Offender Management Community Scoping of London Gang ...

away from the olders and elders. Many olders recognize that gang members in
prison will group together with their own borough or side of London irrespective
of street conflicts (i.e. as mentioned „Northern Liners‟, or for west and northwest
London „Lifers‟) 26 .
“It‟s like affiliation to the nearest large gang concept to promote borough
or regional influence whilst inside”. 27
Conflict amongst gang members in prison and youth offending institutions
however is said to be more common than building bridges, especially for south
London gang members.
Other factors influencing the spread of gangs are new communities (for
example, refugees and immigrants from countries such as Somalia and the
Democratic Republic of Congo). In 2007-08, nine teenagers from these two
countries were murdered in London 28 . Many researchers have linked the study
of gangs with immigration. However, our analysis (and that of researchers who
have looked into this issue in Manchester and Glasgow) suggests that it is not
ethnicity that defines gang membership. Rather, young men who grow up in the
most deprived areas are those who are most likely to become involved in
serious group offending. In London, these deprived areas have relatively high
proportions of black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, with recent immigrants
being housed in the most deprived areas.
3.3.8 Age structure of gangs
Whilst the large majority of gangs are comprised of young people, there are
members as young as 10 and as old as 40. Offending types differ among the
ranks and the gangs. The diagram below shows the distribution, roles and
typical offences of gang-related offenders by age. It is based on analysis of
police recorded offending and reports from interviewees and other contributors
to this research. It is indicative and does not mean, for example, that older gang
members never get involved in fights. However, such conflicts are
predominantly associated with teenage gang members. Those who have risen
to the ranks of elders may have proved their commitment through such activities
when they were youngers, but would now tend to concentrate on more
profitable activities which have less chance of attracting police attention.
26 Information is reliant on just 8 older gang members from north London and three non-gang
members who attended prisons who were aware of gangs being present within HMP.
27 Quote obtained from England Gang Forum restricted access area (not obtainable publicly as
open source). All gang members spoken to who had served time in prison were supportive of
this concept, although there were different circumstances. For example, whilst many north
London gang members from various boroughs linked up members from south London boroughs
of Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark tended not to mix with out of borough gang members.
28 The list of teenage murder victims in 2007-8 from DR Congo and Somalia includes Henri
Bolombi, Louis Boduka, Shaarmaake Hassan, Kodjo Yenga, Abukar Mahumud, Biendi
Litembola, Nassirudeen Osawe, Fuad Buraleh, Oliver Kingonzila. Of these nine murders, six
were reported by the press to have been gang-related.
24