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Abstract
Cannabis sales by youth gangs consisting of male descendants of immigrants from Middle Eastern countries are subject of much public debate in Denmark and Scandinavia. Only little research has explored the intersection between the wider social context of the drug market and the criminal engagements of these groups using qualitative methods. Using eleven semi-structured interviews with youth, police and experts, collected between 2011 and 2013, this study examines how the overall structure of the cannabis market in Copenhagen affects the opportunities to engage in cannabis sales for immigrant youth gangs. The study rests on an assumption that increased deterrence in specific geographic areas will displace buyers and shift market shares between competing groups. The result was that increased cannabis dealing furthered gang evolution even at the lowest organizational steps, from neighbourhood groups to more delinquent collectives. A key finding is that neighbourhood youth clubs play a central role in the lives of the interviewees. Youth clubs served as social spaces but also functioned as a form of turf to be conquered from city officials.
Notes
1. ‘Immigrant gangs’ is an inaccurate term used by the Danish media and police to describe a plethora of youth gangs consisting of second-generation immigrants from non-Western countries.
2. This legal amendment enabled police to administratively close locales where suspected cannabis sales occurred.
3. ‘Perkerne’ translates to ‘Persian origin’ and references the middle-eastern origin of gang members. In contrast the members of outlaw biker gangs are usually white, hence the reference to ‘aryan’.