Youth in the UK: 99 problems but the gang ain ' t one?

Purpose – At a time when youth gangs and gang policy feature significantly in the discourse on UK youth, it is judicious to critique the framework and evidence upon which these policy developments have originated. The political focus on gangs was heightened, in part, by the English riots in 2011. The reaction to the riots was a “concerted all-out war on gangs” and led to the development of the national Ending Gangs and Youth Violence (EGYV) strategy. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use Manchester as a case study to illustrate what the they argue to be the misplaced focus of the current EGYV strategy and provide a detailed critique of the strategy to date. Findings – The paper suggests that government funded gang interventions are currently bereft of a “what works” approach and should only be implemented when the authors have significantly developed the knowledge and understanding of gangs in a local context. Originality/value – The paper calls for a stronger evidence based policy approach to tackling gangs.

Asian Americans on the Streets: Strategies for Prevention and Intervention

Notably lacking in the literature on Vietnamese and Cambodian youth gangs in the United States and particularly southern California have been solutions that address the underlying causative factors of gang involvement. Relying on life histories collected over a span of fifteen years, the authors propose a multi-faceted prevention and intervention strategy that includes the community and schools to heighten cultural awareness for children and parents. It is also recommended that policies take into account nuanced differences between Asian communities and bring together multiple stakeholders including officials and hard-core gang members to improve communicative problems that have resulted in gang-policy failures.