This article draws on ethnographic research conducted into youth and crime over a 20-month period. It explores the meanings that young people, residing in a marginalized community, attached to what Evans et al. (1996) have described as the ‘neighbourhood dogma’ of ‘not grassing’. By unpacking and analysing the meaning of the term ‘grassing’ and by listening to the voices of young people the article examines a range of factors which underpin the ‘no grassing’ rule.
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