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This article examines issues surrounding the relationship between youth gangs and violent behaviour by considering the complex definitional and methodological problems surrounding these matters. By drawing upon a recent survey of school students in Perth, Western Australia, it highlights the importance of and need for developing increasingly sophisticated ways of interpreting youth group formations and group activities. For example, a distinction can be made between gangs and gang-related behaviour. The importance of gang membership and nongang membership in shaping social behaviour also needs to be acknowledged. We argue that most teenagers appear to engage in very similar types of activities, including violence. However, the intensity and dynamics of this behaviour varies greatly depending upon the type of group membership in question.Typologies are presented to show the differences in antisocial behaviour depending upon gang or non-gang membership

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Law and Legal Studies
Research Group:	Other Law and Legal Studies
Research Field:	Law and Legal Studies not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Law, Politics and Community Services
Objective Group:	Justice and the Law
Objective Field:	Justice and the Law not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	White, RD (Professor Rob White)
UTAS Author:	Mason, RL (Mr Ron Mason)
ID Code:	39347
Year Published:	2006
Web of Science® Times Cited:	26
Deposited By:	Sociology and Social Work
Deposited On:	2006-08-01
Last Modified:	2009-07-13
Downloads:	13 View Download Statistics