Abstract
Mounting evidence suggests that gang violence spreads through communities like a social contagion. By mapping the structure of these conflicts we are better positioned to ascertain which gang rivalries, intragroup struggles for leadership, and displays of dominance pose the greatest threat to local communities. Using information drawn from court cases, this study examines 9 years of violence instigated by historic rivals—the Bloods and the Crips. Studying the conflict network linking 158 street gangs operating in Los Angeles County offers unique insight into the nature of violence that can improve regional anti-crime policy. Based on these results, violence reduction strategies stand to be more effective when they (1) use network analysis to identify where to aim efforts to quell internal rivalries; (2) focus on groups that initiate the most violence toward non-gang citizens, as well as other gangs; (3) use group audits to map violence networks and extend gang injunctions to connected factions and competitors; (4) remap the network frequently to ensure it is current; and (5) generate inter-jurisdictional working groups that involve communities linked by gang violence.
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Notes
- 1.
Gang subsets were from Altadena, Antelope Valley, Athens, Carson, Compton, Florence, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Lynwood, Pasadena, Pomona, and Santa Monica.
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Randle, J., Bichler, G. (2017). Uncovering the Social Pecking Order in Gang Violence. In: LeClerc, B., Savona, E. (eds) Crime Prevention in the 21st Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27793-6_12
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