TY - JOUR
T1 - Gangs, gang homicides, and gang loyalty
T2 - Organized crimes or disorganized criminals
AU - Decker, Scott H.
AU - Curry, G. David
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for providing the data for this study. Sergeants Terry Sloan, Gary Hill, and Robert Ogilve are to be commended for their work in this regard, as is the Director of Planning, Larry Pattison. We also acknowledge our colleague, Jody Miller, for her insightful contributions to this article. Her contributions have meant more to us than she knows. This project was supported in part by funding by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Anti-Gang Initiative. The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the funding or cooperating agencies.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Gang members contribute disproportionately to homicide. This article examines gang homicide during its peak in the mid-1990s in St. Louis, a city with high homicide rates and large gang problems. The article addresses two related questions, the differences between gang and non-gang homicides, and the social organization of gang homicide. Marked differences between gang and non-gang homicides were found. These differences centered primarily on guns and the similarity of victim and offender characteristics. Gang homicides most often occurred within gang factions rather than between factions. Gangs were unable to organize homicides in an effective manner, which reflected the disorganized character of gangs and the neighborhoods in which they reside. The findings of this article raised important questions about the cohesiveness of gangs.
AB - Gang members contribute disproportionately to homicide. This article examines gang homicide during its peak in the mid-1990s in St. Louis, a city with high homicide rates and large gang problems. The article addresses two related questions, the differences between gang and non-gang homicides, and the social organization of gang homicide. Marked differences between gang and non-gang homicides were found. These differences centered primarily on guns and the similarity of victim and offender characteristics. Gang homicides most often occurred within gang factions rather than between factions. Gangs were unable to organize homicides in an effective manner, which reflected the disorganized character of gangs and the neighborhoods in which they reside. The findings of this article raised important questions about the cohesiveness of gangs.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0047-2352(02)00134-4
DO - 10.1016/S0047-2352(02)00134-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036274970
SN - 0047-2352
VL - 30
SP - 343
EP - 352
JO - Journal of Criminal Justice
JF - Journal of Criminal Justice
IS - 4
ER -