Understanding the Relationship Between Pro-Violent Social Media Interactions and Youth Violence in DC and Maryland

• In Event: Gangs, Violence, and Deviant Behavior in the Digital Age

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the relationship between online interactions and offline violence. Existing literature on this subject has uncovered nuances to this relationship, finding that nature of the content, relationship between the individuals, and situational factors contribute to certain posts becoming catalysts for violent assaults. To better understand this phenomenon, this project utilizes web-scraping, ArcGIS mapping, and regression analyses of publicly available social media posts and administrative data. It 1) maps these proviolent interactions onto Washington, DC and Prince George’s County, MD to determine their concentration across space and 2) examines the relationship between these posts and subsequent youth crime. We find that knowledge of the hyper-local context is key in understanding this relationship. Policy implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Toryn Sperry, University of Maryland, College Park

• Sarah Silberman, University of Maryland