(Un)Known Universe: Mapping Gangs and Gang Violence in Boston (From Crime Mapping and Crime Prevention, P 219-262, 1997, David Weisburd and Tom McEwen, eds. - See NCJ-170277)

• NCJ Number: 170285
• Author(s): D M Kennedy; A A Braga; A M Piehl
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 44 pages
• Grant Number(s): 94-IJ-CX-0056
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This chapter describes an exercise that used mapping and other information-collecting and -ordering techniques as part of a project to apply problem-solving techniques to youth gun violence and gun markets in Boston.

Abstract

Mapping and other information-collecting and -ordering techniques, usually aimed at formal police data, can also be used to good effect to capture and organize these experiential assets. In this study, a working group was assembled of Harvard University researchers, officers from the Boston Police Department's Youth Violence Strike Force, probation officers covering high-risk neighborhoods, and city-employed gang-mediation "street workers." The group estimated the number and size of the city's gangs; mapped their turf; mapped their antagonisms and alliances; and classified 5 years of youth victimization events according to their connection (or lack thereof) to this gang geography. These efforts provide an overview of Boston's gang turf; an estimate of gang involvement in high-risk neighborhoods; a sociogram of gang relationships; and an estimate of Boston gangs' direct contribution to youth homicide victimization. Figures, tables, notes, references