more prevalent, creating new lower levels all the way down ... People take sides. If one gang or another territorial street network knows that an elder [leader] has been taken out, then they suddenly think that gang’s weak ... And so we have inter-estate disputes going on. And what happens when that elder is in prison? He forms alliances with other gang members, or when he gets released he then tries to retake control. That is when violence happens.” In order to spread risk down to the lowest levels, he says gangs are now recruiting far more in primary schools. The youngest members are called “tinies”. “Over the last years we have seen more and more of this. The tinies can be as young as eight to eleven years old.” The young are brought in to shield their seniors from risk. It is often they who are charged with doing the street dealing or even the stabbing, he says. Smart says that, with a lack of government funding and commitment to long-term rehabilitation, the challenges are immense, particularly in the current economic climate. “I try to engage a young person who has been earning £300 a week through illegal methods. It was hard before, to try to convince him. But with unemployment high and cuts to benefits, it makes things tougher.” That said, his project, which has well over 1,000 clients, is delivering results. Fewer than 20% of those who come in for