NCJ Number
228176
Journal
Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2009 Pages: 359-377
Date Published
August 2009
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the burgeoning gun violence in the United Kingdom.
Abstract
Findings suggest that to understand contemporary gun users, it is necessary to consider the world of the violent career criminal and the violent street-based world of violent young men. The article argues that the terms 'gun-culture' and 'gang-culture' are of limited use in understanding gun use and gun users, and that the more profitable line of inquiry is in a cultural analysis of the violent life worlds of gun users, namely the culture of violent career criminals, and the less understood culture of the more volatile street-based culture termed 'on-road'. Data were collected in a number of research projects including interviews with gun users, police officers, examination of documents on the history and socio-economic conditions of high crime areas, and secondary analysis of police data. Research indicates that career criminals use firearms sparingly and instrumentally. Conversely, the more frequent violent gun crime is a product of the culture known as 'on-road', consisting of young men from excluded backgrounds who are committed to illegal activities. In this culture, fatal disputes are often social rather than criminal. Notes and references