Gang Research Articles

Searching for "larrikin*": Using Digitised Newspapers to Trace the Transnational Coverage of Australian Street Gangs, 1870–98

Abstract: Digitisation is revitalising nineteenth-century periodicals as historical sources, particularly English-language publications. Far from replicas, these digitised sources have different attributes. Text searchability is one such property that is changing how and what historians can research. This article explores the use of keyword search to trace the transnational circulations of information about Australian juvenile street gangs and the controversy they aroused. Without multi-title, text-searchable archives it would not be feasible to attempt to discern the form and extent of this coverage. The article reflects on the new depth and breadth keyword searching can offer and some of the methodological choices and considerations involved.

The relationships among prior gang involvement, current gang involvement, and victimization among youth in residential placement

AbstractThis study examines patterns of victimization among youth in residential placement facilities using data from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement. Findings indicate that gang involvement in residential placement is associated with multiple forms of victimization. However, desistance from gang membership resulted in rates of victimization among gang members that were no different from those of youth who had never been involved in gangs. These findings support prior research showing that gang involvement does not appear to serve as a protective function and further specifies the nature and contexts of the relationship between gang association and victimization.

Authoritarianism in the discourse of online forums: A study of its articulations in the Swedish context

Abstract The overall aim of this study is to explore the authoritarian dimension in the far-right discourse of online forums. The study argues for a focus on the articulations of authoritarianism to understand the dynamics of far-right discourse. Four central features of authoritarianism are identified and explored: 1) the authoritarian values underlying articulated opinions on diverse issues; 2) the emotional dimension of authoritarianism; 3) the coexistence of civil and uncivil articulations of authoritarianism; and 4) the role of mainstream news as reference for and trigger of authoritarian responses. The qualitative study is based on data from two Swedish forums, Flashback and Familjeliv [Family life], and consists of 79 threads related to three issues on the agenda: disorder in school, gang crime, and transgender. The results show expressions of authoritarian–liberal value conflicts, and, most significantly, the vigour of an authoritarian culture on the forums, with implications for the normalisation of far-right discourse.

EPH212 Drug Prices and Crime: An Empirical Study Examining Northern Central America

Crime in northern Central America is a public health and societal issue that is common and costly. The region has experienced the highest intentional homicide rates for nearly two decades (2004-2020) at 50 per 100,000 population (The World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2012). The regional concentration of homicidal risk factors includes notorious street gangs (or maras) and their interactions, contiguous factors related to illicit drug trafficking and their spillover effects, economic forces, among others. Outside of economic forces affecting crime, the social forces affecting homicide rates are not well understood and often are unobserved characteristics with a strong spatial dimension. This study investigates the impact of illicit drug price volatility and Purchasing power parity (PPP) adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) per capita on homicide rates per 100,000 individuals in northern Central America.

"I am going to break this logic of fear!": Activism and subversive care at the periphery of Fortaleza, Brazil.

Based on ethnographic work conducted between 2015 and 2022 at the periphery of Fortaleza, in Northeast Brazil, this article analyzes the work of community activists as a form of subversive care. Women activists, many of whom work for the local public clinics, as social workers with local NGOs, or as schoolteachers, challenge dominant narratives presented in the media and political discourses about their neighborhood as being poor and therefore violent. By establishing relationships of mutual trust with gang members and humanizing them, women activists "challenge the logic of fear" and maintain presence in areas controlled by the gangs to direct the economically vulnerable toward existing public resources. Activists' understanding of urban violence is informed by participation in collective action and living together with gang members and their families. These experiences lead activists to see urban violence as the symptom of systemic inequalities that require systemic changes.

Rivalries, reputation, retaliation, and repetition: Testing plausible mechanisms for the contagion of violence between street gangs using relational event models

