youth gangs in the uk
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Youth Gangs in the UK. How different are they from their American counterparts? Judith Aldridge, Juanjo Medina, Robert Ralphs University of Manchester, UK. Outline: comparisons to US gangs. Context and background Prevalence History & evolution Structure, organisation, drug dealing Culture - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Youth Gangs in the UK
How different are they from their American counterparts?
Judith Aldridge, Juanjo Medina, Robert RalphsUniversity of Manchester, UK
Outline: comparisons to US gangs
1. Context and background
2. Prevalence3. History & evolution4. Structure, organisation, drug dealing5. Culture6. Ethnicity7. Violence
Context
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 we’ve been seeing/studying for decades
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’
References to ‘youth’ ‘gangs’ in Guardian newspaper
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Academic papers with ‘youth/street gangs’ and UK, Britain, England
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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
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
Prevalence
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’
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 isn’t quite there yet to disentangle them
Some comparative research currently under way
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
History
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
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
Structure, organisation, drug dealing
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
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
Culture
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)
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
Ethnicity
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.”
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
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
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
Violence
How different is contextof violence in the US and UK? In relation to gun crime & homicide:
US > UK St Louis > Research City
BUT!
Research City ~ St Louis
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
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
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
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)
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, “I’ve gotta get the fuck out of the city. I’ve gotta get away.” And I couldn’t cope with what I’d seen, and I cracked up and went to me doctor’s. The police weren’t interested, they just wanted to get me statement, I told them to sling it. Do you know what I mean? Went to me doctor’s, told him, you know um, “I’ve seen someone shot.” And he said, “Well you shouldn’t put yourself in them situations, should you?”
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
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
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.
Conclusions
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
Any questions?