Discipline and Punish? Youth Gangs' Response to ‘Zero‐tolerance’ Policies in Honduras

Abstract

The response of youth gangs to ‘zero tolerance’ policing in Honduras are examined with respect to territoriality. Focusing on two main gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang, the ways in which state authority is challenged are assessed from an analysis of body territoriality, the respatialisation of organisational structures across urban neighbourhoods, and the production of new enclosed spaces of gang territoriality. These redefinitions of group territoriality strengthen the emotional bonds and sense of belonging towards the gang, enabling the emergence of a transnational/imagined community.

El Salvador'sPandilleros Calmados: The Challenges of Contesting Mano Dura through Peer Rehabilitation and Empowerment

“…MS‐13 and the Dieciocho adapted to repression by enforcing entry requirements and internal rules, procuring heavy weaponry, locating in more secluded places, and adopting a more conventional appearance (Aguilar, 2007). More significantly, the mass incarceration of gang members, especially shot callers, allowed the gangs to extend their territory to the prisons (Gutiérrez, 2010). Shared confinement in gang‐segregated facilities allowed members to strengthen group cohesion and structure as well as to augment their criminal activities.…”

Policing Social Disorder and Broken Windows Theory: Spatial Evidence from the “Franeleros” Experience

“…Finally, Vilalta et al [49] found a limited effect between homicides and physical and social disorder in Mexico City, possibly because other socio-economic components have greater weight. In turn, other authors have explored the response of youth gangs to "zero tolerance" policing in Honduras in terms of the re-spatialization of organizational structures in urban neighborhoods, the creation of new closed spaces or gang territories [50], and the restriction of public access to the center of a city as some of the most significant consequences of the implementation of "zero tolerance" policing in Mexico City [51].…”

European Street Gangs and Urban Violence

“…Gangs are predominantly an urban phenomenon. From the seminal work of Thrasher (1927) that focused on gangs in Chicago almost a century ago, to the substantial global body of studies that has been established in recent decades, one factor that characterizes the vast majority of gang literature is its city-based context (Bradshaw 2005;Densley 2013;Esbensen and Carson 2012;Gutierrez Rivera 2010). Another characteristic feature of gang research is violence.…”