School kids fighting on the bus, tags all over walls, bus stands covered in broken glass and youths in hoodies passing drugs to each other. It's all a normal sight on a trip to college here in London. The vicious cycle of gang culture has lead to 26 young people being killed in 2008 and the figure is looking to double or triple this year and next. Police have identified there to be 190 known gangs, and London is statistically more dangerous than New York. A quarter of gangs are said to have been involved in murder. Half involved in serious assault. This is severe.
The definition of a gang is ‘a group of boys who spend time together for social reasons and may engage in delinquent behaviour’. This has clearly not been updated as girls are now creating their own criminal girl gangs. What’s the attraction? An ex-girlfriend of a gang member said, "I always had to carry stuff for him even though I didn’t want to. I just loved the thrill of it. With all that power and protection, it feels nice innit? So, to be honest, I don’t mind if I have to carry drugs for a bit or guns."

Sometimes they are a group of friends, sometimes they're from religious or ethnic groups. That's all good, the real problem is when they get mixed up in illegal drugs, public disorder and assault. With ages of members as young as 10, gangs are becoming more popular in primary schools. Older members often taking in younger brothers or other children, calling them ‘younger’ or ‘tiny’ and giving them a rank or tag name. In that way they are then under the protection of a certain gang, but also now a target of rival gangs. As they are getting younger and younger this idea of having a rank or status becomes more attractive than it normally would be. The more you’re in trouble with the police, the ‘badder you are’, apparently. It makes you think, why?

Being in a gang gives you protection and security, but there are huge consequences, as a 26 year old ex gang member told me "A gang is a Unit. A family that will watch your back and you watch theirs." It's similar to family at home, but this protection is supplied everywhere you go. It gives you support and comfort, but that support has a down-turn; you are not the only gang. Other gangs might not like your gang and in this case, because you are being protected, you have to protect your gang too. This often turns into doing things you don’t want to do. People have ended up in hospital, juvenile, prison or in some cases - dead. Check the statistics.
It's all because, in a gang, you do things together and if you don’t you will be seen as weak. People are doing things that they don't want to do. This peer pressure is the worst I’ve ever known and has in the past pushed me to do many things I didn’t want to do. My advice to youths now is to stay clear from gangs.

Through my investigation as a student in Croydon it occurred to me that it all boils down to fitting in with the crowd and being praised and seen as the ‘baddest man’. The common thread is money and respect. This is because they will not be getting the same amount of money from working at the local Mowleys or corner shop than if they are selling drugs or robbing people, and if you're not in prison or dead, that £90 job seekers allowance isn't so glamorous.
I wanted to get an insider's point of view, so I managed to get an interview with a guy in one of Peckham’s biggest gangs to sit down and talk:

What attracted you to be in a gang?

The glamour and money they get. You are praised. You get the best girls the best clothes and the most money and most of all you get respect.

What happens if some one doesn’t respect you?

Then I’m going to take it. Simply because I have that power. Me and the gang will force them to respect us.

Do you carry a knife or gun? Why?

Of course I do. I have to have one. I'm not the type of person to stab or shoot someone, but if someone is trying to take me for a fool, then I’ll spark him. If my gang is doing it, I have to as well. I’m looking out for myself and my gang, and in order to do that I have to carry one. Not with the intent of using it, but I wouldn't want to be the only one not carrying it.

What was the reason you wanted to join this gang?

I wanted money. I wanted to be able to go and buy that Ralph Lauren Polo and I wanted to be able to buy that G shock watch. I wasn’t getting enough money from my parents and an older guy from my estate told me that I can make a lot of money with him. I’m not legally allowed to work yet, so there was no other alternative and I didn’t want to be left out. I want to be respected and the only way to obtain all of that was joining a gang.

It seems to me that being in gangs is a way of reaching the glamorous life that the music industry glorifies. But in the real world, the dream is high risk and the reality not so glamorous. Lyrics about gun play, drug dealing, wanting respect and in some cases, murder are all being fed to young people across the UK. This doesn’t help the situation in anyway, as one youth worker from Peckham was telling me "Young kids see this and want to imitate it because these artists are successful. They think that to get there, they have to do all of these things that they are rapping about. But, the thing is, they don’t realise the risk behind it." Sometimes young people don't realise they're just words in a song, not what's real.

Whether it's the right crowd or the wrong one, people will go for desperate measures to be able to feel accepted and have a sense of belonging. Whether it's carrying drugs for someone or even engaging in a fight, guns, drugs, gangs and money is a lethal cocktail. The question is how far will you go to be accepted? However far you go, make sure you choose carefully as this life is risky. The twist and turns all lead to very dead ends. Jail or death.
It resulted to death on March the 27th 2010 for Sofyen Belamouadden in Victoria rail way station .Several wounds left the teenager in a pool of blood, dead after a prearranged fight. All the things he would have accomplished vanished in 10 seconds of pointless violence between gangs .

The famous rapper Notorious B.I.G said it for me, "more illegal money, more problems."