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The MP for Streatham, Chuka Umunna, cited our research on joint enterprise and gangs in a debate yesterday in parliament on 'Gangs and serious youth violence'.
Commenting on our research, Mr Umunna argued that using the term 'gang' was unhelpful and stigmatising:
A young man I used to work with in the prison system once asked me if I liked helping offenders. My honest reaction was of disgust. Not that he had asked me the question, but because that is honestly what he thought my team and I were doing. I replied that we do not help offenders, because the phrase itself is off-balance. To have labelled him an 'offender' was to overlook the person he is, and on some level means we see a difference between him and me. A hierarchy. An 'us' and 'them' thought process, and this is not the work we do, or ever wish to do.
