POLICE ASSOCIATION OF NOVA SCOTIA 119 available on the nature and extent of the youth gang phenomenon. Crimes involving youth gangs are difficult to decipher from official crime statistics. For example, Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) only include charges against individuals. This makes it difficult to obtain a complete statistical picture of the nature of youth gang activity in Canada. However, a comparison of 1986 and 1992 statistics from the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), reveals an increase of six percent for both youth and adults charged with violent crimes. This indicates that youth involvement in violent crimes is similar to that of adults. Moreover, UCR data reveals that the proportion of youth charged with homicide has changed only slightly in the last few years. Overall, therefore, the number of youth charged with violent crime has remained fairly stable while public concerns with this behaviour have increased substantially. Some of the research on youth gangs indicates that single-sex peer groups are a normal part of adolescent socialization in western societies. These "friendship" groups provide many benefits to their members, including acceptance, status, identity and social and recreational opportunities. These groups help young people make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. For some young people, this transition is much more difficult. They may lack the support from their families or other institutions they need to grow and develop, and may choose to join gangs or become involved in collective youth violence to satisfy their unmet emotional, psychological or social needs. Immigrant and refugee youth may face a double challenge in this regard. Not only are they confronted with the transition to adulthood, they must also deal with the difficulties of adapting to a new culture. Some of these young people may also choose to join gangs for the benefits, mentioned above, that membership can provide. Figure one: A CONTINUUM OF YOUTH GROUPS/GANGS AND KEY CHARACTERISTICS FRIENDSHIP GROUPS • loosely organized • no leadership structure • spontaneous involvement in violence • little involvement in crime for profit CRIMINAL YOUTH GANGS • highly organized • definite leadership structure • systematic involvement in violence • crime for profit is a major activity 3.1 The Nature of Collective Youth Violence Respondents were asked to describe groups they considered to be involved in youth violence. A variety of groups were identified ranging from "kids hanging out" on street corners or shopping malls, to rowdy high school students throwing beer bottles after school dances, to highly organized criminal youth gangs. There is no consistent definition of the term "youth gang" employed in Canada. Some identify youth gangs with criminal behaviour, while others do not. Some suggest that a distinction should be made between groups of young people and youth gangs. Different agencies and organizations have created their own definitions based on the usefulness of such for their own organizations. Rather than trying to develop a single, all encompassing definition of youth gangs, we suggest a continuum (Figure one) on which distinct types of collective youth violence can be located. Experts suggest that employing a continuum is the best way to think about youth groups and youth gangs. Loosely organized 'friendship’ groups form one end of the continuum. These groups are comprised primarily of young people hanging out on street corners, in front of convenience stores or in shopping malls. These types of groups have little formal organization or leadership structure. They are usually comprised of young people hanging out together to socialize. While they may occasionally be involved in violence, this is not the primary reason these young people getting together. Moving toward the middle of the continuum, we find groups that come together primarily to engage in criminal activities for material gain. They often have little or no continuing organizational structure, and disband once the criminal acts have been carried out. For example, this type of group may get together to commit a series of house breakins. Once the crimes have been committed, the stolen property is divided and the group disbands until its next criminal episode. The lack of organization, continuity and leadership structure suggests that this should be considered a group, not a gang. The far end of the continuum represents the highly organized criminal youth gangs. These gangs have a high degree of organization and an identifiable leadership structure. They may have elaborate initiation rituals, sport similar clothing styles and use specialized graffiti to mark their "turf". They commit crime for material gain. They use violence in support of their criminal activities, and to exert power and influence in a community. In some cases, criminal youth gangs are linked to adult crime gangs. Based on this conceptualization, we recommend using the compound term youth group/gang. The criteria that can be used to locate a particular group/gang on the continuum outlined above include: the level of organization; the existence of a clear leadership structure; the use of distinctive clothing styles, graffiti etc.; the existence of elaborate initiation rituals; the existence of recognized "turf" or gang territory; the continuity continued...
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