NCJ Number
147218
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 26 Dated: (Winter 1982) Pages: 90-92
Date Published
1982
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This paper compares adolescent group behavior in the U.S. and Great Britain by considering various social, economic, and political factors.
Abstract
While delinquent gangs were fairly common in Britain in the 19th and 20th Centuries, this author believes that they are still present in the British landscape, albeit as subcultures that surmount, through a specific style of music or dress, class boundaries. In this way, contemporary gangs are more effective than traditional gangs based on geographical territory. The gangs present in Britain today are subdivisions of a larger lifestyle which accepts a great degree of cross-class mobility; however, membership may be not as permanent and loyalties may change more than described in the classic gang literature. While most groups reject middle- class values and conservative ideas, their members come from all types of socioeconomic backgrounds. It would behoove British authorities to keep abreast of crime prevention strategies implemented in the U.S. in response to the growing gang problem there.