What Are the Characteristics of the Kinds of Networks?

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There are dense networks, sparse networks, small world networks. Even in a neighborhood that's disproportionately impacted by gun violence, with, say, forty thousand people, this network has a couple of hundred people in it. It requires being really connected to the community approaches or the community itself,. To answer your other question, one, they're super small and they're super concentrated. The spoiler alert: gunshot victimizations cluster. They clump together. So even within this space, this social space, there's still a pocket where these werethes shootings cluster. We are smart as humans to be able to figure out what individuals who are in a small network need. And then you can direct them

The United States is suffering from an epidemic of tragic gun violence. While a political debate rages around the topic of gun control, it remains important to understand the causes and possible remedies for gun violence within the current system. Andrew Papachristos is a sociologist who uses applied network science to study patterns of street violence in urban areas. His research shows that such violence is highly non-random; knowing something about the social networks of perpetrators and victims can help identify who might be at heightened risk of gun violence. It’s an interesting example of applying ideas from mathematics and computer science to real-world social situations.

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Andrew Papachristos received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. He is currently a professor of sociology at Northwestern University, and a faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research. He is also founding director of the Northwestern Neighborhoods and Networks Initiative.

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