons to US gangs

• Context and background
• Prevalence
• History evolution
• Structure, organisation, drug dealing
• Culture
• Ethnicity
• Violence

3

• Context

4
UK objections to gang research

• Create moral panics
• Demonise young people ASBOs Hoodies
• Stigmatise young people, communities
• Reinforce, glorify, perpetuate, even create
  gangs
• Nothing new to see here in UK, groups are the
  same as weve been seeing/studying for decades

5
Top headlines in Guardian newspaper search

• Turf war among drug gangs blamed as youth, 17,
  dies after shooting
• Drug gangs rampant in top Dublin youth jail
• Youths pick chic Paris mall for gang rumble
• Gang chased youth, 16, and stabbed him to death,
  court told

6
References to youth gangs in Guardian
newspaper
7
Academic papers with youth/street gangs and UK,
Britain, England
8
UK Why we persist

• Use of term gang in UK not new
• Must remedy predominant focus in research, police
  journalistic accounts on ethnic minority youth
• Must balance journalistic accounts that glorify
  gangs
• Policy transfer from USA NOW occurring
• Demystify gangs
• Challenge overly punitive official responses
  schools, government, police

9
Context conclusion

• Discussion about gangs is newer
• Different research history (focus more on youth
  subcultures, not gangs)
• More wariness/fear of the label by academics,
  policy makers
• But actual use of the term increasing in the last
  five years particularly

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• Prevalence

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Prevalence

• YOCJS (10-19 year olds)
• 3 in street gangs, group existed 3m or more,
  group commits crime together
• NEW-ADAM (arrestees 17 and over)
• 4 in a gang with name and territory
• Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime
  (13 year olds)
• 3.5 of 13 year old in a gang with a name
  special saying or sign
• Communities that Care (11 17 year olds)
• 4 in London in a gang with a name and a
  territory
• Staying Safe Study (14 schools in south of
  England)
• 3.9 in an offending gang

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Prevalence conclusion

• Difficult to say because of variations in
  measurement, samples, age groups BUT
• Possibly broadly similar to US
• Nevertheless, undoubtedly lots of very
  interesting differences, but research isnt quite
  there yet to disentangle them
• Some comparative research currently under way

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YOGEC Research design and methods

• ESRC funded ethnographic study 2 years fieldwork
• 3 neighbourhoods in large English city
• Group Characteristics Drug use and dealing
  Violence Ethnicity Gender Community relations
  and Lifecourse (onset and desistance)
• 100 interviews - gang members, associates
  (friends, girlfriends, relatives), key informants
  (e.g. police, youth workers, local government)
• 9 focus groups - non-gang involved young people,
  parents, representatives of community/statutory
  agencies

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• History

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History

• RC gangs going back 2 decades, even 100 years
• In Inner West we documented history going back to
  80s and early 90s
• Predominantly ethnic minority youth
• Drawn to informal economy for standard of living
  above basic survival
• Specialist drugs gangs operating open drugs
  markets
• In pyramid structures, dealing heroin crack
• By late 90s until now
• Open to closed markets (mobile phones, police
  crackdowns)
• Heroin and crack to cannabis
• Gang coordinated to individual dealing
• Greater to lesser earnings
• Combined with legitimate income sources

16
History conclusion

• Likely very similar history of gangs
• RC was unusual in this specialist drugs gangs
  status in the UK
• Evidence anecdotal, police
• In a similar way, American has research
  identified these specialist drugs gangs in some
  cities (e.g. Chicago)
• But like the UK, in the US, specialist drugs
  gangs are rare even if drug dealing is common

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• Structure, organisation,
• drug dealing

18
Structure, organisation, drug dealing

• Little evidence of hierarchy in these same gangs
• No evidence that X and Y were leaders or
  running this gang
• In contrast to heroin in cocaine the vast
  majority of the dealing we identified was
  cannabis
• Most dealing not gang co-ordinated sold
  individually, 2/3s
• Individuals kept all their own profits
• No evidence of dealers being paid a wage at the
  lower levels (though this did happen with
  runners, though nothing like at this level)
• Members do not live extravagantly, more concerned
  with status
• No "card-carrying" members, loose affiliation
• But this view amongst police new, does it arise
  as a result of our report? In all our research,
  referred to clear affiliations

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Structure, organisation, drug dealing conclusion

• Probably very similar for most US youth gangs
• Specialist (e.g. drugs) youth gangs in US are the
  exception rather than the rule
• True of UK too
• Exception we found one specialist girl gang
  highly organised, shared profits from illegal
  activities, role differentiated - got the job
  done, did so without violence or the threat of it
• But! Key members of group were sisters/relatives
  of highly involved male gang members, group
  virtually disbanded now

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• Culture

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Culture

• Gang joining probably not that useful a term
• No recruitment
• Consistent with the formation of neighbourhood
  and school friendship groups
• To join more about developing different kinds
  of relationships with existing contacts
• Self-protection, labelling and taking advantage
  of illegal opportunities define the difference
• Cultural identifiers
• No initiation rituals (though proving oneself
  sometimes discussed)
• Few/no identifiers like colours, tattoos, hand
  signs
• Few codes of conduct (though a few are patchily
  referred to and almost always betrayed)
• Few/no organised meetings
• Some of these things may be changing especially
  through social networking sites (e.g. MySpace)

22
Culture conclusion

• The process of joining is probably very similar
  to the US
• The idea of joining in both US and UK based on
  stereotyped media image
• US likely to have more rituals and cultural
  signifiers
• Even though there are signs this is changing

23

• Ethnicity

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Media political discourse around gangs and race

• Strong media political tendency to present
  black community as responsible for gang problems
• Tony Blair, April 2007
• The black community the vast majority of whom
  in these communities are decent, law-abiding
  people horrified at what is happening need to
  be mobilised in denunciation of this gang culture
  that is killing innocent young black kids.