AbstractThe hypothesis that violence—especially gang violence—behaves like a contagious disease has grown in popularity in recent years. Scholars have long observed the tendency for violence to cluster in time and space, but little research has focused on empirically unpacking the mechanisms that make violence contagious. In the context of gang violence, retaliation is the prototypical mechanism to explain why violence begets violence. In this study, we leverage relational event models (REMs)—an underutilized yet particularly well-suited modeling technique to study the dynamics of inter-gang violence. We use REMs to examine gang violence’s tendency to replicate—for which retaliation is but one plausible mechanism—and its tendency to diffuse to other groups. We rely on data on conflicts between gangs in a region of Los Angeles over 3 years. We consider how the characteristics of gangs, their spatial proximity, networks of established rivalries, and the evolving history, directionality, and structure of conflicts predict future inter-gang conflicts. While retaliation is an important mechanism for the replication of violence, established rivalries, and inertia—a gang’s tendency to continue attacking the same group—are more important drivers of future violence. We also find little evidence for an emerging pecking order or status hierarchy between gangs suggested by other scholars. However, we find that gangs are more likely to attack multiple gangs in quick succession. We propose that gang violence is more likely to diffuse to other groups because of the boost of internal group processes an initial attack provides.

Rivalries, reputation, retaliation, and repetition: Testing plausible mechanisms for the contagion of violence between street gangs using relational event models

Rivalries, reputation, retaliation, and repetition: Testing plausible mechanisms for the contagion of violence between street gangs using relational event models

Agrotropolis: Youth, Street, and Nation in the New Urban Guatemala

Agrotropolis: Youth, Street, and Nation in the New Urban Guatemala

Gender and Violence in the Daily Routine of Community Health Workers in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are the link between the Brazilian primary health care system and the community. Since CHWs live in the same neighborhoods they work, they are involved in what happens in the community, including observants and or potential targets of violence. However, it is not known if female and male CHWs perceive and suffer violence similarly. This study aimed to investigate the violence to which CHWs are exposed and if female CHWs experience and or perceive violence the same way as male CHWs. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information from CHWs. Two periods (2019 [n=1402] and 2021 [n=364]) were compared. The data show that more than 80% of CHWs were exposed to violence, either as victims or witnesses within the community they served. In general, while the occurrence of violence towards CHWs decreased, their perception of community violence increased. Over time, the perception of urban/community violence remained constant among male CHWs, but increased among female CHWs, as shown by the significant rise between 2019 and 2021 in the percentage of female CHWs reporting witnessing or hearing about manifestations of violence (e.g., physical aggression; assault; stabbing; lethal gunshot; non-lethal gunshot; and gang violence). Among male CHWs, perception only increased with regard to the item assault. Given the complexity of violence and its repercussions on the daily routines of CHWs, intersectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships between health workers and other stakeholders are needed to create strategies capable of dealing with expressions of violence in the territories served.

“My Little Influencer”

“My Little Influencer”

Suburban and Rural Gang Presence: Preempting Violence in Response to This Shifting Threat for Hospitals

The threat of gang violence spilling over into healthcare settings has become a reality in communities of all sizes. In particular, many people still perceive suburban and rural areas as being havens from significant organized crime when they may actually be places where criminal gang activity and violence is less detectable from law enforcement. Additionally, lesser populated regions of the nation often have small and sometimes underfunded police departments, which can make those communities vulnerable and attractive to criminals trying to avoid larger cities with more sophisticated gang units. To deal with the potential for gang violence in the hospital setting, there is a need to understand the basics of the gang culture, related behaviors, and the continuing gang threat. The keys to a successful campaign against gang violence in a hospital setting are training and education of security and clinical staff, including coordination and cooperation with law enforcement, and proper reporting procedures and protocols.

Tattoos, Religiosity, and Deviance Among College Students

ABSTRACT For much of U.S. history, tattoos carried a stigma. The perception was that tattoos marked gang members and prisoners, not respectable church-going citizens. In recent decades, tattoos have become mainstream, even for some religious people. We analyze the number and content of tattoos in relationship to religiosity and deviance. We test four hypotheses using survey data from 3,525 students at 12 American colleges and universities, finding that the number of tattoos is largely unrelated to religiosity, but tattoo quantity is associated with binge drinking, marijuana use, and having multiple sexual partners. As expected, students with religious tattoos claim a stronger faith, pray more, and attend religious service more than students with no tattoos or non-religious tattoos. However, both religious tattoos and non-religious tattoos are associated with marijuana use and multiple sexual partners in contrast to those with no tattoos. To conclude, we offer a theory of sensation seeking to explain this irony.

