Facilitating violence: A comparison of gang-motivated, and nongang youth homicides

It is well established that gangs facilitate violent offending by members, but the mechanisms by which that facilitation occurs remain unclear. Gangs may promote violence indirectly by facilitating members' access to risky si tuations such as drug markets or directly through gang functions such as tu rf defense. We explore alternative modes of facilitation in a comparison of gang-affiliated homicides (which involve gang members but do not result fr om gang activity), gang-motivated homicides (which result from gang activit y), and nongang youth homicides in St. Louis. We find important differences as well as similarities in the time trends and event characteristic of the two types of gang homicide; in key respects the gang-affiliated homicides more closely resemble the nongang events. The gang-motivated events exhibit a somewhat distinctive spatial patterning, as might be expected from their connection to turf conflicts, However, all three homicide types are highly concentrated in racially isolated, disadvantaged neighborhoods, which rema in the Fundamental social facilitators of both gang and nongang violence.