Offender Management Community Scoping of London Gang ...

the term „gang‟ by police or the media made the gang label and lifestyle more
appealing to gang „wannabes‟ leading them to emulate the „gangsta‟ lifestyle
(Young et al, 2007, 160). Claire Alexander (2008) has argued that the use of the
„the gang‟ in intervention strategies may, as has occurred in the US, create the
conditions that have promoted gang cohesion. She argues that to label groups
of young people as 'gangs' runs the risk of attributing coherence to transitional
and fluid groups.
The question of whether the word 'gang' is useful at all in addressing youth
crime has been addressed by several authors (Alexander, 2008; Brand &
Ollerearnshaw, 2008; Hallsworth & Young, 2008; Howell, 2007; Marshall, Webb,
& Tilley, 2005) who have argued that the focus should not be on „the gang‟ but
on problematic behaviour, in other words, the „prolific offending of various types
and seriousness amongst associated networks of individuals‟ (Marshall, Webb,
& Tilley, 2005,7). Hallsworth and Young‟s work has been important in
distinguishing gangs from organised criminal groups and peer groups. As
Marshall, Webb and Tilley have commented: “Certainly not all groups of young
people are violent, gun carrying drug dealers”. The value of Hallsworth and
Young‟s work is the specification of the relationship between the gang, crime
and violence:
„The gang we define as a relatively durable, predominantly street-based
group of young people who see themselves (and are recognised by
others) as a discernible group for whom crime and violence is intrinsic to
identity and practice. The minimal characteristic features of the gang
then are that it has a) a name, b) a propensity to inflict violence and
engage in crime where c) violence and delinquency performs a functional
role in promoting group identity and solidarity‟ (Hallsworth & Young,
2006,68)
The self-identity and violence associated with this definition of gang is
significant since as the recent report by Young et al for the Youth Justice Board
indicates, much youth crime has always been carried out in groups. However,
the authors argue, such groups may not consider themselves to be „gangs‟
(Young et al., 2007). All groups of young people are therefore not necessarily
offenders and all those who offend in groups are not necessarily members of
durable gangs. Young et al coin the term „serious group offending‟. The authors
argue that group related activities amongst adolescents are usefully thought of
in terms of a continuum from those that are purely social to those linked to
serious and premeditated offending. All such group based activities - including
serious offending - have, it is argued, a strong social underpinning:
„The group is likely to exist primarily as a social entity but its members and in
particular, the dynamics between them strongly influence whether the norms
which prevail within the group tend to be pro or anti-social‟ (Young et al, 2007,
162)
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