Page 39 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

all-out war on gangs and gang culture” 113 - despite gang activity making up a
small percentage of the riot activity. 114

2.35 Within six months of the riots, the Home Office and the Mayor of London had
announced flagship anti-gang strategies. This resulted in the introduction of
the national Ending Gang and Youth Violence strategy at the end of 2011,
accompanied by statutory guidance for new ‘gang injunctions.’ In addition, the
Mayor launched the Trident Gang Crime Command in February 2012. 115 To
support this, the MPS established the Metropolitan Police Service Gangs
Violence Matrix (the GVM). Other police forces have since established similar
gang databases.

What is a gang?

Street gangs have existed since at least Victorian times and are usually
clustered in districts characterised by high levels of poverty, unemployment
and ill health. 116 However, in modern times, street gangs are largely associated
with Black children and young adults, with media portrayals suggesting a
connection to the growth of Black communities. Critics argue that the
association of Black boys and young men with gangs and the loose definitions
used by law enforcement, has led to a disproportionate number of Black boys
and young men being labelled as gang members.

The Policing and Crime Act 2009 (PCA) and the GVM both have their own
definition of a gang. The PCA defines a gang as a group of at least three people
having “one or more characteristics that enable its members to be identified by

113 T. Newburn, M Taylor & B. Ferguson, ‘What is a gang?’ The Guardian, 6 December 2011; for an
outline of this argument, watch: BBC, ‘England riots: ‘The Whites have become Black’ says David
Starkey’, 12 August 2011.
114 Overall, 13% of those arrested were reported to be gang affiliated, with this dropping to less than
10% outside London (two forces – West Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire reported higher (19% and 17%

respectively), but this is still a low proportion). In London, 19% of those arrested were said to be
affiliated to a gang. Moreover, where gang members were involved in the rioting, most forces believed
that they did not play a pivotal role, see Home Office, An overview of recorded crimes and arrests
resulting from disorder events in August 2011, (2011), p. 18 – 19.
115 Amnesty International, Trapped in the Matrix, (2018), p. 5.
116 University of Liverpool, ‘Youth gangs and street violence in late Victorian Manchester’.

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