This document discusses gang activity and youth violence in Melbourne, Australia. It touches on several factors that can contribute to tensions like increasing cultural diversity, rising costs of living, and difficulties finding employment for new migrants. These stresses can weaken social ties and lead to hostility. The document also describes the history of organized crime in Melbourne tracing back to dock worker unions. Finally, it examines different types of gangs and some of the social and identity factors that can influence youth participation in gangs and street violence.

1. GANGLANDS
Written by Maureen McCarthy

2. Cultural tensions in
Melbourne
 The resident population from different cultural and linguistic
backgrounds is increasing.
 The cost of housing and living are increasing, this places additional
stress and tension on low income households.
 Net migration is rising often new migrants may struggle to find
employment and to have qualifications recognised in Australia. This can
create a feeling of inadequacy and hostility as they struggle to adjust.
 These factors impact on the social ties and community structures which
bind people together in a socially cohesive manner.
 Four people were arrested and two police officers were allegedly
assaulted in a mass-brawl between two youth gangs - said to be of
Australian and Islander decent - from Craigieburn Secondary College.

3. Melbourne’s Underworld
• The majority of underworld crime figures and major
incidents can be traced back to the Painters and Dockers
Union that existed on Melbourne’s waterfront after the
second world war.
• The Melbourne markets were seen as a natural
distribution point for these illegal substances (they were
just across the road from the docks area).
• By 1990 the local manufacture of
amphetimes had increased to the
point where the Police described
Melbourne as the “amphetamine capital of Australia.

4. Different types of
Gangs
• Organized criminal gangs
• Youth street gangs
• Wannabe gangs

5. Is street violence etched
into the national character?
 We sometimes forget that civilization, nearly all human tribes
and nations have gained the territory they occupy by
conquest, either over other cultures or over nature.
 Australia in particular has a cultural tradition that in large part is
underpinned by aggressive opportunism.
 We survived by being able to assert ourselves over weaker
cultures and transform landscapes. To do that needed
aggression, either outright or passive.
 Last week, Victoria's new Deputy Police Commissioner, Ken
Jones, talked about taking on the job of trying to win back the
streets of Melbourne from violent, boozed-up teenagers and
young adults. An amnesty was announced for knives and other

6. High Risk Youth
 Many factors can influence someone’s
decision to participate in a gang…

7. Behind Teen Violence
• Social difference [ethnic concentration; ethnic mix;
emphasis on non-conformity; relative
powerlessness; social marginalisaton]
• Moral panics and ethnic targeting [naming; media
reports, variations depending upon time period, and
which ethnic minority group depending upon city]
• Building a reputation [where you hang out; specific
incidents]

8. Behind Teen Violence Continued…
• Importance of social identity [one’s place, resisting
authority, masculinity & identity]
• Social difference as social deviance
[marginalisation, criminalisation, vilification]
• Social transformation [search for meaning, dealing with
oppressive conditions – potential for extreme violence]

9. Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuNJDcfXIxA