Tackling Gang Culture

Cameron suggests that tackling gang culture is the number one priority for his gov't. Reports on BBC news last night featured parts of London (Hackney) where people were too afraid to go on camera, but said the gangs ruled their areas. There are apparently around 25 gangs in Hackney alone. Yet according to http://www.londonstreetgangs.com/ , gangs aren't a problem at all:

• The problem of urban violence in multiply deprived neighbourhoods is not essentially a problem of gangs and should not be constructed as if it is. This belief has pushed into the background the multitude of other factors that have a determinate effect on street-violence.
• Gang membership in the UK is no more than 3-7% (Home Office) of youths whilst 90% (Youth Justice Board) of youths regardless of ethnicity have not been involved in crime.
• Gangs do not pose a significant threat to the safety of the wider community (most “gang-crime” occurs between “gang-members”).
• There is no reliable definition as to what a gang is; furthermore not all gang members commit crime. According to a Home Office study of young gang members only 20% of self-defined members reported to having engaged in violence, weapon and drug related offences.There is no accurate way to count and define “gang-related” crime, the true motive behind many so-called gang crimes lies in interpersonal disputes and trivial matters unrelated to the gang as a collective.
• Public fear has been a consequence of media portrayals with stories that reinforce common beliefs about gangs, emphasising violent behaviour associated to gangs and gang members.
• Police officials often act in an arbitrary manner when documenting an individual as a gang member. This has resulted in a number of individuals being unfairly labelled as gang members. Individuals are often documented solely as a consequence of the neighbourhood in which they live, their relationship with a documented gang member, or their style of dress.
• The use of the term “gang-related” is inconsistent; often we classify an incident as gang related simply because the individual involved is a gang member.

Much of this seems to fly in the face of all evidence and people's experience of living in these areas. Yet is the threat of gangs merely a media construction? Should we in Ireland be worried about gangs?

I wouldn't say it a media construction. Ask any of the victims of gang crime and they will say it is very real.

Why would you give any credence to that website? It's no better than the Indymedia crowd.

I think we already have a "gang" problem in Ireland.

I know that the Guards are actively involved in monitoring, harassing and generally disrupting known gang members to make their life as difficult as possible.

There is never going to be an easy solution and I don't go along with the "It's a societal problem" rubbish.

The vast majority of poeple that come from deprived backgrounds or marginalised areas are good, lawabiding poeple despite their disadvantages, so why not all?

The site I quoted, altho it has a community forum, provides and uses evidence-based research. I don't say it's infallible, but it's not rubbish either. Understanding the issue of gang culture is unlikely to come from main-stream media or the "red tops".

We probably don't have the scale of deprevation that parts of the UK have, but we do have a sub-culture. Walk down nearly any main street and you'll find gangs of lads etc. I'm not saying they're violent gangs, but we do seem to have a macho culture of drinking and drugging, that could lead to it.

Violence, murder, looting, property destruction etc. - those UK youths running around were merely taking a few days holiday in their atheist theme-park.

And before I get verbally mobbed and attacked and we get the emotional attacks with spaghetti monsters, sky fairies, root of all evil etc. I want to point out I'm just paraphrasing something I read that seemed thought provoking ! That's all.

The rational question raised I think was what are the means by which a moral compass can be instilled in this and future generations - at all levels (not to forget looting bankers and their many associates) including those who are deprived and dispossessed.

As Dalrymple said:
"the good are afraid of the bad and the bad are afraid of nothing."