Black Young People and Gang Involvement in London

Abstract

Drawing upon research undertaken by the present author in East, North West and South London and the work of other UK social scientists, this article considers the evidence concerning the involvement of young people of African-Caribbean origin and Mixed Heritage in street gangs and gang crime in London (For the sake of brevity, I will simply refer to these young people as Black, not least because this is how they usually define themselves). It outlines the sometimes acrimonious debate about the relationship between race, crime and street gangs in the United Kingdom in the past three decades, concluding that while many of the claims made about this relationship may be exaggerated or simply untrue, the evidence for the over-representation of Black young people in street gangs in London is compelling. The article then turns to the changing social and economic predicament of some Black young people in the capital since the 1980s and its relationship with their involvement in gang crime. Finally, it considers the role of drugs business in the proliferation of the gang form and ‘gangsta’ culture and the involvement of growing numbers of younger Black people in County Lines drug dealing.

Black and mixed-heritage boys: desistance through a co-creative Critical Race and postcolonial lens

“…For some Black and mixed-heritage boys, along with White boys, their everyday experience and interactions with other children and adults are, at times, precarious and dangerous (Pitts, 2020). Many Black boys describe their local communities as like a "war zone" (HMIP, 2021a).…”

Is faith and “on road” youth work intertwined? Examining the experiences of “on road” practitioners

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Evaluasi Dampak Program Inkubasi Bisnis Terhadap Pemberdayaan Perempuan

“…Pemberdayaan sangat memungkinkan perempuan untuk mengendalikan hidup mereka sendiri, mengatur untuk membantu satu sama lain. Tindakan kolektif berperan penting , karena merupakan sarana yang pasti untuk pemberdayaan individu (Pitts, 2020). Pemberdayaan juga melibatkan proses yang bersifat individual dan kolektif yang adakalanya melibatkan kelompok individu yang mengawali dengan mengembangkan kesadaran dan kemampuan mereka berorganisasi untuk mengambil tindakan dan membawa perubahan (Rahman, 2013) Keberhasilan pemberdayaan tidak terlepas dari bagaimana program yang dijalankan mempunyai dampak ekonomi secara langsung dengan bertambahnya pendapatan dan kontribusi dalam memenuhi kebutuhan keluarga dan juga kebutuhan pribadi tanpa tergantung sepenuhnya pada suami.…”

“…Peran dampak ekonomi sejalan dengan Dandikar (1986) yang menggambarkan pemberdayaan sebagai proses multifaset, yang melibatkan empat aspek paralel termasuk basis ekonomi. Ekonomi kemandirian adalah landasan yang dapat mempercepat perjalanan menuju tujuan pemberdayaan karena ketergantungan pada penyedia ekonomi eksternal dapat memiliki efek pada harga diri yang pada gilirannya, dapat memengaruhi "power within" (Pitts, 2020).…”