Social Network Influences on Gun Carrying by Gang-Involved Youth

• In Event: The Social Networks of Gangs

Abstract

Beginning in summer 2013, researchers collected survey data from gang-involved youth ages 14 to 25 years-old in Philadelphia, PA, and the District of Columbia, as part of a social network analysis study to examine gang desistance. As part of the survey, questions on weapon use, gang-involvement, ties to prosocial institutions, perceptions of gang and neighborhood safety, and aspects of joining gangs were included. Though there is a growing body of literature on gang-involved youth and why individuals carry guns, this is one of the first studies to utilize social network analysis research focused on network structure and network compositional characteristics of individuals, while controlling for neighborhood and city effects and personal characteristics, to examine why gang-involved youth choose to carry a gun. The analysis nests individuals within census tracts and city using logistic multi-level modeling regressions to highlight how social networks are associated with gun-use. Assessing how network structural features contribute to gun carrying can help inform the theory base on gun carrying and influence violence prevention and intervention policies further for a key demographic in criminal justice policy.

Author

• Hannah Klein, Temple University