What we know about gangs in the UK

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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)

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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

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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)

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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.

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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?

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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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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

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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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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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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)