Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you for the invitation to be here. My presentation today will focus on whether youth gangs are progressing into criminal organizations.
The level of youth gang organization varies from gang to gang. Therefore, the approach to dealing with them should be regional, and, more importantly, age-specific. This comes from my research as a doctorate student with the youth gangs in Saskatoon and here in Edmonton, which were predominantly aboriginal youth gangs, and exposure to Calgary gang scenarios in the last two years.
Youth gangs continue to be a pervasive problem. They add to the violent crime, instill fear, and engage in a range of troublesome behaviours that can be anywhere from gang graffiti to drug dealing.
Gangs have been around for a long time. It is possible that at least some of these gangs are changing and developing into criminal organizations. From the law enforcement perspective, youth gangs are changing in many ways that create problems. Earlier, many gangs were widely described as disorganized groups. However, under optimum conditions, loosely organized groups can naturally evolve to a mature form.
Research on the evolution of organizations suggests that successful organizations grow in size and become more organized, but can this be applied to youth gangs? There is very little gang research from a Canadian perspective, and within that, very little attention has been paid to the mechanism of how gangs evolve over time.
Classic research addressed this briefly and indicated that specific street gangs have integrated into criminal organizations, but this does not appear to be a predominant pattern. One example of such transformation is Fresh Off the Boat and Fresh Off the Boat Killers in Calgary. These groups exemplify the evolution from a relatively less organized group of high school kids involved in dial-a-dope operations to a formal criminal organization. Police and media reports suggest that these groups are viewed as organized crime threats because they are heavily involved in illegal drugs and use violence in pursuing their objectives. Their activities as always have resulted in criminal networks that cross regional and national boundaries. They use modern weapons, communication technology, and sophisticated armoured transportation in their operations.
On the contrary, most aboriginal street youth gangs in Saskatoon and in Edmonton are very loosely knit. A reason for group cohesion among them is commitment to their 'hood and resistance to the outsiders. Leadership is mostly less centralized, less radical, and even situational at times. It is created based on age, and older gang members serve as their role models.
Much of the indication that gangs may be transforming into criminal organizations is subjective. It has been either suggested by media coverage or the reactive approaches of law enforcement agencies. High-profile cases, such as Jackie Tran's here in Calgary, last year's New Year's Day shootings in Calgary, and Alberta's...enforcement of Victims Restitution and Compensation Payment Act reinforced these concerns.
The media coverage of youth gang violence and political reaction contribute to perceptions that gang problems are becoming increasingly serious and more organized. Youth gangs are not committees, teams, or task forces. Young-man members are close to each other to fulfill individual needs, many collective and some contradictory. They do not assemble to achieve or share previously...[Inaudible--Editor]. The group rewards like status, excitement, recreation, and protection are imperative motivations for joining a gang. Gangs offer, along with money, fun and excitement through hanging out together and attending parties, as well as opportunities to fit in with the popular kids. Activities and contacts are highly valued during the teenage and adolescent years.
Further, the scarcity of recreational activities in low-income inner city neighbourhoods leaves youngsters to be friends with gang members.
Violence within the context of gangs is an avenue for achieving status and respect in the social setting, where legal opportunities for achieving the same are very limited. From the young gang member's perspective, gangs provide a unique social service to them. The reactive law enforcement approaches fail to consider that.
From a legal perspective, gangs are all about organized crime. The Criminal Code does not provide a definition of a gang. It only defines a criminal organization.
If we look at the definition of a criminal organization, three or more young people who intentionally get together to do a break and enter, or to do a car theft, or to buy drugs in order to sell to their friends at a party, or to take joints to the party are probably involved with criminal organizations. To remain in business, organized crime groups such as drug alliances must have strong leadership, systems of loyalty, sanctions for failure to follow the rules, and business capabilities. On the contrary, many youth gangs are wobbly, with short-lived leadership, transitory membership, and informal rules for the members.
Focusing on the criminal future of youth gangs suggests that law enforcement directed at particular criminal behaviour will work primarily for gangs that are specialized, but most youth gangs are not. Increased prosecution of youth gang members as a direct or indirect result of harsher punishment may be suitable for only a few.
On the contrary, with a loose definition of “gangs”, where gangs are interpreted as criminal organizations by law enforcement and the public, we will once again end up putting more young people in prison, and for longer durations--