NCJ Number
147207
Journal
Criminology Volume: 24 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1986) Pages: 489-512
Date Published
1986
Length
24 pages
Annotation
To examine whether police investigative processes have a major impact on the rate of gang-related homicides, this analysis used data from the years on either side of the 1980 homicide peak in Los Angeles, a time when police agencies were increasing gang intelligence and control efforts.
Abstract
Specifically, the analysis attempts to explore comparable gang and nongang homicides to determine what factors differentiate between them and then to find evidence regarding the contribution of investigative processes to those differences. The results of the analysis indicated that "gang" designations of homicides reflect characteristics of the incident settings and participants, that intrusion of investigative processes on reported gang compared to nongang homicides rates was minimal, and that gang homicide rates reported by law enforcement agencies could be used as reasonable criteria for evaluating program impact. 8 tables, 1 figure, 5 notes, and 18 references