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What we know about gangs in the UK

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Title: What we know about gangs in the UK


1
What we know about gangs in the UK
  • Juanjo Medina Robert Ralphs
  • School of Law
  • University of Manchester
  • Work funded by the ESRC (RES-000-23-0615)

2
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3
What do we know about American gangs structure
  • In most street gangs, leadership is ephemeral,
    turnover is often high, and cohesiveness only
    moderate. Codes of conduct often exist in
    rhetoric but are easily avoided or broken. Many
    street gangs are more a loose collection of
    cliques or networks than a single, coherent
    whole (Klein Maxson, 2006)
  • gangs do not exist as formal organizational
    entities (Fleisher, 2002)
  • the term membership may be misleading research
    did not reveal a systematic process of
    recruiting nor did find a formal mechanism
    of group affiliation Membership was identical
    with friendship and youth who were friends with
    a member were considered to be members once
    they became familiar to other youth (Fleisher,
    2002)
  • joining simply means spending more time weekly
    with more gang-active, ego-gang network alters
  • Social network analysis by Fleisher
  • No individual knew all members of the gang, in
    fact the most central members only knew about
    10 of listed individuals claiming to be members
    (Is this really a group?)
  • Even though there are more than 100 Vice Lords,
    a Vice Lord can trust only 8, 9, or 10 of them.
    This social network is small but valuable in the
    absence of other social capital

4
What we know about American gangs behaviour
  • First and foremost, we need to recognize that
    gang members spend much more time hangin than
    bangin. While observers of gangs note that talk
    about past and future crime exploits are the coin
    of the realm of gang membership, the activity
    that generates our attention to gangs encompasses
    a fairly narrow slice of the typical gang
    members day or night (Klein Maxson, 2006, p.
    69).
  • Popular stereotypes of gangs and gang members
    consider them to be organized, violent predators
    on society. In this vision, gangs guided by
    older leaders- plan burglaries and boostings,
    commit armed robberies, terrorize neighborhoods,
    run crack houses, distribute and sell a wide
    variety of drugs on the street, and revel in
    assaultive and lethal violence against each
    other, innocent bystanders, and any who thwart
    them. Some of this may be true What is not true
    is the intensity of this stereotype, the well
    organized nature of their group activities, and
    the delight in violence (Decker van Winkle,
    1996 p. 144)

5
British gangs structure?
  • I think theres this perception sometimes of
    gangs as a very cohesive organisation and I dont
    think they are. And I think also in this
    particular city we have a adoption of brand
  • There is no head of the main gang, there is no
    head of the other main gang. There are a few
    older heads around, but even they still end up
    doing stupid street level things, presumably
    because theyre still basically just jobbing.
  • Yeah I mean it does look like a lot of gang
    members appear to know more people in opposing
    gangs, more people that they dislike, than people
    in their own gang. Particularly in relation to
    the main gang, a lot of the young or the
    main gang faction should I say a lot of the
    young newer gang members dont know a lot of
    people in the proper main gang over in
    original main gang area.
  • Well there is unwritten rules, its just that
    people very rarely follow them.

6
Getting into it
  • Hanging out
  • Its not like that, I cant see it like that, I
    see it as you know someone, yeah, thats in a
    gang and you get seen talking to them and theyre
    thinking whos he, hes talking to him and
    really it could be your brother or your cousin,
    so you know. And then youre going to be thinking
    well I should stay away from him, but he is my
    brother, he is my cousin, he is my best friend,
    my good friend so why should I? you cant say
    oh no way man, I talk to him, I chill with him,
    but Im not in a gang cause once youre
    affiliated or associated with them, youre a gang
    member and obviously theres always going to be a
    time when they push you so much and then youre
    going to say oh forget it, you can class me as
    a- thats who I am now cause basically without
    them, who am I, you know what I mean, thats what
    you see sometimes.
  • Protection
  • Its not all like I want to be in a gang its
    like obviously people want to make money, but now
    people are not even thinking about money anymore,
    its more like watch this guy cause youve got
    to watch your back more if you know what I mean?

7
Gangs as culture vs. gangs as concrete social
networks
  • Gangs as social network
  • specific group of people with fluid lasting
    relationships
  • but difficult to measure given its dynamic and
    imprecise boundaries
  • Gangs as culture
  • set of cultural values, brand (gang) names,
    images, symbols, fashion, and other elements that
    are wrongly or rightly associated with gangs or
    being in a gang
  • some young people may follow some of this
    cultural referents without necessarily being
    involved in a gang as a social network

8
Unclear concept? Prevalence figures
  • Gang concept
  • Long history in the social sciences (Thrasher,
    1927)
  • Consensus in British criminology was that we do
    not have gangs
  • However, social historians refer to groups that
    technically could be considered as such even in
    the 19th century
  • Eurogang definition
  • Although criminologists continue debating about
    the concept, a consensus has emerged in Europe
    about a useful operational definition
  • Any durable street-oriented group whose
    involvement in illegal activity is part of their
    group identity
  • This definition has been popularised in the UK by
    Hallsworth and Young, to the point that some
    people refer to it as their definition

9
Prevalence figures and caveats
  • Prevalence figures
  • NEW-ADAM 4 of arrestees 17 and over in a gang
    with name and territory
  • Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime
    3.5 of 13 year old in a gang with a name
    special saying or sign
  • Communities that Care 4 of 11-17 year old in
    London in a gang with a name and a territory
  • Offending Crime and Justice Survey 6 of 10-19
    year old in delinquent youth groups
  • Caveats with policy and practice implications
  • Operational purposes distinguishing gangs from
    other forms of organised crime and loose
    associations of delinquent or troublesome youth
  • Hetereogeneity of gangs
  • Never forget we are dealing with messy and
    changing social networks
  • Concept with a life of its own Just people in
    the area, kind of like representing their area,
    innit?

