Should we be concerned about the growth of gangs? Discuss in relation to recent developments in the UK.

Should we be concerned about the growth of gangs

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05 February 2009 Introduction

There is growing evidence from government reports , national newss and local agencies that there is a rising number of gangs and gang membership in the United Kingdom . The evidence available is to say the least perturbing . In relation to this , a report released by Manchester City Council in 2002 showed that more than 1 ,000 young people living in the Greater Manchester were

involved in gang activities (Bennett and Holloway 2004 . In the same year , a national news reported that there were over 30 ,000 people associated with gang groups by membership or affiliation in Wales and England (Bennett and Holloway 2004 Further , many newss have been reporting the spread of several groups of gangs with a plethora of names to identify them such as Asian gangs ' Albanian gangs ' Turkish gangs ' Girl gangs Drug gangs ' and Black gangs (Shropshire McFarquhar 2002 Bennett and Holloway 2004

A major point of concern about the growing number of gangs and gang members in the United Kingdom is that the age of gang members is steadily declining . According to Shropshire and McFarquhar (2002 , the age at which young people join gang groups is steadily declining and most of the gang members are youths in their teens . Additionally the gang groups are becoming more lethal given the objects they posses and use to perpetuate crime (Shropshire McFarquhar 2002...