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Patterns of Ethnic Violence in a Frankfurt Streetgang

NCJ Number
175524
Journal
International Journal on Minority and Group Rights Volume: 4 Issue: 3-4 Dated: 1996/97 Pages: 341-352
Author(s)
H Tertilt
Date Published
1997
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper analyzes the relationship between ethnic violence and the social position of those belonging to a Turkish street gang in Frankfort, Germany.
Abstract
Since the end of the 1980s, gangs such as the Turkish Power Boys have emerged in almost all the large German cities. They are characterized by brutality and street crimes. What is new about this gang phenomenon in the German Republic is that the gangs recruit sons of immigrant families and emphasize their ethnic identity. At the beginning of 1990, only five such groups existed in Frankfurt; during that year, this number increased to 25. This study examined the Turkish Power Boys and their acts of violence in a 2-year field study. From early 1991 until the break-up of the gang in the autumn of 1992, the author made detailed observations of the gang and interviewed members individually and as a group. The first part of this paper provides an overview of the 2-year history of the gang. This provides the background for the second part of the paper, which deals extensively with the stealing of jackets as an example of ethnically motivated violence. The paper's third part interprets these violent acts. The author concludes that the gang's violence is a response to the segregation, degradation, and humiliation that these young Turks experience as "foreigners" in Germany. Their rationalizations for their behavior are attempts to justify their violent acts and diminish empathy for their victims. 7 footnotes