Are the Gangs a Part of the Drug Trade?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

I don't know what lifeiing gang member is really like, to be honest. Most of it is not extremely well thought out or planned. No violence is ever present in their lives. It occupies, it consumes, it tromatizes and re-tromatizes. If that were true, the levels of violence would be even worse than they are.

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.

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

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.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.