Spatializing Social Networks: Using Social Network Analysis to Investigate Geographies of Gang Rivalry, Territoriality, and Violence in Los Angeles

Geographical influences of an emerging network of gang rivalries

“…Certain properties of Hollenbeck make it accessible to modeling the gang rivalry networks outlined in [64,50]. First, it is a closed system in that the gang activity within Hollenbeck is generally isolated from gang activity outside of Hollenbeck.…”

“…It encompasses an area of roughly 39.4 km 2 . Hollenbeck is home to approximately twenty-nine active gangs with sixty-nine rivalries among them [50,64]. The set spaces for the gangs and the corresponding observed rivalry network are displayed in Figure 1, as given in [50].…”

“…Data on the geography of Hollenbeck is easily accessible, and there has been explicit documentation of the observed rivalry network. [50] (right). Major roads, highways, the Los Angeles river, and division lines are also seen in both images.…”

“…From this construction, one can view a collection of gangs as a spatially embedded network [63]. The Hollenbeck policing division of eastern Los Angeles is marked by a particularly high degree of violent crimes involving gang members, including homicides and aggravated assaults [50,25]. It is for this reason and others listed in Section 1.4 we consider Hollenbeck as a test case for our model.…”

“…Further, street gang members typically have locations, known as set spaces, where they spend large quantities of time [62,47]. It is therefore reasonable to think of each gang as a node embedded in Euclidean space [50,64]. Within this framework, the existence of persistent violence between two gangs becomes an edge connecting two nodes.…”