Tara Young

Girls and Gangs: ‘Shemale’ Gangsters in the UK?:

In recent years there have been a number of high profile stories reporting increasing levels of female involvement in group related crime. According to these reports teenage girls are no longer spectators hovering on the periphery of street gangs but are hard core members actively engaging in the kind of extreme violence that is usually the preserve of men. As girl ‘gangsters’, young women are seen to be engaging in a wide range of crimes such as robbery, rape and murder. Using findings from an empirical study on young people’s use of weapons and involvement in street based groups, this article examines female involvement in ‘gangs’ and their violent behaviour. It challenges the dominant stereotype of girl ‘gangsters’ as malicious violent aggressors. The notion of the gang and implications for policy and practice will also be considered.

Crime and silence `Death and life are in the power of the tongue' (Proverbs 18:21)

This article examines the constitutive role that silence performs in relation to crime; an area of study that remains relatively under theorized in criminological traditions more attuned to examining the noise that those party to the criminal act engage in, rather than the silence they also do. This article seeks to rectify this deficit by considering silence as the absent presence of crime. It outlines a methodological approach for excavating silence and applies it through undertaking a substantive analysis of the silence that perpetrators, control agents, bystanders and victims do.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue

This article examines the constitutive role that silence performs in relation to crime; an area of study that remains relatively under theorized in criminological traditions more attuned to examining the noise that those party to the criminal act engage in, rather than the silence they also do. This article seeks to rectify this deficit by considering silence as the absent presence of crime. It outlines a methodological approach for excavating silence and applies it through undertaking a substantive analysis of the silence that perpetrators, control agents, bystanders and victims do.

A Question of Family? Youth and Gangs

The role of the family as a key factor in encouraging gang membership and criminality is hotly debated. Recent political rhetoric in the UK has highlighted the correlation between ‘troubled families’ and the rise in youth crime and gang-related violence. This article is concerned with exploring the role of the family in the formation of gangs, gang-related criminality and desistance. The overall aim of the article is to review the research literature. It posits that the evidence that connects the family to ‘gang’ membership is far from conclusive and argues that the aetiology of gang formation and criminality cannot simply be reduced to poor home environments or ‘broken’ families.

Gang Girls: Agency, Sexual Identity and Victimisation ‘On Road’

This chapter addresses the issue of sexual violence experienced by ‘gang associated’ girls and young women. Research conducted in the UK suggests that gang-related sexual violence is distinctive with its own set of characteristics and motivations. Whilst not disputing that ‘gang members’ sexually abuse girls and young women, it is argued here that the sexual violence experienced by associated females is not reducible to the ‘gang’ and that a more fruitful approach to understanding the violence enacted against them involves an exploration of the gendered dynamic of youthful social interactions more broadly.