Youth Gangs between Crime Control and Social Inclusion: A Critical Examination of Competing Paradigms in Italy

Abstract

This article critically examines the competing paradigms that have shaped the study, representation, and governance of youth gangs in Italy. Drawing on a wide body of criminological, sociological, and ethnographic literature, the paper contrasts the dominant criminological paradigm—rooted in classical traditions of social control and risk management—with the constructivist and cultural approaches that emphasise the role of social exclusion, identity negotiation, and resistance in the formation of youth street groups. The so-called baby gang phenomenon in Italy provides a revealing case study of how public discourse, media narratives, and official data converge to construct youth groups as threats to public order. This construction, in turn, legitimises repressive policies and emergency legislation, often at the expense of preventive and inclusive social measures.