Alt‐right gangs and far‐right extremists: From the margins to the mainstream

AbstractThe continued public presence of far‐right groups, particularly alt‐right gangs (e.g., Proud Boys) participating in mass demonstrations and protests across the United States has made it clear that these groups and their behavior remain a concern. The overall lack of knowledge among policy makers, law enforcement, and community residents on how to deal with alt‐right gang members has limited their ability to intervene and prevent violence. The misconception that alt‐right gangs are domestic terrorist organizations, primarily driven by racist ideology, ignores just how unrefined and rudimentary the beliefs that connect members together actually are. The reliance on ideology has limited the inclusion of alt‐right gangs in conventional gang studies and has directly impacted gang scholars' ability to understand group dynamics among these far‐right gangs. This has in turned skewed also how law enforcement is trained to identify and deal with alt‐right gangs. This manuscript overviews the need to rectify the historical apathy of traditional gang scholars and law enforcement in dealing with far‐right/alt‐right gangs. We conclude with a discussion on how the mainstreaming of alt‐right groups over the last few years has accelerated and the growing need to explicitly treat these groups as street gangs.

Exploring Factors That Gravitate Rural Youth Towards Gangs

Youth gang involvement, also in rural areas, has been noted as a concern in South Africa. This article reports on a study, framed in the Ecological Systems Theory, that explored the factors gravitating rural youths towards gangs to make recommendations for preventative and early intervention social work services. It was envisaged that, by addressing these causes within the different systems of youths’ lives, they can be empowered and supported to make alternative life choices. A qualitative approach and explorative and contextual research designs were utilised. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to draw a sample from the population of youth in the rural community. Data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with eight participants. Ethics entailed the limitation of harm to participants and debriefing, informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, privacy, and data management. The findings provided a description of causal factors in terms of the micro, mezzo, exo, macro and chronosystems that gravitate youth towards gangs. It was concluded that a variety of role players are needed to ensure sustainable prevention and early intervention services to rural youth and their families. Recommendations for preventative and early intervention services were made based on the findings and framed in the Ecological Systems Theory.

How stable is the relationship between gang membership and delinquency over time? An exploratory analysis using repeated cross-sectional data from students in one state, 2001-2017

ABSTRACT Some ethnographic research suggests that the criminogenic effect of gang membership may not be invariant over time, yet this possibility has gone untested despite the expansive body of research on potential moderators of gang involvement. This research used nine years of self-report data from high school students in Massachusetts (N = 22,120) to explore whether the effect of gang membership on delinquency was moderated over the survey period: 2001 to 2017. The dependent variables included physical fighting, weapon and gun carrying, and drug use and access. The findings suggest that the effect of gang membership on physical fighting and weapon carrying significantly weakened toward the end of the survey period, although this dissipation was not gradual or linear over the survey period. The implications of these findings are discussed with the aim of identifying future avenues of research that could be completed to further examine the role of time period on gang membership.

There Goes the Neighborhood by Jade Adia (review)

Reviewed by: There Goes the Neighborhood by Jade Adia Wesley Jacques Adia, Jade There Goes the Neighborhood. Disney/Hyperion, 2023 [432p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781368084321 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781368084338 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 7-12 Despite losing a friend to a stray bullet in their South LA neighborhood in fifth grade, best friends Rhea, Zeke, and Malachi love their community—it's their home, with everything that entails. Unfortunately, the area is changing, and a difficult lesson on gentrification poses a new threat to the group of Black and brown fifteen-year-olds as Zeke and his family are to be evicted from their apartment to make way for luxury developments and wealthy newcomers. Rhea is determined to prevent this, so she devises a plan equal part brilliant, cynical, and dangerous in [End Page 246] how well it takes off: start SOSI, a wholly not real but really impactful new gang. Apparently, a social media campaign, a strategic use of fireworks, some well-placed tags, and the help of some new friends—which Rhea is reluctant to accept—are all the group needs to scare investors off. When a white man is killed, however, the fake gang very quickly turns into a real problem, and the friends are pulled into murder mystery that reveals the ways corporate interests and racist policies have always been unseen stakeholders in gang violence. Rhea's believable narration captures her (justifiable) fury at the forces displacing her community, and it also reveals the tenderness that drives her to a misguided plan to protect her home at all costs. This is a smart and intimate reflection on community that impressively makes sure to give its fifteen-year-old characters awkward first kisses and meme-able senses of humor despite the palpably high stakes. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Borderless by Jennifer De Leon (review)

