ABSTRACT
The staff training session is designed to be delivered in a two hour session and includes three suggested activities. The activities suggested are adapted from the student programme to enhance understanding for those who are to facilitate the programme. There are many reasons offered as to why young people, including girls, become members of gangs. The programme will focus on these reasons and examine how these needs can be met in other ways. Young people may be involved in more than one ‘gang’, with some cross border movement and may not stay in a ‘gang’ for significant periods of time. Most young people who admit to carrying a weapon say they do so for selfprotection. Archer highlights a significant change in female gang culture since the start of the last decade with young women presenting as more autonomous and not feeling the necessity to define themselves in relation to men.
