Post by steg on Jun 11, 2008 17:43:36 GMT -1
Original artical by Ross Deuchar
www.theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.2329617.0.Its_a_jungle_out_there_for_the_teenage_territorials.php
Last week the national newspapers were full of news of an "intelligence-led crackdown" on social networking internet sites such as Bebo after nearly 200 children had been found to be glorifying gang violence online.
Recent media reports have estimated that Scotland has at least 300 organised street gangs and that 51% of Glasgow teenagers consider themselves to be gang members.
In my own research into territorialism in Glasgow, I have been seeking to find out why so many of our youngsters choose to become members of the gangs from a young age, and to understand the impact of gang membership.
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My research has taken me to the most deprived social areas of the city to talk to young people themselves as well as the youth leaders and community police officers who are trying to get them off the streets into more meaningful leisure activities.
With some youngsters, the gang seems to give them a sense of identity and belonging. Many kids have talked to me about the "buzz" that they get from gang fighting; in some cases, where youngsters have experienced educational failure at school followed by unemployment, the only thing they feel they have left is to go out on a Friday night and defend their housing scheme.
And, increasingly, the internet does play a part. Some young people have talked to me about using MSN to contact gang members from other housing schemes and challenge them to fight on a Saturday night. One boy also revealed that "when a fight is going to happen, everybody takes out their mobile phones to record it".
Often these films later appear on sites such as YouTube.
Others have talked about "happy slapping", where youngsters hit people or beat them up, film it and post it online.
Some kids have talked about designing "Bebo skins" (customised website colour schemes and layouts) associated with particular gangs, which are then used to attract new gang members.
However, sites such as Bebo are also used in a positive way by community regeneration agencies as a means of encouraging youngsters to participate in upcoming diversionary activities that are organised in their local area. Gangs are seen by many youngsters as a vehicle for camaraderie and for the expression of aggression and power, particularly among boys. Indeed, in some areas, gang membership is almost a compulsory means of making friends and gaining confidence. As one boy told me: "Obviously if one of your pals is part of a gang, you'll end up with them." And one youth leader explained: "If you compare it to life in the jungle, it's all about who's going to be the big gorilla . . . who's going to be the top man."
The most predominant feeling among the kids I have talked to is a sense of confinement. Many live in fear of going into a different housing scheme in case they get attacked. One boy explained: "If somebody walks into your bit and you know they're from the other side . . . they'll start throwin' bricks and givin' us abuse."
In many cases, gangs like the Crossy Posse and the Govan Tongs have been established because of long-term feuds that go back across generations. Thus, invisible boundaries come into play and youngsters become trapped in housing schemes with poor living accommodation and few economic opportunities to widen their horizons.
As the young people's lives become smaller and more confined because of territorialism, so their sense of trust diminishes. Many kids admit that they would only trust people from their own schemes, and in some cases narrow this down to particular streets.
Such is the concern about gang culture that Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill recently pledged £200,000 to be used by Scottish police to help fund programmes aimed at changing attitudes and behaviour. These new diversionary activities are predominantly aimed at the 20%-25% of teenage boys currently on the fringes of gang membership, and who are in danger of falling into the black hole of unemployment and crime.
One example is the Glasgow Southwest Regeneration Agency's Kicks and Tricks project, where youth workers operate in partnership with Strathclyde Police and Rangers Football Club to identify hotspot gang-crime areas in the greater Govan district and set up portable street football arenas for kids to play on.
The programme is complemented by the Cre8 Interactive Multimedia Vehicle, which offers youngsters state-of-the-art IT facilities and enables them to become trained in film production skills and engage in music production.
Since its inception, the project has resulted in a 70% reduction in low-level crime and antisocial behaviour during its deployment times.
Other examples include Scottish Sports Futures, a community reaching organisation which offers engaging and creative ways to learn about physical wellbeing to youngsters who are at risk of falling into addictions or criminal activity. Most notably, the organisation's twilight basketball sessions running in Easterhouse, Bellahouston, Tollcross, Springburn and Drumchapel are enabling "at-risk" kids to find alternative goals.
The choice of basketball as a non-tribal sporting activity which raises minimal opportunities for conflict and aggression is combined with the mentoring approach used by the coaches, and opportunities for young participants to gain coaching certificates.
Among the recent reports that highlight Glasgow's epidemic levels of gang-related crime and online antisocial behaviour, it is heartening to learn about the burgeoning number of diversionary projects that have been created.
Let us hope that more of our teenagers continue to benefit from them, and to experience an alternative type of buzz that emerges when rival neighbourhoods come together in a safe and healthy environment and with a common purpose rather than the recreational violence that gangland provides.