10
Terminology and stereotyping
  • The problems with the G word
  • It means different things to different people
  • Problematic connotations
  • Too convenient a shorthand for tabloids
  • Clear evidence of the use for labelling by
    authorities (sometimes based on incomplete
    intelligence)
  • Troublesome youth groups Delinquent youth
    groups

11
Ethnicity the media and the institutional view
  • There is a strong media tendency to present youth
    delinquent gangs as (1) linked to issues facing
    the black community and (2) the use of firearms
  • Tony Blair today called on Britain's black
    communities to speak out against gang culture, as
    he promised further new laws against knife and
    gun crime
  • Tony Blair yesterday claimed the spate of knife
    and gun murders in London was not being caused by
    poverty, but a distinctive black culture.
  • Britain's most senior black race relations
    adviser has launched an outspoken attack on
    Ministers, accusing them of encouraging the
    growth of a violent gang culture and neglecting
    the disaffected teenagers who roam this country's
    streets.
  • Over-racialisation and political correctness in
    the discourse of institutions about gangs and
    guns (Peter Squires)
  • Too much is being made of the race card
  • But at the same time institutional discourses are
    careful to dress this in politically correct
    terms its also about having a defined
    population that we can work with.
  • The excessive emphasis on ethnicity and the lack
    of a clear, honest language may become obstacles
    in the road to solutions

12
Gangs and ethnicity
  • US Data clear over-representation of Black and
    Latino young men in gangs (particularly if we
    look at official data)
  • NEW-ADAM Majority of gang members are white
  • Edinburgh Study on Youth Transitions and Crime
    94.3 of kids in the study were White and so were
    the overwhelming majority of gang members
  • Communities that Care Whites and Black Caribbean
    more likely than Black African and South Asian
    (though the difference is not statistically
    significant)
  • Offending Crime and Justice Survey there is
    little to suggest ethnic differences or a
    particular over-representation of young Black
    males in gangs
  • The composition of youth gangs indicate
    community-level demographics
  • Its the area where the gang is, like the
    majority of people in known gang area are black
    cos, and if you go to known gang area the
    majority of people in gangs will be white, they
    might be the odd black or mixed person in it
  • And its not a case of being black, its not a
    case of being white, you could be black, white,
    silver, pink if you want and you could still be
    part of a gang, so colours got nothing to do
    with it

13
Guns, gangs and ethnicity
  • So I think the firearm link is fine and
    appropriate to a point but I think we have to
    recognise that you know that there are other gang
    groups that are mixing in those areas and do
    exist but our main intelligence and our main
    enforcement are often more firearms linked gangs
  • Large majority of young people affiliated with
    gangs do not carry guns (OCJS, 2004)
  • Serious injurious violence resulting from guns
    represent a tiny minority of the violence problem
    in England
  • Guns are more problematic in the black community
    (even if they still constitute a fraction of
    serious violence in this community as well)

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17
Gun violence and ethnicity HES 2005
  • For every black victim of an assault with bodily
    force there are 34 white victims
  • For every black victim of an assault with sharp
    objects (e.g., knives) there are 6.2 white
    victims
  • For every black victim of an assault with a
    firearm there are 2.7 white victims
  • Put another way, gun violence represents a higher
    share of violence against black people than
    against white people
  • Even if we recognise that the numbers are very
    small (38 black victims of gun violence versus
    104 white victims of gun violence out of more
    than 40,000 cases of injurious violence), this is
    possibly part of the reason for the emphasis

18
Dangers of this trend
  • Dangerous theorising culture of poverty,
    conservative versions of underclass theory,
    subculture of violence
  • Makes intervention more likely to fail
  • Neglects other groups
  • Contributes toward the trend of punitiveness
    against young black people
  • -A Ive been stopped and searched in every
    area really, everywhere.
  • -R So why do you think you get stopped so
    often then?
  • -A I dont know, cause Im young, a young
    black male.

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20
Interventions
  • Why do we pay attention to gangs?
  • Risk factor for delinquency
  • Negative developmental outcomes (later in life
    are more likely to become school dropouts, to
    have unstable employment patterns, to be teen
    parents, and to have multiple disorderly
    transitions to adulthood) (Thornberry et al.,
    2003)
  • Community costs (worsening of crime problem,
    stigmatisation of whole communities, etc)
  • What do we know about gang interventions?
  • Sometimes best intentions or even partial success
    may result in unintended negative consequences
  • For me its far more worrying in the long sense
    if their fighting over the drug market, this is a
    purposeless little war that people are having at
    times, which is whats really and I think it
    becomes more problematic the more we enforce. The
    more we take people out in terms of gangs the
    more chaotic it seems to become. You know Ive
    described it recently as its like having a
    juvenile nuisance problem with nine millimetre
    hand guns.
  • Still have a long way to go
  • Although a number of initiatives are developing
    in the UK, few have been properly evaluated

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22
Working Groups
  • Collaborating with communitiesAngela Lawrence
    (Seminar Room)
  • Early interventionsDave Esdaile (Junior Common
    Room)
  • Race, ethnicity and gangsCharles Critchlow (Old
    Dining Hall)
  • Encouraging desistance criminal justice
    interventionsClive Palmer (Lecture Theatre)
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