Conflict and the Corner: The Impact of Intergroup Conflict and Geographic Turf on Gang Violence

Abstract:     
Intergroup conflict and geographic turf are essential dimensions of many gang behaviors, including violence. Using incident level police records, detailed maps of turf boundaries, and ethnographic data, this paper recreates and analyzes networks of gang violence in Chicago and Boston. After describing the unique structures of these gang networks, we use exponential random graph models to assess the relative effect of prior dyadic conflict and geographic adjacency on subsequent patterns of violence. Findings suggest that both prior dyadic ties (past conflict) and turf adjacency contribute to the probability of a gang engaging in violence with a particular adversary, although the relative importance of prior conflict exceeds that of geographic proximity.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 48

Keywords: Social Newtorks, Street Gangs, Homicide, Chicago, Boston

working papers series