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Ethnicity

• NEW-ADAM Majority of gang members are white
• Edinburgh Study on Youth Transitions and Crime
  94.3 of the sample were white and so were the
  overwhelming majority of gang members
• Offending Crime and Justice Survey (2004) there
  is little to suggest ethnic differences or a
  particular over-representation of young black
  males in gangs
• YOGEC in predominantly white areas, we found
  gangs were mostly white in areas with the
  highest concentration of black ethnic minorities,
  we found gangs that were mostly black

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Ethnicity surprise!

• Areas with higher ethnic (black) population
  received media and policy attention
• Police claimed not to use race as defining
  criteria, but do!
• Whilst much more gun violence there (reflects
  police priorities)
• But white gangs also used guns!
• Thus greater vulnerability of black youth to
  discriminatory, aggressive, intrusive policing
• White areas complained of discriminatory
  neglect!
• Black community leaders stuck
• Recognised gun/gang violence in their communities
  (empowering?)
• But drawbacks to racialising the gang problem
• negative stereotypes about black people,
  suspect community, allows for simplistic
  explanations, legitimisation of inadequate
  interventions, police harassment

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Ethnicity conclusion

• Immigration history, ethnic make-up very
  different
• UK shorter, less (8), different groups
• Indian sub-continent, Caribbean and Africa
• US longer, more ( 30)
• Hispanic/Latino Black American
• UK less geographically segregated
• Highest ethnic minority areas in RC still mostly
  white
• We do not have racial ghettos (by definition)
• Gangs arise in areas of deprivation, and their
  ethnic composition reflects the composition of
  the neighbourhoods that spawn them

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• Violence

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How different is contextof violence in the US
and UK?

• In relation to gun crime homicide
• US gt UK
• St Louis gt Research City
• BUT!
• Research City St Louis

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Firearm violence in Research City

• Firearm violence for last 20 years relatively
  high in RC for the British context
• Disproportionately concentrated in Inner West
• Victims and perpetrators often/mostly gang
  affiliated

31
Violence in RC gangs

• Gangs did not specialise in violence, generally
  tried to avoid it
• But! Violence symbolically and rhetorically
  important
• Potential often present references to, memories
  of, violence
• Idea of trigger happy gangster motivated to
  protect reputation
• Alternate conflict resolution strategies employed
• Conflict within gangs as important as conflict
  between gangs
• More important day-to-day
• About business, friendships, romantic
  relationships, family same for most of us
• Jealousy and debt recovery were key came up
  over and over generally, these are likely
  within not between gangs

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Violence and drugs markets

• Violence was linked to drug sales, but not
  disputes over markets/customers
• Instead, taxing other dealers (same different
  gangs)
• Played role in gang members arming themselves
• Even in the hey-day of Inner West specialist
  drugs gangs, conflict only rarely about drugs
  markets

33
Unacknowledged trauma

• References to violence, and exposure to violence
  as victims, perpetrators and witnesses was part
  of everyday conversation and growing up
• Ex-girlfriend of key gang member explains
• There was that many shootings at the time that
  it was just normal, it was sad and everything,
  but then a couple of days later you would have
  forgotten about it and somebody else would have
  been shot (30 year old woman)

34
Interview with female gang member, sister of male
gang member

• I lost the plot when I seen that poor when I
  seen that poor boy got shot dead, and in front of
  me. I could have took that bullet, it could have
  been me dead. I had the Regional Crime Squad, I
  had the Murder Squad at me door. Do you know
  what I mean? I was getting phone calls shit
  myself. I thought, Ive gotta get the fuck out
  of the city. Ive gotta get away. And I
  couldnt cope with what Id seen, and I cracked
  up and went to me doctors. The police werent
  interested, they just wanted to get me statement,
  I told them to sling it. Do you know what I
  mean? Went to me doctors, told him, you know
  um, Ive seen someone shot. And he said, Well
  you shouldnt put yourself in them situations,
  should you?

35
Violence

• Different gangs, different violence
• Inner West having, holding, accessing, using
  guns all important re gang status
• Far West valued the masculinity of physical
  fights (being handy) as opposed to cowardly
  resort to guns
• But access to guns (real and replica) common
  across all gangs/research sites

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Sources of violence

• Most violence emanated from interpersonal
  disputes
• often about friends, family and romantic
  relationships
• Not linked to disputes about drug markets
• Jealousy and debt motivated a considerable degree
  of within-gang conflict
• Association (by blood or company) to other gang
  members was a risk factor for bullying and
  victimisation
• By other gangs, by police
• Unsolved violence (esp. murders) by police
  resulted in violent vendettas among these gangs
  (crime as social control)
• Glorified in plethora of recent journalistic books

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Violence conclusion

• Suspect many similarities
• Research in UK early days
• But lack of connection between violence and drugs
  markets consistent
• Our focus on within gang conflict not discussed
  widely in the US
• Does not necessarily point to cross-national
  differences
• Could be our research focus.

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• Conclusions

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Gangs in Research City

• Not well-organised profit making hierarchical
  criminal enterprises with an interest on
  franchising themselves and active recruitment
• But bunch of kids with guns, small minority
  older members involved in more serious
  money-making criminal activities
• Cultural identity as gang not as
  institutionalised as in the US
• Drug sales now mostly individual activity, not
  controlled by the gang, although sometimes
  involving some cooperation and division of labour
  

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• Any questions?