Offender Management Community Scoping of London Gang ...

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have to consist of former gang members. Associates, affiliates or other people who grew up in “gangland” may wish to express their life experience through a specific type of music, often „UK grime‟ – popularly showcased on Channel U. Often the music crews aligned with the gangs will link up together to make music. Whilst the links between music crews are generally for the purpose of the music, they can lead to links amongst the gangs because of the close relationships the artists may have with the neighbourhood gang. At the higher level of the gangs the olders and elders who are less active on the street conflict often make links for business – to expand dealing turf and to increase their pool of suppliers amongst other things. One gang is even said to be working with permission under the name of a well known organised crime group from Islington established since the 1970s 35 . Former London gangs, including the Shadow Kings and African Crew, both specialising in drugs, were said to have been supplied from organised Turkish criminals in north London (Linnane, 2004). Grahame McLagan (2006) in his book „Gangs and Guns‟, which heavily sources Operation Trident intelligence files, speaks of the links that had been made by Mark Lambie leader of the Tottenham Mandem to gangs in Brixton, Harlesden, Leyton and Shepherds Bush. 3.6. Dynamics of Gang Rivalries Gang rivalries can occur for the same reasons as gang alliances, or following alliances should the group members fall-out. Most gang rivalries appear to be a result of the younger generation, whose activities revolve predominantly around protecting their gang territory. They form their gang identities and reputation through violence and earn their „stars‟ by committing robberies. Gangs are organised around norms that support the use of violence to settle disputes, achieve group goals and defend identity. Furthermore, “when a gang member‟s identity is challenged, violence is often a result, especially if the challenger is a stranger. If a gang member does not comply with gang role expectations when they are challenged, the result may be a loss of respect” (Stretesky & Pogrebin, 2007, 89). The rivalries between the younger generations therefore are often the result of very minor disputes and signs of disrespect, disputes involving individual members of gangs and robberies. Sometimes these routine conflicts may escalate and serious incidents, such as a stabbing or a murder. When such an event occurs, the rivalry becomes more permanent. The olders are less involved in the street conflict and their criminal activities are focused to more profitable robberies, such as cash in transit, and dealing or supply of drugs. More importance is given to making money and avoiding police attention by the olders and conflict is less common, although serious incidents can occur as a result of reprisals for past incidents. Violence by serious group offenders can be placed in three categories, the first two of which will tend to cause rivalries that lead to reprisal: ‣ Intra-gang violence. Conflict is internal to the group. 35 Source: an Islington “entrepreneur” 30
‣ Inter-gang violence. Conflict is between groups. ‣ Extra-group violence. Conflict between gang members and individuals with no gang affiliations. Reputation, feuds and retaliation are often involved in all three types of violence. 3.6.1 Reputational Violence “The purpose of all gang members is to develop a reputation. You must build the reputation of your name, you must build your name in association with your gang – so when your name is spoken your gang is also spoken of in the same breadth, for it is synonymous” (Shakur, 1993, 379). Older gang members already have their reputation and therefore it is the youngers who need to develop one. In the US context it has been found that “much violence is not sanctioned by the olders, but rather arises because particular cliques or youngers interested in moving up the hierarchy may have a strong incentive to build a reputation for toughness and thus may engage in violence even if such actions run counter to the best interests of the gang” (Levitt & Venkatesh, 2000, 781). Although violence may occur for a number of reasons, a common cause for conflict is perceived disrespect – talking to someone‟s girlfriend, spilling a drink, „screwfacing‟ (a disparaging way of looking someone in the eye), lyrics of a song that „diss‟ someone or owing money to someone and not paying up on time. With regard to intra-gang violence much of this is a result of „snaking‟ (dishonest business, i.e. setting someone up for a drugs robbery), „snitching‟, fights over females and the fight for top spot when older members are imprisoned. Inter-gang violence is often triggered by disagreements between individual gang members, leading the entire group to back each of them up in the “war”. Part of building a reputation can include robbing rival gang members of their coloured bandana - an act that can lead to reprisal fights between gangs and gang members. Many beefs however are the result of “leisure activities for fun” such as „rushing‟ rival areas and deliberately „rollin‟ through‟ rival areas in large numbers, which would also be considered as disrespect. Extra-group violence occurs when non-gang members are either robbed or again show perceived signs of disrespect to a gang member. Extra-group violence also puts young people at risk if they are perceived to be part of a rival gang because of where they live. 3.6.2 Long-standing feuds and retaliatory violence When gangs do clash there is always the possibility that someone is carrying a weapon. When someone is shot, stabbed or killed, the rivalry between groups 31
Page 1 and 2: Offender Management Community Scopi
Page 3 and 4: Authors Dr Alex Stevens Dr Polly Ra
Page 5 and 6: 4.2.4 Practice issues .............
Page 7 and 8: 2. Literature review on gangs in Br
Page 9 and 10: the term „gang‟ by police or th
Page 11 and 12: that they will mature out of, does
Page 13 and 14: 3. Dynamics and Drivers of Serious
Page 15 and 16: anymore. We are prepared to defend
Page 17 and 18: The scores used to calculate depriv
Page 19 and 20: ecome involved with those who have
Page 21 and 22: Aside from intra-gang conflict the
Page 23 and 24: 3.3.6. Conflict amongst the age ran
Page 25 and 26: Figure 3.2: Typical age structure o
Page 27 and 28: murders in the future. There is no
Page 29: When a gang or a number of gang you
Page 33 and 34: Organised K-Town Black Lambeth Crim
Page 35 and 36: The most significant differences in
Page 37 and 38: The exception was HMP Belmarsh whic
Page 39 and 40: associated with certain Further Edu
Page 41 and 42: of placing rival group members toge
Page 43 and 44: 5. Offender Management Models 5.1 H
Page 45 and 46: Figure 5.2: The multi-agency model
Page 47 and 48: The potential disadvantages are:
Page 49 and 50: 7. References Aldridge, J., & Medin

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