The essential elements of gangs and gang culture haven’t really changed much since the 1970s. You hear about kids attacking each other with knives, and how rowdy they are, but 30 years ago it was the same. People were just more tolerant of it, or willing to turn a blind eye. It all comes down to “respect”. Fights in schools are usually about somebody “disrespecting” someone else. The same was true when my dad was my age.

Conflicts back then often had racial undercurrents – and the same can be said now. The gangs try to make themselves known to everyone else, which leads to violence aimed at other gangs.

Making yourself “known” can involve a number of things. These include small-scale offences like “playing pranks” but can lead to bigger crimes such as robbery, shooting or stabbing people. Just to look cool.

Gang culture and its rapid growth is down to teenagers wanting freedom and independence, but bad parenting and inappropriate role models are condoning this distorted view of teenage life.

It’s not just the kids that have to change their attitude. The time for “responsible adults” to buck up their ideas has come, too.

JEAN-LUC DAURAT

Better education can be achieved only over a long period of time. Right now we have to think about the crimes being committed by these gangs. There is a wide range of crimes: muggings, drug-dealing and gun crime are just a few of them. My brother was mugged by a gang when he was 12. He was given two black eyes, and his phone and keys were stolen. There are stories like this happening every day.

BEN REINDERS

Last year a gang of seven teenagers mugged and threatened to stab a close friend of mine on a crowded bus. He was stripped of expensive designer clothing, his rucksack, and even his vest. He was then thrown off the bus, bare-chested in the pouring rain. However, what shocked him even more was that nobody on the crowded bus came to his rescue.

My friend contacted the police. A week later he was summoned to the police station, where he identified a picture of his main attacker, and was told that he had only recently been released from prison after committing a similar offence.

My friend has not since heard from the police, so presumably the gang ringleader has not been prosecuted. If this gang is still free, how many other violent criminals are walking about on the streets?

WYATT CONNEELY

Living in Muswell Hill, I have avoided bad experiences with gangs. Wood Green, Tottenham and parts of Islington suffer from a much worse reputation. This can make it intimidating for people my age who live in or visit these areas. However, it is difficult to establish whether these fears are justified or based on rumours and hearsay. The way incidents are classified has changed. If a gang injures two people at the same time, it is now classified as two crimes, whereas before it was a single crime. Most statistics about gang crime do not take this into account, so they’re not necessarily accurate.

COREY JERRARD

I remember a policewoman once saying to us that knife crime is a phase; tell that to the parents of the victims. Educating is not the way forward – youths will commit these offences regardless. When they squeeze the trigger or jab the knife they cannot comprehend the pain they will inflict on their victim and their family.

Stricter punishment and zero tolerance should be employed. Firearm and knife possession should be treated severely. We need a change of attitudes: if you step on someone’s shoe, just apologise. If you make eye contact with someone and they say “What you lookin’ at?” just say “Nothing” and rise above it. More and more fatalities are occurring from minor incidents escalating needlessly.

DANIEL EL-GAMRY

It’s Saturday. Five friends and I make our way to the park. We chat about what’s on TV that evening. A bag of Skittles is passed around. Somebody tells a joke: “What do you call a deer with no eyes? No idea!” Very cheesy, but we all laugh hysterically anyway.

After a while we all stop at a sweet shop, buying what felt like a month’s supply of chocolate and magazines. Then, in the park, we start to kick around a football, and I take photos on my mobile. The whole day goes without a catch.

But what if we were a group of boys wearing hoodies? Would people have felt intimidated by the sight of us? For some, gangs are just a clan of teens looking for trouble. For others they are misguided or bored youths.

I have never been threatened at school or attacked in the street. Causing trouble holds no appeal for me, yet I assume that those who do feel they have an obligation to belong with a certain group of people, and will do all they can to show themselves worthy of a particular status. Whose fault is that?

RUBY TUNBRIDGE

Times recommends

• All dressed up and nowhere to go
• Why Christmas lunch is good for you
• What's up doc? Santa is told to slim down