Girls in gangs: how they are recruited, exploited and trapped
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Girls in gangs: how they are recruited, exploited and trapped
Tirion Havard, London South Bank University
There has long been a misconception that gangs are made up of boys and young men, typically from ethnic minority groups and disadvantaged backgrounds. But the reality is very different.
Girls and young women from all demographics are targeted by gang members, and used to transport drugs and weapons from urban areas to rural locations and coastal towns.
Research in London’s Waltham Forest in 2018 found that “clean skins” – children, especially young women and girls, not previously known to police and statutory agencies and often from wealthier backgrounds – are being targeted by gangs.
When young women and girls are recognised as part of gangs, they tend to be viewed as willing participants, and judged according to sexist social norms and stereotypes. Their behaviours are interpreted as one of two extremes: they are either very violent, or immoral and ...
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