Youth Gangs & Guns: Canada

law enforcement, governments, academic and research community, and citizens showing increased interest and attention to the issue

interest increased in last 24 months due to high-profile gang-related incidents in Toronto and Vancouver 

despite the attention, small pool of public, substantive and validated research on youth gangs and related activities exists at local, regional or national level

general lack of reliable data on current numbers of youth gangs and membership, as well as nature and scope of activities 

• existing information more accurately describe youth gang problems as opposed to trends

limited academic and/or scholarly research

• one national study undertaken in early 2000s (i.e. 2002 Canadian Police Survey on Youth Gangs)
• pre-2002 – focus on US research with select studies from cities such as Toronto and Vancouver; no reliable measure of number of youth gangs or members
• post-2002 – reiteration of data from 2002 Police Survey and exploration of prevention and intervention approaches
• additional data/information is: generally preliminary; based on isolated case studies; self-identification of gang members; anecdotal evidence; snapshots rather than trends and longitudinal/statistical data

media playing a substantial role in defining parameters of youth gang discourse

media in Canada and the US has the greatest influence on the way youth gangs are perceived by Canadians

• interest increases with incidents identified as gang-related
• media reports largely suggest that gang activity as a whole is escalating
• seen as “sensationalizing” the issues, often producing reactions of fear and anxiety in general public

public discourse appears to be based on anecdotal evidence, perceptions, myths, stereotypes and media reporting

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