I read a feature earlier this year in this very magazine that investigated the gang problem in inner-city Birmingham (YPN, 4-10 January 2006, p14). The piece illustrated just how bad a gang situation can get. It got me thinking about whether or not we have a gang problem nationwide.
Where I live in west London we definitely don't. We have some menacing behaviour around here, but this is quite rare. Still, you wouldn't know this was the case if you heard some local residents talk. Many mistake groups of young people for organised gangs.
First off, it is natural for young people to hang around in groups. Round here people call these groups "clicks" (cliques). Although we have some in-fighting, the cliques live in the same area, come from the same family and they went to school or grew up together.
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