Lifting the lid on girls in gangs

Intimidation, threats, couriering drugs or weapons, and kidnapped or subjected to gang rape. These are just a few of the awful scenarios that can befall girls and young women with links to gangs. For many though, the offences against them can go unnoticed by authorities, with the young women sometimes viewed as criminal accomplices rather than victims.

Understanding of the true situation is growing though. A report published by the Centre for Mental Health last month highlights the fact that young girls with links to gangs are more vulnerable than any other group in the youth justice system. The study found that they are more likely to display a range of risk factors and health issues including poor mental health, family conflict, homelessness and victimisation.

Andy Bell, deputy chief executive at the centre, says the report highlights the need to be aware of the early signs of potential risk factors. Professionals must be alive to the issue and be able to signpost girls and their families to help in order to stem the flow of young women progressing into gang involvement, he adds.

“There is a big need for all public services to have contact with girls and families, and to be on watch for behavioural problems and be able to offer appropriate interventions at the right time, particularly to parents, right from pregnancy.

“We need to ensure that all the various services that have contact with children and families are coming together and are aware of what the referral pathways are, and are providing the interventions that work.”

Once girls get into gangs it can be a much tougher job to get them out.

John Pitts, a gangs expert and professor of socio-legal studies at the University of Bedfordshire, points to a hierarchy of different “types” of female affiliation with gangs, with different motivations for each that professionals must consider. He says girlfriends of high-status gang members – sometimes called “wifeys” – do the best out of gang affiliation, while they retai