Making Research Count
A Critical Analysis of Current Initiatives
Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime, University of Bedfordshire
Throughout the post-war period, British criminologists have resisted the idea that youth gangs existed in England and
Wales. Yet, in the past decade, in the major English cities, it has become evident that groups of armed young people, often drawn from minority ethnic populations, with a shared name and a territorial base, are perpetrating serious, violent, often drug-related, crime.
This presentation, which is based on research undertaken in five London boroughs, examines the conditions for the emergence of these armed youth gangs in the past decade, and argues that, in many ways, these conditions mirror those which led to the transformation of US and Jamaican street gangs in the 1980s and 1990s. The presentation concludes with a critical discussion of current initiatives delivered by those charged with crime control and the welfare of young people.
John Pitts is Vauxhall Professor of Socio-legal Studies at the University of Bedfordshire. His book, Reluctant Gangsters: The Changing Face of Youth Crime , was published by Willan in
2008.
Attendance is free to members of Making Research Count at the Universities of Bedfordshire and
King’s College London. For non-members, the cost is £95 per person.
Places are limited, so you will need to book - by 13 th
September 2011 . Local authority bookings must be made via your Learning and Development Department. For all other bookings, please contact the
MRC Administrator at University of Bedfordshire, Cara Senouni, Institute for Applied Social Research,
Park Square, Luton LU1 3JU, mrc@beds.ac.uk
, (01582) 743085.