How to manage gang culture in schools

- Another week, another senseless young death - what is going on?

Can anyone really answer that? For instance, despite evidence that a number of cases have involved a young man attacking someone seemingly at random, the majority of commentators are focusing their attentions on group and especially gang violence.

- When does a group become a gang?

That's one of the issues addressed in last year's Youth Justice Board report on the nature and prevalence of young people's involvement in group offending, which, among other things, queried how well the findings of US research on gangs and gang culture translate to a British context. New Department for Children, Schools and Families guidance for schools on how to deal with gangs and group offending notes that being part of a group is a normal and positive experience for young people. Groups that are involved in illegal activities and/or violence might be described as gangs - but usually by us, not the young people themselves.