Group assault of a single victim or ‘swarming’”.

Are groups of youth who loiter on a street corner or at a shopping centre a gang? Are groups who get into occasional fistfights gangs? Are groups who steal or vandalize property considered a gang? If a group uses a gun once, is it a gang? If a group uses sticks and bats but not knives and guns, is it a gang? Many argue that, “if a group is willing to use enough violence to kill others, whether in defence or aggression, then it should be considered a gang” . While others argue that violence need not be a defining characteristic for a group to be considered a gang (some police forces define a gang as a group of three or more individuals who form an alliance for the purpose of engaging in criminal activity) the distinction between a “gang'” and a “group” should not matter. As Gordon explains: “The term ‘gang’ can be a misleading way of describing different kinds of gatherings of young people. The term 'gang/group' is preferred as a better way of capturing the phenomenon; and analysts and policy-makers should be thinking in terms of a continuum ranging from a group of friends who spend time together and occasionally get into trouble to more serious, organized criminal groups or gangs”. According to the Montréal Police Service’s definition (2011), a gang is “an organized group of adolescents and/or young adults who rely on group intimidation and violence, and commit criminal acts in order to gain power and recognition and/or control certain areas of unlawful activity.” The universal use of the word “gang” to refer in the media to any situation that involves more than one person all too often creates a misleading stereotype, thus the term “gang/group” is used to avoid such criminal stereotypes and exaggerated media images usually associated with the term “gang”. As University of Toronto researchers, Doob et al explain, “it is important not to equate offending in groups with 'gangs'. If one defines a gang as a relatively stable, somewhat organized, group with clear or formal leadership, most groups of young people that commit offences do not qualify as ‘gangs’”. All too often, we read of “Asian gangs” or “Native gangs” in the media, and it is important to eliminate the perception that violent youth gang/groups consist solely of visible minorities or immigrant groups – it’s just that “Caucasians avoid the label ‘gang’ because the media does not identify them by race .Violent gang/groups are racially diverse; no longer primarily male, some are female; they are from lower class communities, middle class communities, and UPPER class communities. The Prevalence of Gangs/Groups and Their Violence Some contend that too much has been made of gang/group violence; that the problem is overstated and blown out of proportion by sensational crimes. Others believe that the gang problem is out of control and police unable to protect people from crime. While the latter view may be a little pessimistic, some researchers do believe, “the trend for gang crime, especially gang violence, has been upward in scope and severity at least since the mid-1980's”. From a Canadian perspective, Judge Penny Jones adds that we have seen a “falling crime rate among 12-17 year olds. The only counter trend is the increase in violent crime among this age group and especially worrisome is the phenomenon of group assault of a single victim or ‘swarming’”.