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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The puprpose of this study by Curry and Spergel was to examine the differences between delinquency and gang homicide. The study tested the hypotheses that gang homicide is more related to social disorganization within a community while delinquency is more related to poverty within a community.
METHODOLOGY:
This study, using community-level data, addressed the differences between delinquency and gang crime and how each of these related to patterns of social disorganization and poverty in certain Chicago communities. Two patterns of delinquency and gang activity became apparent during this analysis: one pattern involved the chronic poverty experienced in the ghetto and was usually associated with black communities; the second pattern involved the social disorganization of cultural isolation and resettlement mainly associated with Hispanic communities. Gang problems were operationalized by using gang homicide statistics from the Chicago Police Department's Gang Crime Unit for the periods 1978-1981 and 1982-85. Delinquency rates were measured by utilizing the Chicago police statistics of the number of reported burglary-theft and violent crimes per 100,000 committed by males 10 to 16 years old. Using skewness and kurtosis analyses, it was found that delinquency and gang homicide were rare, nonnormal events and, therefore, needed to be statistically controlled by taking the square root of each. The ethnicity of different Chicago communities was measured by 1980 census percentages: communities which were over 70% white were labeled white (41.3%); those which were over 70% black were labeled black (36%); and those which were predominantly Puerto Rican or Mexican were labeled Hispanic (6.7%); 16% of Chicago's communities did not fit into these categories and were labeled mixed. Quality of community life was measured on five levels: percentage living in poverty, mortgage investment per house, unemployment rate, delinquency rate, and gang homicide rate. Poverty was measured by three indices: population living below poverty level, unemployment rate, and mortgage investment. Many statistical methods were utilized in this analysis such as: factor analysis, Scheffe's S, harmonic means computation, discriminant analysis, classification analysis, multiple regressions, and analysis of covariance.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
When comparing the quality of community life index with the racial/ethnic character of communities, it was found that the community with the highest quality of life was one which was 98.2% white; the one with the lowest quality of life was 98.9% black; 85.2% of the black communities fell below the median quality of community life score while 93% of the white communities were above the median; all of the Hispanic communities were below the median. Quality of community life accounted for 76% of the variance among the communities. The relationships between community types and gang homicide (negatively related) as well as between community types and mortgage investment (positively related) together explained the other 23.8% of the variance. When utilizing the three measures of poverty, poverty accounted for 85% of the variance in communities. Poverty was significantly related to percentages of both black and Hispanic populations (p<.01). During a multiple regression analysis, it was found that the percentage black or percentage Hispanic of communities did not significantly predict delinquency when poverty was included. When poverty was included, the percentage black of communities did not significantly predict gang homicide but the percentage Hispanic did predict gang homicide. Therefore, poverty appeared to be an explanation for nongang delinquency while poverty and social disorganization appeared to both explain gang homicide. When measuring changes in gang homicide over time (between 1978-81 and 1982-85), a slight decline in gang crime in white and Hispanic communities was found; and an increase was found in black (p<.01) and racially mixed communities. The structure of gang crime did significantly change over the two time periods (p<.05): percentage Hispanic was a significant predictor of gang crime in the first time period but not in the second period. Overall, both poverty and social disorganization were related to the distribution of nongang delinquency and gang homicide.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors suggested that more longitudinal research be conducted on the gang problem both on the individual and ecological levels. They again stressed the need to separate nongang delinquency from gang behavior in research endeavors.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Illinois
KW - Gang Homicide
KW - Gang Delinquency
KW - Gang Crime
KW - Gang Violence
KW - Delinquency Causes
KW - Juvenile Gang
KW - Juvenile Delinquency
KW - Juvenile Crime
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Violence
KW - Crime Causes
KW - Homicide Causes
KW - Delinquency Causes
KW - Violence Causes
KW - Social Disorganization Theory
KW - Sociocultural Factors
KW - Socioeconomic Factors
KW - Poverty
KW - Community Violence
KW - Homicide Offender
KW - Community Factors |