Street Children and Dhaka’s Gangs: Using a Case Study to Explore Bangladeshi Organized Crime

Abstract

This case considers the use of an ethnographic case study to explore the involvement of street children in organized crime in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The case explains why the subject of street children’s involvement in organized crime was necessary to study, it then reflects on the methods used—a qualitative case study—and deliberates the benefits of this approach as compared with other methodologies. The case draws on three phases of data collection: more than 3 years of participant observation of the Bangladesh criminal justice system and wider society; 80 interviews with criminal justice practitioners, non-governmental organization workers, and community members; and an embedded case study with 22 street children and the organization that houses and supports them. The case concludes that an ethnographic casestudy is a unique, yet essential tool for conducting research into this highly complex and sensitive issue.