Summary

The web content provides an overview of gang dynamics, including the roles and responsibilities of members categorized by age and gender, and emphasizes the importance of understanding gang operations for youth justice work.

Abstract

The article "Ever Wondered How A Gang Works?" delves into the structure and operations of gangs, drawing on insights from sources like the NSPCC and Thurrock.gov.uk. It outlines three main categories of gangs: peer groups, street gangs, and organized criminal gangs, each with distinct characteristics. The piece discusses the specific roles within gangs, ranging from young members, referred to as "Teenies," who may be involved in illicit activities like transporting drugs or weapons, to "Elders" who manage operations. It also touches on the societal implications of gang activity and the ethical considerations of holding young children criminally responsible. The author, a Youth Justice worker, reflects on the necessity of comprehending gang culture as part of their professional training and advocates for awareness in personal affiliations.

Opinions

The author finds the subject of gangs "quite fascinating" as part of their learning and training in youth justice work.
There is a recognition that gang activity can have a profound impact on individuals, with the author expressing that the more one researches, the more "heartbreaking" it becomes to understand the involvement of people in such activities.
The author believes that it is crucial to discuss gangs, as they feel this topic is not addressed enough, despite its relevance to unpredictable aspects of life and the importance of understanding the true intentions of one's associates.
The piece suggests that the roles and responsibilities within gangs are heavily influenced by the age and gender of the members, which the author views as a "completely negative" aspect of gang culture.

Ever Wondered How A Gang Works?

One minute he's at the shop, the next minute he's found stabbed

“One minute I’m going to the shop with my mate, the next minute I hear he’s been stabbed,” one 15-year-old says.

Extract from the article, Life in a gang: ‘You don’t know who’s gonna die next’ from the BBC.

As a Youth Justice worker, this is something that's part of my learning and training for the job. It's something I have to learn, and to be honest, it's quite fascinating.

I'm sure we all know about gangs in some way or other, but what about the inside story. I'm sure you're curious to know, so I’ll try my best to explain.

Firstly, What It Is a Gang?

We've all heard this term being thrown around everywhere, but do we actually know and understand what a gang is?

Individuals might be affect by gang activity, and we can be split this up into categories.

According to the NSPCC, These Categories Can Include:

Peer groups: Quite small and are normally social groupings. They may or may not describe themselves as gangs.
Street gang: Groups of people who see themselves as a group who engages in crime and violence.
Organized criminal gang: A group who is consistently involved in crime. This is largely for personal gain, either financially or in another way. For many in this category, crime is their occupation.

So these are main categories of gangs or at least three different variations of them. I'm quite sure that there are a lot of grey areas in between, but this pretty much sums it up.

Now that we've figured out what a gang is, let's take some time to explore how the dynamics work with different members in it.

Who’s Involved and What Is Their Role?

In a gang, all members have a specific role to play. Some members deal with transportation, whilst others manage other members and handle operations.

Let's explore the responsibilities as per their age group, this is according to Thurrock.gov.uk

Starting With the Teenies

Age range: Under 10 (Under the age of criminal responsibility).
What is their role?: Moving items (this can include drugs, weapons, parcels and more) between older members.

But is it really fair to hold a 10-year-old criminally responsible, here are the pros and cons.

Criminal At 10 Years Old? Is It Fair?

Fair / Unfair, look at both sides of the coin

medium.com

Runners & Shotters

Age range: Under 12–15.
What is their role?: Similar responsibilities to the Teenies, arranges deals and staying in trap houses.

Youngers

Age range: Generally under 18.
What is their role?: Some level of authority over Teenies and Shotters and street dealers. Their responsibilities also include setting up trap houses, recruits teens and runners and reports to elders.

Elders

Age range: Generally over 18.
What is their role?: Mainly in charge of running street operations.

Faces & Olders:

What is their role?: Higher end of the chain, limited contact with the street level operations. Olders are normally not seen or known by street level members.

You can see that different people have their own unique role to play within a gang.

It’s clear that their age and gender has a lot to do with what role they might play and what responsibilities they have.

In my humble opinion, this is completely negative. The more I research, the more heartbreaking it is that people get involved in such activities.

Closing notes

I hope this give at least a brief insight on how gangs can work. I'm still in the learning phase and ill surely uncover much more.

I thought that It's important to talk about this, since I don't really see it talked about as much. Life can be unpredictable, and you never know what can happen around you.

Just be a little aware of whom you affiliate with, make sure you understand their true intentions before establishing a relationship of friendships with them.

Thank you for reading, and I’d love to know your thoughts in the responses.

In the next post, ill go over intervention.

References.

BBC

Life in a gang: ‘You don’t know who’s gonna die next’

NSPCC

Criminal exploitation and gangs

Thurrock.gov.uk

Gangs and gang crime