Gazette - Comparing street gangs in France and Canada

COVER SECTION

By Christophe Soullez
Criminologist, Institut National des Hautes Études de Sécurité
France

Street gangs have a long history in France. The blousons noirs, Zulu gangs, skinheads from extreme-right splinter groups, and others have often made headlines. If we go back a bit further in our country’s history, we see that groups of bandits plundered the countryside and brigands in the “Court of Miracles” — an impoverished area in the heart of Paris — were already sowing the seeds of urban group crime. This type of crime is often juvenile, and always corrupt.

In our collective consciousness, street gangs consist mainly of young, unemployed men who, because of their inactivity and sometimes marginal behaviour, are perceived as threatening and liable to commit crime at the drop of a hat.

While gangs can sometimes be a means for adolescents to get together and share hobbies, discuss the subjects of youth and escape family restrictions, gangs become a social concern when they engage in illegal activities, serve as a front for crime or promote anti-establishment behaviour.

This latter type of gang was introduced in contemporary France in the 1980s when the first car fires and confrontations with police occurred. Over the past 27 years, gangs have developed out of so-called “sensitive” neighbourhoods (identified by the presence of large groups, local deterioration, high unemployment and the problematic living conditions of residents).

Today, France must deal with increasingly organized groups — even if their planning remains rudimentary, the gangs are increasingly strategic during confrontations with police. Today’s gangs also have a hard core defined by strong anti-social rejection and sustained criminal activity.

Common trends

Although not identical, both France and Canada are seeing some trends that are at least comparable. The two countries have experienced an increase in gang development and crime that is now perceived as commonplace. The rapid development of gangs is a growing problem for both federal and provincial Canadian authorities, while in France, police are concerned about the increased power of the many territorial gangs that are particularly characterized by increased use of violence. Both countries have also seen an increase in crimes committed by juveniles.

Both countries have witnessed crimes committed by groups of individuals who identify with certain ethnic communities. In Canada, specifically in Quebec, criminal motorcycle gangs (particularly the Hells Angels) bring together Caucasian criminals, while street gangs are mostly made up of Hispanics from the United States or Central America, Afro-Americans, Canadian Aboriginals, Jamaicans or Haitians.

In France, gang members represent the sociological makeup of the neighbourhoods in which they live. Police and criminologists have recently observed the development of ethnically homogeneous gang structures mainly involving juveniles of sub-Saharan African origin. This evolution stems as much from these individuals’ desire to associate with people from the same community as from the fact that the majority of gang members live in homogeneous neighbourhoods. We cannot help but be worried by this evolution, and by the beginnings of criminal activity that is “legitimized” by an anti-West dialogue.

The recent evolution of gangs in France and Canada is also characterized by increased violence during criminal activity and gang fights. In France more specifically, confrontations between juveniles and police officers have become extremely commonplace. Any confrontation is liable to generate violence directed toward police officers or other targets such as rival gang members, neighbourhood residents or victims of robbery. The riots in Villiers-le-Bel in November 2007 and the use of firearms against police illustrate this increased violence.*

In both countries, there are stronger, tighter ties between territorial gangs and traditional crime. In France, the increasing presence of weapons and attack dogs, as well as the more frequent settling of accounts among drug dealers, has become key to territorial sanctuary. Consolidating certain drug deals on certain territories leads to specific violence that is very difficult for police to control. Drug-dealing neighbourhoods have reached a certain level of sophistication, and violence stems from intensified “commercial” tension between dealers and the need to defend territory. Each gang controls the crime in its territory with its own organization, and without a middleman.

In France, most gang members are second-generation immigrants, aged between 25 and 35 years old, who, over the past 15 years, have grown up in neighbourhoods where crime is encouraged. As youth, they participated in the urban violence of the 1990s, then gradually started committing more structured criminal acts. In most cases, the gang initiation rituals or signs of belonging used in the United States or Canada have not yet been seen in these networks.

The majority of modern gangs in France and Canada can also be defined by a galaxy-type structure with concentric circles. Within each circle, members have very specific functions. Belonging to any one circle depends upon age — younger gang members act as lookouts, for example — or merit — an excellent drug seller can integrate into a circle closer to the nerve centre and therefore be given other missions and more remuneration.

The versatility of this crime structure sets it apart from other more traditional crime groups. Criminals coming from troubled neighbourhoods are involved in all types of delinquency (including cargo robbery, narcotics transportation, kidnapping and racketeering) or drugs.

Inside these sometimes unstable but essentially criminal gangs, many French youths are inspired by the group and participate in both gang activities and urban violence or anti-institutional acts. However, in territories where the underground economy is deeply rooted and dealers need a calm environment to prosper, urban violence is rarely found and remains a secondary symptom that is quickly controlled by neighbourhood leaders.

Diverging trends

Beyond these common observations, there are two main differences between street gangs in Canada and street gangs in France.

In Canada, there are more than 300 identified street gangs and their activity mainly involves earning money. France is sure to have many more than 300 gangs, simply due to the fact that each sensitive neighbourhood has at least one gang that seeks to control its territory. France has 650 urban neighbourhoods classified as sensitive, so we can deduce that the metropolitan area would have between 600 and 700 gangs.

That said, the majority of French gangs limit their criminal influence to their own territory and have not yet demonstrated a desire to expand and acquire more control. Contrary to some Canadian or American street “mega-gangs,” whose members work the whole territory with a view to increasing the range of their dealings and controlling more major neighbourhoods, French gangs still limit themselves to local crime.

The second major difference between Canada and France concerns the type of urban violence. Urban violence does not exist in Canada in the same way it has in France for the past 25 years. Canadian street gangs strive to do business and make money illegally. In France, the sole purpose of urban violence is to reject institutional players and encourage confrontation with law enforcement.

Some countries may experience violent incidents similar to those in France — for example, incidents between youth and authorities stemming from run-ins between young people and the police. But daily urban violence — which can include the daily harassment of foreign residents in the country — remains a French reality that is slowly spreading to other European countries.

Christophe Soullez is co-author of Violences et insécurité urbaines [Urban violence and insecurity] and Les stratégies de la sécurité [Security strategies] (Presses Universitaires de France, 2007).

* Riots broke out in Villiers-le-Bel, a commune in the suburbs of northern Paris, after two youths died in an accident with a police car. Rioters fired at police and torched buildings and cars.