ABSTRACT
Young people, as this quote taken from a local student publication neatly captures, are the subject of popular suspicion and anxiety in Santa Cruz, California. While the demonisation of youth has a long history and has taken many forms, in recent years attention in Santa Cruz has focused largely upon the presence of gangs and in particular Latino street gangs. The issue has become increasingly politicised locally in the 1990s as elected officials and law enforcement representatives have sought to demonstrate their willingness to tackle the city’s so-called gang ‘problem’. Popular concern has resulted in a number of public meetings in the city and the local daily newspaper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, ran a week long series of indepth articles in October 1994, entitled ‘Gang Life’.
