On this page you will find a variety of useful resources to help you explore and learn about issues around girls and gangs. If you have any resources of your own you would like to see on this website, then please contact us, we would love to feature your work! You can contact us through the Contact Page.
Find more detailed information on the project from the Project Manager including the approach, process and delivery and achievements HERE
Find the documentry & trailer on our Films page
Drama session plan ideas
Session plans available as Powerpoint presentations or in PDF format
Session 1 Power and Struggle (Powerpoint .pptx) / Session 1 (PDF)
Session 2 Who is Jo? (Powerpoint .pptx) / Session 2 (PDF)
Session 3 Thoughts and Comments (Powerpoint .pptx) / Session 3 (PDF)
Session 4 Choices and Consequences (Powerpoint .pptx) / Session 4 (PDF)
Session 5 Journey through life (Powerpoint .pptx) / Session 5 (PDF)
Find performance pieces on our films page
Media session plan ideas
Session 1 Media Workshop – 1 minute film challenge part 1(Powerpoint.pptx) / Session 1 (PDF)
Session 2 Media Workshop – 1 minute film challenge part 2 (Powerpoint.pptx) / Session 2 (PDF)
Gangs awareness session plan ideas
Gangs awareness workshop (Word.docx) / Session 1 (PDF)
Gangs awareness workshop (Word.docx) / Session 2 (PDF)
Gangs awareness workshop (Word.docx) / Session 3 (PDF)
Reading
Girls and Gangs – This report shines a light on the harrowing reality of gang life for girls and young women.
Girl Gangs in South London – headliners.org
Article focusing on Girl Gangs in South London. Written by Belinda Matande, 14 and Marie Abbott, 14 as part of Bexley Summer University 2008.
http://www.csgv.ca/counselor/assets/GirlsGangsandRisks.pdf
Study conducted by Chanequa J. Walker-Barnes, Rafael M. Arrue, & Craig A. Mason
A of San Diego looking at females in an area with high levels of gang activity to find out the reasons why they might be tempted to join a gang.
Blood Sisters – The Guardian
Article from The Guardian where Angela Neustatter talks to former members of girl gangs, to find out what life is like in a gang and to find out why they joined. Also look s at statistics about girl gangs.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6889829.ece
Article from The Times, in which, Adam Fresco, crime correspondent, talks of the dangers of girls joining male gangs, and finds out how they are treated as he learns of some of the things they are forced to do.
Time to Wake Up: Tackling gangs one year after the riots
“Gang culture is symptomatic of even deeper social problems: chaotic families; absent fathers; young people cut adrift and lacking purpose; and a revolving door criminal justice system which does nothing to change lives.”
A Q&A with an expert about why more girls are joining gangs – LA Youth
L.A. Youth talk to expert Dawn L. Brown about why more girls are joining gangs.
The gangs of Peckham – as told by the girls who know them
Article from The Independent, focusing on The Gangs of Peckham as a film is being scripted about them. By Arifa Akbar, Arts Correspondent
Dying to Belong: An In-depth Review of Street Gangs in Britain
In response to rising gang-related deaths, Dying to Belong investigates the true nature and scale of gang culture in Britain.
Gangs find new recruits: girls
Article about gangs recruiting girls, with quotes from a member of a girl gang who wants to get out. By Rusty Dornin
Trish Crawford’s article on Juvenile prostitution in gangs.
Advice for parents on how to stop their daughter getting into a gang
GIRLS, GANGS AND CRIME:
PROFILE OF THE YOUNG FEMALE OFFENDER
Lianne Archer, New Rochelle City School District, New Rochelle, New York Andrew M. Grascia, Westchester County Office of the District Attorney, White Plains, New York
Race on the Agenda (March 2011) The Femail Voice in Violence Project UK, the most prolific and up to date piece of girls in gangs research.
600 girls sexually exploited in UK gangs – Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News reveals the extent to which girls are being sexually exploited or gang raped in street gangs across the UK. Paraic O’Brien reports.
Loveless and lonely — why girls really get into gangs
A violent father pushed Isha Nembhard to find solace in a life of drugs and crime. She tells Jasmine Gardener how she became trapped – and what helped her escape
Being raped by a gang is normal- ‘Its about craving to be accepted’.
Former gang member reveals how women suffer shocking sexual abuse in return for ‘status’
Youth Gangs, Sexual Violence and Sexual Exploitation
A Scoping Exercise for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England by Professor J. J. Pearce & Professor J. M. Pitts of The University of Bedfordshire Institute for Applied Social Research
Seeing Differently : Working with girls affected by gangs – Jessica Southgate
This research was an investigation into how voluntary and community sector organisations (VCSOs)8 perceive girls’ gang‐association9 or involvement,10 how they have responded to meet girls’ needs through their work,11 and the challenges they face in delivering their work. It reflects concerns feminist criminologists have uncovered over many years about the impact gender inequality and related social factors has on the lives of women who offend, and addresses recent areas of study of girls’ gang affiliation and violence.
Ending Gang and Youth Violence Report : One year on
Report on Gang and Youth violence presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department November 2012
How do politics and economics affect gangs and serious youth violence across the UK?
Call to End Violence against Women and Girls
The coalition governments report into violence against women and girls.
Together we can end violence against women and girls : A strategy
This document outlines the coalition government’s strategy to deal with the issue of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls : Actionplan
This action plan provides an overview of the wide range of actions the Government will be taking forward with key partners to deliver its strategy to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
Sexualisation of Young People review – Dr Linda Papadopoulos
This review looks at how sexualised images and messages may be affecting the development of children and young people and influencing cultural norms, and examines the evidence for a link between sexualisation and violence. The decision by the government to commission this review reflects the importance of the issue and the popular perception that young people (and in particular young women and girls) are increasingly being pressured into appearing sexually available. The report looks at examples and the prevalence of sexualisation in culture and proposes mechanisms by which sexualised messages are being internalised and the consequences of these on young people.
Shootings, Gangs and Violent Incidents in Manchester: Developing a crime reduction strategy
This report describes analysis and strategy development for a project aiming to reduce shootings in South Manchester. It attempts to apply problem-oriented policing principles to shootings and other serious violence associated with gangs, principally in South Manchester. Its broad approach follows that of an apparently very effective project in Boston, Massachusetts, which was associated with a rapid and sustained reduction in shootings.
Young people and sexual exploitation: An exploration of young people’s workers’ experiences of providing support in Merseyside
This research aimed to explore young people’s workers’ experience of supporting young people who have been sexually exploited in these broader and more subtle ways.
Report on a National Policy Round Table : Gang, Gun and Knife Crime
Seeking solutions, a report jointly organised by APYCO, the National Youth Agency and Speaking Out (NCVCCO/NCVYS)
Sandwell Safeguarding Children’s Board : Young People Involved In Urban Street Gangs
A draft document from the Sandwell Safeguarding Children’s Board which gives definitions, risks and more regarding Young people involved in gangs
Gangs : Don’t you know it’s different for girls?
Young Women, Their Violence and Sexual Victimisation by Nicola Weller, nia, writing in Respect’s newsletter January 2010
The safeguarding needs of young people in gangs and violent peer groups by Kate Fitch
Books & Plays
Marie and Boo are both teenage tough girls — yard gals, in the slang of the Hackney ghetto they come from — but that only makes their dreams that much harder for them to envision, much less attain. In this two-woman play, which is by turns scalding and hilarious, deeply moving and brutally angry, they talk about their love of music and drugs and the men who bring them as well as about the exhilaration — and terror — of fighting rival gangs.