Youth Ganging and Gang membership: Characteristics of formation in gang culture and what sustains them on the urban Sri Lanka

Abstract

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.