Ross Deuchar is a senior lecturer in Strathclyde University's Faculty of Education.
www.theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.2329617.0.Its_a_jungle_out_there_for_the_teenage_territorials.php
Last week the national newspapers were full of news of an "intelligence-led crackdown" on social networking internet sites such as Bebo after nearly 200 children had been found to be glorifying gang violence online.
Recent media reports have estimated that Scotland has at least 300 organised street gangs and that 51% of Glasgow teenagers consider themselves to be gang members.
In my own research into territorialism in Glasgow, I have been seeking to find out why so many of our youngsters choose to become members of the gangs from a young age, and to understand the impact of gang membership.
advertisement
My research has taken me to the most deprived social areas of the city to talk to young people themselves as well as the youth leaders and community police officers who are trying to get them off the streets into more meaningful leisure activities.
With some youngsters, the gang seems to give them a sense of identity and belonging. Many kids have talked to me about the "buzz" that they get from gang fighting; in some cases, where youngsters have experienced educational failure at school followed by unemployment, the only thing they feel they have left is to go out on a Friday night and defend their housing scheme.
And, increasingly, the internet does play a part. Some young people have talked to me about using MSN to contact gang members from other housing schemes and challenge them to fight on a Saturday night. One boy also revealed that "when a fight is going to happen, everybody takes out their mobile phones to record it".
Often these films later appear on sites such as YouTube.
Others have talked about "happy slapping", where youngsters hit people or beat them up, film it and post it online.
Some kids have talked about designing "Bebo skins" (customised website colour schemes and layouts) associated with particular gangs, which are then used to attract new gang members.
However, sites such as Bebo are also used in a positive way by community regeneration agencies as a means of encouraging youngsters to participate in upcoming diversionary activities that are organised in their local area. Gangs are seen by many youngsters as a vehicle for camaraderie and for the expression of aggression and power, particularly among boys. Indeed, in some areas, gang membership is almost a compulsory means of making friends and gaining confidence. As one boy told me: "Obviously if one of your pals is part of a gang, you'll end up with them." And one youth leader explained: "If you compare it to life in the jungle, it's all about who's going to be the big gorilla . . . who's going to be the top man."
The most predominant feeling among the kids I have talked to is a sense of confinement. Many live in fear of going into a different housing scheme in case they get attacked. One boy explained: "If somebody walks into your bit and you know they're from the other side . . . they'll start throwin' bricks and givin' us abuse."
In many cases, gangs like the Crossy Posse and the Govan Tongs have been established because of long-term feuds that go back across generations. Thus, invisible boundaries come into play and youngsters become trapped in housing schemes with poor living accommodation and few economic opportunities to widen their horizons.
As the young people's lives become smaller and more confined because of territorialism, so their sense of trust diminishes. Many kids admit that they would only trust people from their own schemes, and in some cases narrow this down to particular streets.
Such is the concern about gang culture that Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill recently pledged £200,000 to be used by Scottish police to help fund programmes aimed at changing attitudes and behaviour. These new diversionary activities are predominantly aimed at the 20%-25% of teenage boys currently on the fringes of gang membership, and who are in danger of falling into the black hole of unemployment and crime.
One example is the Glasgow Southwest Regeneration Agency's Kicks and Tricks project, where youth workers operate in partnership with Strathclyde Police and Rangers Football Club to identify hotspot gang-crime areas in the greater Govan district and set up portable street football arenas for kids to play on.
The programme is complemented by the Cre8 Interactive Multimedia Vehicle, which offers youngsters state-of-the-art IT facilities and enables them to become trained in film production skills and engage in music production.
Since its inception, the project has resulted in a 70% reduction in low-level crime and antisocial behaviour during its deployment times.
Other examples include Scottish Sports Futures, a community reaching organisation which offers engaging and creative ways to learn about physical wellbeing to youngsters who are at risk of falling into addictions or criminal activity. Most notably, the organisation's twilight basketball sessions running in Easterhouse, Bellahouston, Tollcross, Springburn and Drumchapel are enabling "at-risk" kids to find alternative goals.
The choice of basketball as a non-tribal sporting activity which raises minimal opportunities for conflict and aggression is combined with the mentoring approach used by the coaches, and opportunities for young participants to gain coaching certificates.
Among the recent reports that highlight Glasgow's epidemic levels of gang-related crime and online antisocial behaviour, it is heartening to learn about the burgeoning number of diversionary projects that have been created.
Let us hope that more of our teenagers continue to benefit from them, and to experience an alternative type of buzz that emerges when rival neighbourhoods come together in a safe and healthy environment and with a common purpose rather than the recreational violence that gangland provides.
Ross Deuchar is a senior lecturer in Strathclyde University's Faculty of Education.