Defending Neighborhoods or Commuting to Turf ?: The Influence of Residency and Mobility on the Territoriality Patterns of Gang Members

• In Event: Game Theory, Gangs and Crime

Abstract

Urban street gangs evolve from informal neighborhood “play groups” with membership being composed of individuals living close to each other. However, the advent of modern technology (i.e., cell phones, social networking services) facilitates interactions between members making it no longer necessary for an active member to reside within the gang’s claimed territory. Yet, gangs require face-to-face interactions to preserve their influence and reputation within a community. While real and imagined boundaries shape gang members’ distinct patterns of associating, loitering around sub-neighborhood spaces, scant research exists on how residency and mobility influence the territorial behavior of gang members. Using a dataset of field identification (FI) cards I construct a spatial typology investigating how individual, gang, and incident characteristics influence gang members relationship to their claimed turf. Of particular interest is how rival gang territory, civil gang injunctions, and the built environment influence territoriality patterns of gang members. Findings suggest that territoriality is more complex than discussed in the literature, with gang members doing more than “commuting to turf” or defending claimed neighborhoods.

Author

• Matthew Valasik, Louisiana State University