Entering the Street Field: A Case Study on Gangs

This chapter makes the case for criminological ethnography as a form of negotiated boundary work between separate sociocultural domains. Drawing on the conceptualization of “field” articulated by Pierre Bourdieu, as a semiautonomous site of contest, the chapter conceives of fieldwork as a distinct form of emotional labor; in short, as fieldwork. In making this argument, the chapter presents findings from a four-year ethnographic study of street gangs in Glasgow, Scotland, which involved navigating multiple, overlapping fields. The first section introduces the study, covering the experience of entering the “street field” of Langview. The second and third sections outline two empirical contributions flowing from the study, covering cultural reproduction in the “street” field and bureaucratic misrecognition in the “police” field. The fourth is a reflexive account of the disjuncture between the “street” and “academic” field, and the reflections this prompted. In conclusion, the chapter suggests a number of implications and conclusions for ethnography, gang studies, and public policy.

Classifying Far-Right Groups as Gangs

The uneven response by law enforcement has resulted in the overall under-policing of far-right groups. Policy makers and the broader criminal justice system need consider proactive approaches if the goal is to prevent violence from far-right groups. A straightforward and appropriate approach is to treat far-right groups as street gangs. Existing gang statutes are a proven tool is aggressively used on BIPOC gangs and should be equally applied to far-right groups. Law enforcement’s continued dismissiveness of far-right groups only increases them as being the most "persistent and lethal threat" in the United States for the foreseeable future.

Book Review: Reid, S. and Valasik, M., Alt-Right Gangs: A Hazy Shade of White.

In the book, Alt-Right Gangs: A Hazy Shade of White, authors Shannon E. Reid and Matthew Valasik begin by advocating for alternative rights gangs to be included in research about street gang activity. Reid and Valasik explain the extent of youth activity in the White Power Movement (WPM). For years, white youth participating in white power movement activities have been excluded from research (Reid and Valasik, 2020). This book aims to provide researchers, scholars, and criminal justice practitioners a great insight into the structure of these alt-right gangs to push for their inclusion in future research (Reid and Valasik, 2020). According to our authors, these youth have been excluded from research because no precise definition defines this group (Reid and Valasik, 2020). These youth have been misclassified when being compared to traditional street gangs. Several definitions have been provided that do not adequately describe these youth.

Gang in translation: Official and vernacular representations of a “Roma” drug gang in Czechia

This study focuses on the social construction of gangs in Czechia. Although the country is not usually associated with the activities of street gangs, the adoption of gang representations is evident in this context, including the use of the gang label itself. In order to capture the gang glocalization process, I employ the concept of translation, whereby glocalization is conceptualized as a complex process of the transposition of symbols based on the constant assessment and negotiation of the formed equivalent in the new discursive context. This approach allows us to understand the similarities and differences between how gangs are labelled not only across various cultural contexts, but also within them, with a honed analytical focus on the discursive strategies of the actors being studied. The concept of glocalization as translation is illustrated using the example of the Novák collective operating in a marginalized urban area in Czechia. While official discourse characterized this collective as an international drug gang, this construction was entirely absent in the discourse employed by the residents of the area. This discrepancy explains the gang construct within Czech public discourse as an equivalent of organized and sophisticated crime which automatically excludes certain ethnic groups by definition.

Ganged Up On: How the US immigration system penalises and fails to protect Central American minors who are trafficked for criminal activity by gangs

This article addresses the failures of the United States immigration system to protect Central American minors who were trafficked for exploitation in criminal activities by gangs. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which the US immigration system denies humanitarian protection to Central American minors who were forced to participate in criminal activity by the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street gangs, and instead detains them. The article will examine this trend in the context of a larger proclivity to criminalise immigration in the US, particularly minors fleeing violence in Central America. We draw upon our experience representing Central American minors in their applications for humanitarian immigration relief to highlight how the US immigration system fails to protect this vulnerable population and penalises these children for their own victimisation.