Meeting with Mrs T 17/3 LATEST action plan

We discussed latest title which should now be - "How is public perception affected by the media's gang label?"

The new action plan is
1. Still wait for Media and society and other secondary books
2. Choose which specific medium/medias to focus on
3. find examples/ case studies to focus on from the medias
4. watch/analyse/read those case studies/texts ready to begin formulating qs for audience

;-)

Books

One of the Guys: Girls, Gangs, and Gender by Jody Miller

Female Gangs in America: Essays on Girls, Gangs and Gender by Meda Chesney-Lind (Editor), John M. Hagedorn (Editor)

Meeting with Ms Thrasher

I met with Ms Thrasher last week:

• I need to define the direction of my research more specifically
• I need to get a copy of Why Kids Kill from 4OD and Ross Kemp on Gangs from sky1
• Identify audience

Some more interesting videos

Ross Kemp on Gangs: talking to south London gang

Loulou is a sexy biiitch

This is the episode of Ross Kemp on gangs in a few parts:

Part 1



Part 2


Part 3
I can't find part 3


Part 4



Part 5

Youtube!

I've been looking at youtube over the past few days to try and find some documentaries, and just to get some general background knowledge around the subject of gangs, youth crime etc. I've found that theres a lot of people out there doing the same thing.

One particular video i found on there was a one of a guy just opening the question of why is the situation like it is? why is there so much crime out there, and why are young people resorting to such extremities?

The video itself was not very interesting, but the comments he recieved might be of use, and this type of primary research method may be usefull to me, as it may allow me to reach people who i may otherwise not be able to.

[Click Here] to view the site.

Meeting with Ms Dym

Thoughts:

• Look into girls involved in crime
• Define question/come up with a research question
• Look for some books
• Look for some media theory online
• Read up on sociology studies/perspectives.

Why Kids Kill

This is a shortened clip taken from the documentary 'Why Kids Kill' from Channel 4's Dispatches.
It focuses predominantly on South London's gangs and the reasons why they get involved in them, and the types of crime they are involved in.



The main reasons mentioned are:

1. Poverty
2. Boredom
3. Territory - they want to have something to call their own

Types of crime mentioned:

1. Knife
2. Gun
3. Robbery

Channel 4 documentaries

Looking On the channel 4 website yesterday, i came across a series of short documentaries related to revenge killings and gang violence. They focus on different gang members or ex-members, and how they feel about the situations they find themselves in. These were made by one of the boys involved, AJ Nakasila and focusses on people directly involved. Although it is hosted by the channel 4 website, it is not reported on by the institution specifically, though it is endorsing and supporting the message AJ is putting accross.

[Click here] to see the documentaries.

my thoughts :-)

Having begun to look for reports and stories on gangs in newpaper archives it's apparant that this topic is very popular in the news. I think it would be particularly worth finding out more about local gangs:

• how many there are,
• who are they,
• what are they called
• specific types of crime they are involved in
• etc

Another problem i have found is that the term 'gang' is used very loosely to describe any group of men or boys who are up to no good. It seems therfore that i need to define what exactly i mean by gangs and also the type of crime I am focussing on. On the right, i have published a list of links, at the moment they are mostly from the Times website, and cover a range of types of crime, and a range of meanings given to the term gang. While one shows a 'terror gang' another article just refers to a 'gang of 3 men' who attacked someone.

Other stuff
I have tried looking on the website for official statistics however this is proving to be difficult as the main focus is on robbery or other crime and is not specifically focussed on gangs. I may try contacting someone, or speaking to a police officer to get some more information.
I also think it would be usefull to watch the documentaries:

• Ross Kemp on gangs
• Why Kids Kill

I have watched these before. They focus on the resons and motivations behind why kids and adults get involved in gangs.