Gangs and Knife Crime in London

Abstract

We describe the socio-economic characteristics of street-gang areas in London, explore gang formation dynamics, and analyse the spatial correlation between gangs and violent crime. Gang areas form in areas with higher unemployment, lower education, and a higher proportion of lone-parent families. Social housing is one of the key predictors of gang areas. Areas that are gang territories have higher levels of crime in various crime categories. Both having a gang in an area and proximity to a gang correlate positively with violent crime. We estimate the short-term effect of disrupting a gang within a borough as decreasing knife crime on ward level by about 15%.

Keywords: crime, policing, gangs, knife, homicide

JEL Classification: J11, J18, K42