Recent concerns in the UK about youth disaffection, anti-social behaviour and gang culture have led to an increase in pre-emptive intervention strategies focused on the policing of groups of young people. This article explores the literature on youth/police relationships and the evidence that suggests that preventive police strategies may have…

Moral panics relating to anti-social youth have accelerated in recent years, and there has been an increasing recognition that preventing problematic behaviour is more effective than sanctions once it occurs. Drawing upon General Strain Theory, this paper explores the social pressures that might stimulate anti-social behaviour and gang culture. It…

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study of mainly young people's verbally articulated perceptions of urban life in Glasgow, Scotland. The focus is upon areas of deprivation where territory and social capital is contested and whose meanings are possibly only partially grasped by our informants. Their personal knowledge of violence and…

Adolescents are routinely demonised by politicians and the media.Ross Deuchar's compelling research into the views of some of the toughest--youths who are growing up in socially deprived urban areas of Glasgow in Scotland--reveals the true facts. They talked to him about their lives, gang culture and territorialiity and he passes on their words…