University of Missouri- St. Louis Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (UMSL CSSI)

View the website for this project here: https://www.umsl.edu/ccj/research/cssi.htm

The Amplification of Deviance Following Police Contact: An Examination of Individual and Neighborhood Factors among a Sample of Youth

Research indicates that police contact has many negative ramifications. Individuals who are stopped or arrested have fewer educational and employment opportunities, more deviant identities and attitudes, increased involvement with delinquent peers, and higher levels of delinquency. Less is known about whether these adverse consequences are universal or if they are more prevalent among some segments of the population. In this dissertation I draw on labeling theory to explore the effects of police contact for a sample of juveniles. According to labeling theory and its extensions, official labels such as those associated with police contact should lead to delinquency through three primary mechanisms: social exclusion and the attenuation of prosocial bonds, development of a deviant identity, and involvement with deviant groups. Because few studies have examined the effects of police contact on these labeling mechanisms simultaneously, this dissertation extends prior research by assessing whether the labeling process varies by race, sex, age, attitudes toward the police, and neighborhood structural characteristics. This dissertation uses self-report data collected from a sample of 1,534 youth who participated in the National Evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program. In addition, information on the neighborhoods in which the youth reside is taken from the 2000 United States Census. Using four waves of data to ensure proper temporal ordering, path modeling is used to examine the relationship between police contact, the proposed mediators, and later delinquency. Propensity score matching is used to adjust for selection bias associated with observed characteristics. The results indicate that the effects of police contact are consistent with labeling theory and are largely invariant across groups. Overall, youth who experience police contact are more delinquent, and this relationship is accounted for by each of the labeling mechanisms to some degree, with involvement in delinquent groups explaining the largest increases in delinquency. Police contact also retains a direct effect on delinquency, which suggests that the labeling mechanisms included in this study do not fully capture the labeling process. The results are discussed in terms of the development of labeling theory and the implications for delinquency prevention and intervention efforts

Differentiating Between Delinquent Groups and Gangs: Moving Beyond Offending Consequences

Even when controlling for high levels of delinquent peers, gang youth differ from their nongang counterparts on a variety of attitudinal and behavioral measures. Researchers have argued that differences can be attributed to the group processes present in the gang setting. This study explores the extent to which differences between youth in a gang and those in a delinquent group can be explained by Bandura’s social cognitive theory. Much of the prior research in this arena has relied on cross-sectional data; in this study, we expand on this prior research using fixed-effects modeling strategies with a multi-site panel of youth. The results comparing time periods when youth were in a gang versus a delinquent peer group indicate that gang-involved youth are more violent and have fewer conventional bonds. This work is able to advance our knowledge on attitudinal and behavioral differences between gangs and other types of peer groups

School Transitions as a Turning Point for Gang Status

The study of gangs corresponds well with life course perspectives of crime as the onset, persistence, and desistance from crime parallel the stages of gang membership. This literature commonly draws on turning points to explain the onset and desistance from criminal behavior, which are often synonymous with life transitions such as marriage, military duty, employment –even gang membership itself. In this study we draw on life course perspectives to examine the impact of a specific life transition that is common during adolescence, school transitions, on a youth’s gang status as well as variables associated with a turning point in the life course. Specifically, we focus on two competing relationships that school mobility can serve as the impetus for joining a gang, or alternatively, act as a ‘hook for change’ and facilitate gang leaving. We use a mixed-methods approach by first drawing on qualitative data that examined desisted gang members and their interpretation of their school transition experiences. Second, consistent with a grounded theory approach, we examined these relationships quantitatively using a panel study of youth followed over a five-year period

Comparing Violent and Non-Violent Gang Incidents: An Exploration of Gang-Related Police Incident Reports

Prior research has established a strong link between gangs and violence. Additionally, this connection is demonstrated across multiple methodologies such as self-report surveys, qualitative interviews, as well as official records. Officially recorded gang data can be increasingly hard to obtain because data collection approaches differ by agency, county, city, state, and country. One method for obtaining official gang data is through the analysis of police incident reports, which often rely on police officers’ subjective classification of an incident as “gang-related.” In this study we examine 741 gang-related incident reports collected over four years from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. This study will explore reasons why incidents were attributed to gangs as well as compare the characteristics of violent, drug, and non-violent gang-related incidents. This work has implications for understanding the complexities associated with gang incident reports as well as for the commonality of violent gang crimes

TRANSNATIONAL GANG MOVEMENTS: VIOLENT PANDILLAS IN MILAN

In alcune parti dell'Europa meridionale le notizie su criminalità e violenza legate alle bande latinoamericane sono aumentate negli ultimi dieci anni. Ciononostante, pochi studi empirici hanno analizzato il comportamento criminale di queste bande in nuovi contesti socioculturali. Attraverso il caso di studio della città di Milano, la ricerca mira ad approfondire e rivelare le caratteristiche delle bande transnazionali di latinos (come MS-13 e Barrio18) concentrando l'attenzione sulla formazione, sull'organizzazione e sui comportamenti antisociali e criminali di questi gruppi di strada. In particolare, il presente studio esamina: 1) i processi associati alla formazione delle bande latine al di fuori del proprio contesto di origine, 2) la struttura e le caratteristiche organizzative delle bande così come le attività in cui sono coinvolte e 3) il coinvolgimento dei membri della banda in atti criminali e violenti. L'analisi adotta il disegno di ricerca a metodo misto, un approccio metodologico che comprende interviste in profondità con esperti, analisi del contenuto di oltre 2.000 intercettazioni telefoniche, social network analysis di 142 reati in concorso ed analisi di regressione delle caratteristiche degli affiliati. I dati sono stati estratti da 5 ordinanze di custodia cautelare emesse durante il periodo 2005-2016 che hanno portato all'individuazione di oltre 200 individui appartenenti ad oltre 10 bande diverse. I risultati mostrano che la formazione delle gang ed il coinvolgimento degli individui all'interno di questi gruppi sono associati alla ricerca di identità e status. Le bande latinoamericane sono principalmente dedite ad attività di gestione del gruppo, organizzate gerarchicamente con regole e ruoli formali e coinvolte in risoluzione di conflitti interni/esterni attraverso l'uso sistematico della violenza. Nonostante il carattere criminale e la capacità organizzativa, non è emersa alcuna prova riguardo alla loro evoluzione in gruppi criminali organizzati. I risultati sono discussi confrontando tra loro diversi tipi di bande di latinos, soffermandosi infine sulle implicazioni per le ricerche future.In parts of Southern Europe, reports about crime and violence linked to Latin American gangs have increased over the past decade, yet few studies have assessed Latin gangs’ criminal behavior in new contexts. With a focus on Milan, Italy, the proposed research aims to investigate the characteristics of transnational Latin American gangs in terms of gang formation, gang organization and activity, and gang criminal behavior. As part of the assessment, the present study examines: 1) the processes associated with Latin gang formation outside their context of origin, 2) gang organizational features and activities, and 3) gang members’ involvement in co-offending crimes. The research adopts a mixed-method approach comprising in-depth interviews with experts, and content analysis, social network analysis, and regression analysis of data extracted from five judicial/police files issued between 2005-2016. Results show that gang formation and gang joining are associated with individuals’ search for identity and status. Gangs are mainly involved in group management activities, conflict, and violent crimes, and are hierarchically organized with formal rules and roles. Nonetheless, no evidence has emerged regarding their evolvement into organized criminal groups. Findings are compared across different types of gangs and implication for future research are discussed