From a “Bunch of Young Punks” to a Well-Organized “Violent Force”: Continuity of the 856 Gang

• In Event: Posters I

Abstract

Langley, BC’s infamous 856 gang began as a “bunch of teenagers” in the mid-2000s and has since managed to evolve into a well-organized “violent force”, expanding criminal operations on a national scale. The aim of the current study is to assess whether continuity in criminal offending can be predicted using network centrality, specifically degree and betweenness centrality, using Social Network Analysis (SNA). An attribute was created to define whether a gang member had been mentioned in open source news articles in a criminal context since 2008. A T-Test was utilized to compare the average means for degree and betweenness centrality between two groups, those that demonstrated continuity in criminal offending and those that did not. Results indicate statistical significance; those that demonstrate continuity were higher in degree and betweenness centrality than those that did not demonstrate continuity. Law enforcement can benefit by using SNA measures such as centrality to better predict future criminal offending.

Keywords: gangs, continuity, centrality

Author

• Surena Bains, Simon Fraser University