Gang Membership, Drugs & Crime in the Uk

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GANG MEMBERSHIP, DRUGS AND CRIME IN THE UK Introduction Written by Trevor Bennett & Katy Holloway It was published in April 2004 for the British Journal of Criminology. Report written in response to evidence from national newspapers and government reports that the number of gangs and gang members in the United Kingdom is increasing, and that street gangs are involved in serious and violent offending and sometimes carry guns. There is in fact very little criminological research on gangs in the United Kingdom that can shed light on this development. Vast majority of research on gangs comes from the US. This paper was based largely on findings generated from the NEW-ADAM (New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring) programme on gang membership and its relation to crime and drug misuse. Evidence of gangs increasing in the UK Over the last few years, there have been a number of reports from newspapers, local agencies and national bodies describing problems associated with increasing numbers of gangs in the UK. A report by Manchester City Council estimated that over 1,000 young people in Greater Manchester were ‘gang involved’ (Shropshire and McFarquhar 2002). One national newspaper estimated there were as many as 30,000 gang members in England and Wales (Thompson 2002b). National newspapers have reported the spread of different types of gangs, including ‘Asian gangs’ (Thompson 2002a), ‘Turkish gangs’ (Thompson 2001b), ‘Albanian gangs’ (Hopkins 2002), ‘Black gangs’ (Barker 2003), ‘Drug gangs’ (Carter 2002) and ‘Girl gangs’ (Thompson 2001a). In some respects, the reports of gangs in the United Kingdom sound similar to reports of gangs in the United States. The National Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) reported an increase in gun possession among gangs (NCIS 2002). They noted a high incidence of black on- black firearm crime
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