Comparing Violent and Non-Violent Gang Incidents: An Exploration of Gang-Related Police Incident Reports

Dena Carson and Natalie Kroovand Hipple
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Dena Carson: Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
Natalie Kroovand Hipple: Department of Criminal Justice, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA

Social Sciences, 2020, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Prior research has established a strong link between gangs and violence. Additionally, this connection is demonstrated across multiple methodologies such as self-report surveys, qualitative interviews, as well as official records. Officially recorded gang data can be increasingly hard to obtain because data collection approaches differ by agency, county, city, state, and country. One method for obtaining official gang data is through the analysis of police incident reports, which often rely on police officers’ subjective classification of an incident as “gang-related.” In this study we examine 741 gang-related incident reports collected over four years from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. This study will explore reasons why incidents were attributed to gangs as well as compare the characteristics of violent, drug, and non-violent gang-related incidents. This work has implications for understanding the complexities associated with gang incident reports as well as for the commonality of violent gang crimes.

Keywords: gang; violence; incident reports; police data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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