05 May Life of Gangs
Gang culture has long been blamed for rising crime rates in London, and young adults are often attributed responsibility in forming and operating gangs who are involved with criminal behaviour such as theft, drug-trafficking and fatal injury, writes the Unity
Since the 2011 London riots, gang culture has been under increasing scrutiny in the media due the nature of the events that unfolded and the repercussions for those who live in the capital. However, only 13% of those arrested during the riots were said to be affiliated with a gang at the time, so there are many social and economical factors that must be analysed to see why such behaviour has become prevalent in certain communities, and why this is leading to a culture where gangs are becoming increasingly common.
There are many influences on young people that we will look at, ranging from how music and it’s lyrics can give a young person aspirations that can only be fulfilled by joining a gang, to the lack of investment in local communities that leads to a deprivation in activities to keep young people occupied and away from criminal involvement.
Our project discusses what gangs are, why young people join, the prominence of knife crime on gang culture, serious crime, how young people can leave gangs, the government response to gang crime and the risks of joining a gang.
We spoke to a number of experts and specialists to find out more about these topics.
Team Members:
Rafaela Kuznec – Interviews, Video editing, Website development and curation, Narrative structure, Research
Millie Cooke: Logo, Infographics, Research, Photo editing, Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), Audio editing for Rob and Adam interview
Nooria Hammadi: Photography, Music for home screen
Joe Bartram: Script writing
Mariam Amiri: Edited audio for Professor Hillegonda Rietveld interview
