Don't demonise gangsters – they're human too

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/13/dont-demonise-gangsters-theyre-human-too

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The fallout from the Mark Duggan inquest once again raised the issue of gangs. Many people ask: why would anyone want to get involved in an activity that may lead to prison, or the graveyard? Surprisingly, that's a question gang members often ask themselves.

Over the years I've spent a lot of time in young offender institutions and prisons facilitating a programme that helps offenders improve their writing and focuses on their long-term futures. Typical things I've been told include, "I carry a knife because everyone else carries a knife," or "That's how it is on the streets." These attitudes are easy to condemn – until you remember how difficult it is for anyone to opt out of the social environment in which they live. Not many of us are brave enough to face being sneered at or cold-shouldered by our peers for standing out against the crowd. For boys trying to become men in poor areas, that challenge is even harder.

And when it comes to finding responses on this issue, demonising individuals and communities isn't the answer. I wasn't happy to be pulled over for a stop and search while going to participate in a programme for the BBC. Nor was I completely convinced when it was explained that I might be a gang-banger's girlfriend, carrying his weapons. I'm in my 40s. A suit-wearing, middle-management relative of mine, who's never been in trouble with the law, was even less impressed when he reported a crime recently and ended up being arrested for it. And remember, we both come from that notorious "hard-working families" demographic.

Meanwhile, it seems some sections of the media are just as much into postcode wars as any gang. Mark Duggan came from Tottenham? That's all they need to know. They scoffed at the notion he might have been a much-loved family man. Dehumanising people, while at the same time asking them to show common humanity, isn't going to work.

We need to think carefully about how we relate to young people from these backgrounds. I've seen plenty of evidence that Malcolm Muggeridge was right when he said that prisons have produced more great art than any Arts Council or Ministry of Culture. One young man I met, who began by saying he "didn't write", ended up winning awards for his poetry. He may have been unusual, but I've seen many others discover skills and talents they didn't know they had.

But why did they have to go to prison to find these gifts? And why doesn't a rich society like ours seem to have any use for them? When one youngster couldn't read out the work he'd written about his life because he was in tears and had to ask another to read it for him, you realise that making assumptions and bandying around cliches about "evil" is a waste of time. "Evil" has a context like everything else.

No one likes crime, especially its victims; it messes everything up. No one likes hearing what they think are excuses being made for it either. But the truth is that all crime has a backdrop. And in the case of gangs, part of that backdrop is poor communities that have been on a downward curve for decades and are now being expected to pick up the tab for the mistakes of the rich. It's perfectly legitimate to demand that individuals from estates take responsibility for what they do. But there are others in our society who should also accept some responsibility. And they're far more powerful than any "gangsta".

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