International Journal on Criminology Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2014 | Page 78

International Journal on Criminology
intensity of attraction exerted by fascination
with the “success” of a leader or of the
“hardcore” members.
This organization also rests upon
the degree to which the gang member is
implicated, and the time he spends with the
group, which will allow him to get progressively
closer to the center and to indicate
his place in relation to power.
Finally, the organization rests upon
the permanence and the “sacred” character
of the social bond that unites the homie
with each other and binds the group together.
When dissent appears, it is generally
because of some rupture—whether real
or imagined—of this bond: it shows that
the leaders are replaceable, proof of the durability,
even if short-lived, of the organization.
It also reinforces the bond through violence
and the quest for radicalization that
generally brings about the replacement of a
weaker leader by a “stronger” murderer.
The adhesion to this form of criminal
entity and its durability are thus explained
by the desire to become like the
leaders who have “succeeded,” or even to
take their place: there is nothing new here.
They become the models of where the
gangbanger wants to get to so as to finally
hold what he believes to be the keys to life:
money and power. Money and “power:”
the logic of the gang is primal, simplistic,
but effective. It is doubtless for this reason
that it succeeds in reproducing itself, even
though it is often difficult to profit from the
money, and “power” only exists through
the group, without which individuals are
nothing.
“Gangbanging” also creates a particular
relationship with prison. Prison becomes
a “criminal university,” an obligatory
rite of passage for every ‘banger who wishes
to progress, generating another criminal
genre that deserves to be treated separately.
Realism against Gangs
We, observers of criminality at the
Department for Research into
Contemporary Criminal Threats
at the Université Panthéon-Assas, have witnessed
the birth and the growth of these
“street” criminal phenomena in France, and
have alerted the authorities and the public
since the debate began during the 1990s.
Up until now, we have identified territorial
gangs, comparable to those observed in the
United States, and examined the way they
function and their actions.
There are today many hundreds of
gangs in France (somewhere between three
and five hundred), but in the absence of
any coherent definition, we do not know
precisely how to evaluate the exact number.
There are thirty-three thousand in the
United States, and almost 1.5 million gang
members; they are responsible for most of
the homicides in the country. What part do
French gangs play in criminality and homicides?
So far, we do not know.
Not so long ago, we read that it was
a matter of groups “consisting of fifteen to
twenty youths;” today we are talking about
groups that number many hundreds of
members, and girl gangs that are also taking
the path of extreme violence.
We had to wait until 2004 before the
term “gang” was publicly accepted, until
June 2009 for the question to be broached
in the French Parliament, and until September
2009 for the matter to be seriously and
concretely addressed by the minister of the
interior. But although what is being done
goes in the right direction, it is far from being
enough, and the standard texts have a
poor comprehension of the matter.
In order for the struggle against
gangs to be effective, it is necessary to consider
the gang as a specific criminal phenomenon.
Accordingly, we must create
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