WHO, WHAT, WHY?
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Labelling groups of youths as gangs risks pushing them towards a life of crime, a report warns. So what constitutes a gang?
A group... but not a gang
A dozen teenagers loiter under a street lamp, their hoodies pulled low over their brows - many might consider them a nuisance, but a new study warns us not to label them as a gang.
A Youth Justice Board report suggests that the term puts loose ragtags of youths who may be involved in petty crime on the same footing as hardened racketeers.
The police consider a gang to be a group of professional criminals involved in extortion, drug dealing, robbery and dealing stolen or counterfeit goods. A report by the Metropolitan Police in February identified 169 separate gangs in London, a quarter of whom had been involved in murders.
Professor Gus John, who has studied gangs in Manchester and London, says gangs generally have about 20 members who abide by a code of loyalty and behaviour. New members will often carry out acts of violence against their own families to demonstrate their commitment to the gang.
A gang is involved in organised criminal activity
It has a formal hierarchy
And its own codes of honour and behaviour
"Gangs don't hang around street corners where you can see them - they're much more sophisticated that that. When you pin that label on groups of young people, you're giving them a profile that they then have to live up to."
Word on the street
Youth worker Shaun Bailey says as a teenager in London's North Kensington he belonged to "clicks" - informal groups of youngsters hanging around together, who may live in the same area or share an interest in football or music.
"As far as the street is concerned, a gang is made up of gangsters - organised criminals," says Mr Bailey, who is now the prospective Conservative candidate for Hammersmith. He worries that labelling every bunch of hoodies a gang is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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"But boisterous behaviour does not equal criminal activity. By contrast, gangs have a higher level of organisation. They have ranks, they have hierarchies, they have initiation ceremonies."
The report says young people themselves resent the way in which any group behaving anti-socially is labelled a gang.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis says the label matters not. "The public are not bothered about what people who commit crime and anti-social behaviour are called." But Professor John is certain that a line must be drawn to counter the appeal of gang culture.