Among the Hoods: Exposing the Truth About Britain’s Gangs

Author: Harriet Sergeant

Number of Pages: 240

Journalist, think-tank report writer and mother Harriet Sergeant befriended a teenage gang when she was researching a report on why so many black Caribbean and white working class boys are failing. Gangs like this are responsible for the majority of crime in our inner cities. During the riots of August 2011, they were the young men setting our streets ablaze. All the issues we all associate with Britain’s gang culture – single mothers, absent fathers, lack of education and social mobility, the criminal justice system – take on a new meaning for Harriet as she enters their world and sees institutions through their eyes. It is a revelation. By the end of the book Tuggy Tug was found guilty of committing over a hundred street robberies. He and two other gang members are in prison, one is in mental hospital and one appears to be a successful criminal. In this remarkable, challenging, angry book, Harriet Sergeant reports from a world of teenagers who have been abandoned by the state, and in many cases, their parents, and provides a valuable insight into an ignored corner of our society. As Britain faces up to the aftermath of the riots, this book should be required reading for us all.