EU Street Violence. Youth Groups and Violence in Public Spaces
2) engage in criminal activity and violence; 3) lay claim over territory (this is not necessary geographical territory but can include an illegal economy territory); 4) have some form of identifying structural feature; and 5) are in conflict with other, similar gangs. Not, then, quite the Eurogang definition, and not one that is necessarily used by local partnerships: “definitions are still varied nationally” [Alaesha Cox, Youth Gangs in the UK: Myth or Reality?, 2011]. This means that when we talk of “gangs”, we are not necessarily talking about exactly the same phenomenon in different areas. Nevertheless, let us consider some statistics. Cox points out youth gang populations identified through different means: 72 in the UK (1998); 169 in London (2006); involving 3-7% of the youth population (2008). From 2008 to 2011 the Metropolitan Police Service recorded over 60 harmful gangs that were involved either as suspects or victims of crime in London, West Midlands police documented 42 urban street gangs across their force area involving more than 400 individuals and Nottinghamshire police reported they had 15 gangs involving up to 400 individuals [HM Government, Ending Gang and Youth Violence, 2011]. In 2008 Glasgow’s Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) identified the existence of around 55 known and established street gangs across the east end of the city with around 600-700 members [Violence Reduction Unit, The Violence Must Stop: Glasgow’s Community Initiative To Reduce Violence – Second Year Report, 2011]. This does not mean that gang populations are increasing or that violence arising from this is getting worse. Gang- or group-occasioned violence - is not re170
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