Seminar - UK Gang Policy and Policing Practices: ‘Ending gangs’ or perpetuating them?

Event Details

Date:

Thursday, 24 July 2014 - Thursday, 24 July 2014

Time:

12:00 pm - 1:15 pm

Room:

442

UQ Location:

General Purpose North 3 (St Lucia)

URL:

Event category(s):

Full Description:: The ‘English riots’ that occurred in August 2011 led Prime Minister David Cameron to announce “a concerted, all-out war on gangs and gang culture.”

This presentation combines a decade of the author’s gang research and gang related community engagement with official data, to question the current policies and practices employed in the ‘war on gangs’.

A central focus is on the coalition government’s primary response to the 2011 ‘English riots’ - the Ending Gangs and Youth Violence (EGYV) report. The presentation also reflects on the recent emergence in the UK of US inspired, dedicated police gang units, multi-agency partnerships and gang injunctions.

The city of Manchester, aka ‘Gunchester’, ‘Gangchester’ and ‘Britain’s Bronx’ is utilised as a case study to critically engage with current UK gang policies and interventions.

Dr Rob Ralphs has conducted research on UK gangs since 2004. He led a three-year ethnographic study of Youth Gangs in an English City: Social Exclusion, Drugs and Violence (2005-2008). More recently, he has conducted an exploration of the extent and nature of youth gangs and youth violence in secondary schools and an assessment of the extent and nature of drug dealing and violent gangs in a North West Town. He is currently writing a book on international responses to gangs.