Reviewed by: Borderless by Jennifer De Leon Amanda Toledo De Leon, Jennifer Borderless. Dlouhy/Atheneum, 2023 [366p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781665904162 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781665904186 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 10-12 Maya feels hurt that her mother, her biggest cheerleader, wasn't there to see her triumph at a school event, but that hurt curdles into terror as she enters their home and finds her mother tied to a chair, masked men looming. The book then backtracks, detailing Maya's life in the weeks leading to that moment. She and Mama live in the poorer neighborhood of Guatemala City, where her mother fears the encroaching gang activity, but if Maya can win the fashion show at her elite fashion school, she'll receive a financial prize that might change their lives for the better. Maya's best friend Lisbeth gets a new boyfriend who makes Maya feel uneasy, but his cousin, Sebastian, recently deported from the United States, seems kind, and he's curious about Maya's art (he's also cute and smells amazing). Unfortunately, the boys' arrival catalyzes a series of events that result in Maya and her mother fleeing for their lives. The chapters relaying Maya and her mother crossing the border are [End Page 254] viscerally distressing, but surprisingly, they take up little of narrative. Instead, this rich story reads like a letter to Guatemala's people, houses, nature, and sense of community. It's a place and a life that readers will easily grow attached to and feel true sympathy for Maya as she's forced to leave it behind. De Leon expertly crafts every aspect of this book: the characters are complex and act their age, their relationships organically develop, and the pacing keeps the story moving. It's difficult, then, to tell if the ending feels rushed, showing the brutality and cruelty of ICE and the American immigration system, or if it's simply a cliffhanger, leaving the reader in as nebulous and tenuously hopeful a place as Maya. Overall, De Leon's story offers a real-world truth: immigrants face some of the greatest injustices and uncertain futures, but they carry with them their past, their loves, and a powerful glimmer of hope. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Neighbourhood Gangs, Crime Spillovers and Teenage Motherhood

Abstract Using an identification strategy based on random assignment of refugees to different municipalities in Denmark between 1986 and 1998, we find strong evidence that gang crime rates in the neighbourhood at assignment increase the probability of boys to commit crimes before the age of 19, and that gang crime (but not other crime) increases the likelihood of teenage motherhood for girls. Higher levels of gang crime also have detrimental and long-lasting effects, with men experiencing significantly higher levels of inactivity and women experiencing lower earnings and higher levels of welfare benefit claims at ages 19 to 28.

Desperation on the Battlefield, the Ethnic Security Dilemma, or Economic Competition? Mass Shootings in Chicago’s Gang Wars, 2010–20

Abstract In this study examine the logic of gang-related mass shootings in Chicago between 2010 and 2020. I argue that gangs utilize mass shootings to win market share when demand for illegal drugs spikes. I also test two established theories of indiscriminate violence: ‘desperation on the battlefield’ and the ‘ethnic security dilemma’. To do so I construct an original dataset mainly using Freedom of Information Act responses. Using opioid overdose data to proxy for demand in drug markets, I find support for my theory in a series of linear fixed effects models. The ‘ethnic security dilemma’ also finds support. However, the two variables meant to proxy for ‘desperation’, search warrants and arrests of gang members for shootings, reduce gang-related mass shootings—the opposite of the predicted outcome. I conclude by discussing contributions to the existing literature, limitations and pathways for future research.

Recount and Account of Lived Experience of Children on the Street: A Phenomenology Approach

Children on the street spend the daytime on street but go to their families at night. Lived experiences of these children stem from their daily activities on the street and interpersonal relations. Clarity on the lived experience of this category of street children is lacking in Nigeria. We explored lived experiences of children on the streets of Ibadan, Nigeria, sourcing information from the children and relevant adults involved with them. We conducted in-depth interviews with fifty-three participants, including children on the street, pairs of children and parental figures, street shop-owner, and child welfare officers. Framework analysis and coding with ATLAS Ti were conducted. Street Engagements, Beneficial and Challenging Experiences are the 3 thematic areas. Street Engagements included duration on the street, typical and atypical activities. Beneficial experiences included: financing family & personal needs, school co-financing, and better life opportunities. Challenging experiences included: financial crisis, school failure, prostitution, street gangs and substance use induction, thuggery, harassment, kidnapping, and ritual killing. The lived experience of street children with family ties is overwhelming with the challenging experiences subduing the perceived benefits. An appreciation of this discrepancy at the family level and target interventions can positively influence measures to curb the epidemic of children on the street.