Gang Homicide: The Road so Far and a Map for the Future

• Author: David C. Pyrooz,Jose Antonio Sanchez,Scott H. Decker
• Published date: 01 February 2022
• Date: 01 February 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/10887679211043804
• Subject Matter: Special Issue Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10887679211043804

Homicide Studies

2022, Vol. 26(1) 68 –90

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DOI: 10.1177/10887679211043804

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Special Issue Article

Gang Homicide: The Road so

Far and a Map for the Future

Jose Antonio Sanchez1, Scott H. Decker2,

and David C. Pyrooz1

Abstract

Gang research has spanned nearly a century. In that time, we have learned that

gang membership increases the chances of involvement in homicide as a victim or

offender. The violence that embroils gang life, both instrumental and symbolic, often

has consequences. In this paper we review the gang homicide literature covering

topics such as definitional issues, available data, correlates and characteristics, and

theoretical explanations. The review examines individual, group, and structural

contexts for gang homicide. We conclude with a discussion of future needs in theory,

data, and methods, to improve our understanding of gang homicide.

Keywords

gangs, homicide, violence, future directions, policy

Introduction

We were pleased to be asked to contribute to this volume, recognizing 25 years of the

journal, Homicide Studies. Our task is to review the literature on gang homicide, an

important part of all homicide. While this task may appear simple enough, it is not

without its challenges. There have been several reviews of gang homicide research.

One such review was written by Pizarro (2017), the editor of Homicide Studies (see

also Corsaro et al., 2017; Lauger & Densley, 2018; Valasik & Reid, 2019). Our chal-

lenge lays not in rehashing what has been done but instead finding something new to

say about the topic. This is not to say gang homicide research has remained stagnant.

1University of Colorado Boulder, USA

2Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jose Antonio Sanchez, University of Colorado Boulder, 483 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0401, USA.

Email: jose.sanchez@colorado.edu

1043804HSXXXX10.1177/10887679211043804Homicide StudiesSanchez et al.

research-article2021

Sanchez et al. 69

Work on the spatiotemporal patterns and contagious nature of gang homicide would

immediately render such a conclusion false (e.g., Brantingham et al., 2020; Lewis &

Papachristos, 2020).

Gang violence and homicide has been a part of gang research since its beginnings

in the late 1920s. Early attention to the topic comes from Asbury (1927) who spoke

about gang murders moving from one location to another, from continents to neigh-

borhoods. Similarly, Thrasher (1927; citing Yarros, 1926) identified Chicago as “the

murder capital of the world” largely as a consequence of gang homicides. Gangs

adopting names such as “Murderers” undoubtedly spurred embellished imagery of

gang violence. Thrasher identified gang names as a method of “wish fulfillment,” or

the projection of an image to the gang, rival gangs, and neighbors.

We begin with a figure (Figure 1) depicting the number of times that the term “gang

homicide” was used in books, based on a Google NGram search. A Google NGram

charts the frequency a particular word is used in a corpus of books, in this case the

presence of the phrase “gang homicide.” The 1980s and 1990s were decades of growth

in attention to gang homicide. Interest in homicide remained elevated in the new mil-

lennium, coinciding with trends in research output on gangs (Pyrooz & Mitchell,

2015). The first volume of the journal Homicide Studies, published in 1997, occurred

near the initial peak of this interest. Still, in its history, based on our searches, the jour-

nal has only published six articles on gang homicide (Cohen et al., 1998; Costanza &

Helms, 2012; Decker & Pyrooz, 2010; Jensen & Thibodeaux, 2013; Valasik et al.,

2017; Valdez et al., 2009). This represents around 1% of the total number of articles

published in Homicide Studies, which we believe far underrepresents the magnitude of

the problem.

Gang homicide research faces several challenges. One such challenge is the defin-

ing of gangs and gang crimes. What is a gang? What is a gang crime? A second key

challenge is the determination of what the unit of analysis is. Are we studying the

gang? The gang member? Or the crime committed by the gang member(s)? Short

(1985, 1998) spoke at great length about levels of measurement and the implications

Figure 1. Trend in interest in Gang Homicide, Google Books Ngram Viewer, 1950–2019.