Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Political Geography of Civil Abatement and Gang Injunction Strategies in Los Angeles County

博士论文研究：洛杉矶县民事消减和帮派禁令策略的政治地理学

• 批准号: 0327211
• 负责人: Jennifer Wolch
• 金额: $ 1.09万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-01 至 2005-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0327211&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Political; Geography

Civil gang injunctions (CGI) are spatially based crime abatement strategies designed to curtail and reduce the activities of selected gangs in specific places through the use of restraining orders against named gangs and gang members. Since 1987, CGI efforts have been heralded as successful methods to combat criminal activity and to wrest away the control that gangs have had over communities, but very little research has been conducted on CGIs. Debates surrounding CGIs have focused on civil liberties and on how restricting non-criminal activities may infringe on constitutional rights, but other pertinent questions regarding CGIs have been overshadowed. This doctoral dissertation research project will develop a conceptual model of CGI spatial targeting decisions and model the crime displacement effects created by this suppression tactic. Using Los Angeles County, California, as the empirical setting for analysis, the project will examine how certain gangs are selected for a CGI and how particular geographic locations are singled out for a CGI implementation effort. About 1,000 gangs operate in Los Angeles County, but only a fraction of these gangs have been targeted for a CGI. Although it might be expected that places most severely impacted by gang-related crime would be targeted, preliminary analysis of Los Angeles CGIs suggests that this is not the case and that other factors influence the CGI decision process. Through an analysis of archival materials on CGI court cases in Los Angeles and a geographic information system-based spatial analysis of the urban context of CGI-targeted gang territories, the student will test the hypothesis that privileged adjacency (the spatial juxtaposition of more affluent middle-class communities and gang territories) plays an important role in explaining CGI targeting decisions. The second objective of this project is to determine the extent of crime displacement associated with CGIs. Criminological literature on aggressive police actions addresses crime displacement, but this issue has received minimal treatment as it relates to CGIs. Using detailed multivariate analysis of gang-related crime patterns over time, the dissertation tests the hypothesis that CGIs are associated with crime displacement phenomena. This research project will provide a comprehensive understanding of a high-profile policing strategy for the suppression of urban gangs by focusing on socio-spatial dynamics of gang neighborhood targeting. Such a geographic perspective has rarely been considered in the academic literature, in public policy discussions, or in debates on CGIs. The research will increase understanding about the ways that policies of city government, business interests, middle-class communities, and politics can influence the injunction process. Findings also will contribute to theories of urban racial formation by testing the hypothesis that gangs not slated for a CGI are located in more racially homogeneous, lower-income communities with little access or geographic proximity to more privileged areas. From a policy perspective, the research will reveal the extent to which the implementation of CGIs leads to uneven law enforcement practices, thereby leaving those communities not targeted for suppression efforts vulnerable to continued gang violence, which in turn leads to further racialization, higher and more persistent crime, and deepening political and economic marginalization. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.

民事帮派禁令（CGI）是一种基于空间的犯罪减少策略，旨在通过对指定帮派和帮派成员使用限制令来限制和减少特定地区特定帮派的活动。自1987年以来，CGI的努力被誉为打击犯罪活动和夺取帮派对社区控制的成功方法，但很少有关于CGI的研究。围绕cgi的辩论集中在公民自由和限制非犯罪活动如何侵犯宪法权利上，但其他有关cgi的相关问题却被掩盖了。本博士论文研究项目将开发一个CGI空间目标决策的概念模型，并模拟这种压制策略所产生的犯罪转移效应。以加州洛杉矶县作为分析的经验背景，该项目将研究如何为CGI选择特定的帮派，以及如何为CGI实施工作挑选特定的地理位置。洛杉矶县大约有1000个犯罪团伙，但这些团伙中只有一小部分成为了CGI的目标。虽然人们可能认为，受帮派犯罪影响最严重的地方会成为目标，但对洛杉矶CGI的初步分析表明，情况并非如此，还有其他因素影响CGI的决策过程。通过对洛杉矶CGI法庭案件的档案材料的分析，以及基于地理信息系统的CGI目标帮派区域的城市环境空间分析，学生将检验特权邻接（更富裕的中产阶级社区和帮派区域的空间并置于一起）在解释CGI目标决策中起重要作用的假设。该项目的第二个目标是确定与地理定位系统有关的犯罪流离失所的程度。关于激进警察行动的犯罪学文献解决了犯罪流离失所问题，但这一问题由于涉及到gis而得到的治疗很少。通过对长期以来与帮派相关的犯罪模式进行详细的多变量分析，本文验证了gis与犯罪转移现象相关的假设。该研究项目将通过关注帮派社区目标的社会空间动态，全面了解打击城市帮派的高调警务策略。这种地理视角在学术文献、公共政策讨论或地理地理特征辩论中很少被考虑。这项研究将加深人们对市政府、企业利益、中产阶级社区和政治的政策如何影响禁令程序的理解。研究结果还将有助于城市种族形成的理论，因为它验证了没有被列入CGI的帮派位于种族更同质、收入更低的社区，这些社区几乎没有机会进入或地理上接近更优越的地区。从政策角度来看，该研究将揭示gis的实施在多大程度上导致了执法实践的不平衡，从而使那些没有成为镇压目标的社区容易受到持续的帮派暴力的影响，这反过来又导致进一步的种族化，更高和更持久的犯罪，以及深化政治和经济边缘化。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。