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Youth gangsters have grown to become a common sight and a festering issue in the Western province of Sri
Lanka, especially in the Colombo district. This issues is excessively prevalent among the poverty stricken and
ill-educated communities in the city. Thus, the behavioral patterns of gangs and related matters have been
subjected for researches conducted by varied researchers throughout the world. It has been identified that
there are distinctive variables associated with the lives of gangsters, out of which their family background,
socio-economic settings, social stratification factors, addictions and social adaptation etc. have become key
factors. In an in-depth inquest of those studies, it clearly reveal that a sub culture is emerged in forming
gangs in line with socio-economic, cultural and religious backgrounds prevailing in different countries.
Merely to understand or combat this apparently incontrollable, growing and unbearable phenomenon,
authorities and academics must ask: What are the root causes? Who invites them to the streets? What sustains
them on the streets?
In addressing the above, this paper has been developed to understand the factors that attract youth onto the
streets and the factors that play a pivotal part in sustaining them on the streets, giving specific emphasis to
youth gangs operating in Colombo and suburbs. In supplementing, the research focused on areas to ascertain
the negative impact youth gangs have on the lives of general public in the specified area.
The Research focused on 493 identified youth gang members belonging to 75 gangs within 14 GN divisions in
Colombo city, within the age group of 18 – 32 years. All the said gangs and the gang members were identified
within the study area through a snowball technique using available contacts and via the data gathered using
formal research methods.
