An Analysis of Youth Gangs in Tin Shui Wai in Hong Kong

Abstract

In recent years Tin Shui Wai has been portrayed by the media as a notorious town for youth gangs in Hong Kong. This article aims to study the gang phenomena in Tin Shui Wai and investigate why youth gangs are so prevalent and concentrated in this area. It has been discovered that although the number of juvenile crimes in Tin Shui Wai is quite high, youth gangs are still at a primitive stage of gang development. The majority of crimes committed by the juveniles are petty property crimes and bullying. In fact the youth gangs are not simply a crime problem. It is a social problem generated by different underlying causes including Tin Shui Wai’s remote geographical location, inadequate town planning, unbalanced population composition, the low social and economic status of its households, under-privileged new immigrants, and dysfunctional families. Youngsters in Tin Shui Wai have fewer legitimate means to succeed compared with those in other districts. They like to form gangs to establish identity symbols. Nevertheless, few youth gangsters go further to commit organized crimes for the triads. The main reason is that criminal opportunities are rare in Tin Shui Wai. This is a qualitative study of youth gangs in Tin Shui Wai. The references are based on Western literature on youth gangs, local media and official reports, field observations, and interviews.

近年天水圍經常被傳媒描繪為青少年群黨的繁殖溫床。本文的目的是描述天水圍青少年群黨的主要特徵及分析他們在區內發展的成因。研究發現雖然天水圍青少年罪案數字偏高，但青少年群黨發展仍屬初級階段，他們主要從事財物價值較低的案件及欺凌他人的活動。事實上天水圍青少年群黨問題並非單純的罪案問題，它是一個社會問題，由不同潛在因素導致，包括位處偏遠地區、市鎮規劃不周詳、人口組成成分不均衡、家庭之社會及經濟地位較低、新移民處於弱勢以及家庭未能有效發揮功能等等。在建制裏失意的青少年由於缺乏合法途徑發展，便聯群結隊組成群黨。但有趣的是天水圍也缺乏犯罪機會，青少年群黨很難發展為成熟幫派或犯罪集團。這是一個質化的研究，資料主要來自外國及本地青少年群黨的文獻，實地觀察及與有關人士會談。