Research Projects
The foundation of my research is the study of the urban street gang, specifically 1) gangs in online settings, 2) interaction rituals, solidarity and hyper-surveillance, 3) gangs in the life course, and 4) the geographical correlates of street gangs. As street gangs are often the product of racialized patterns of structural disadvantage, my research contributes to both knowledge about gangs and broader issues in criminology and criminal justice relating to gender and race/ethnicity.
Gangs in Online Settings
I created an original data set using digital trace data from a public Chicago Latinx gang Facebook page and law enforcement data on the geographic locations of gangs. The collected data includes 140,140 posts, likes, comments, and comment replies. My first project using this data investigates how gangs as groups interact in online spaces and how those interactions are related to geographic proximity. My co-author and I find that fighting among gang members in the online environment is conditional on the type of post displayed and is correlated with geographic proximity of gang territory. Currently I am investigating the relationship between online gang interactions and violence in neighborhoods and communities. Given the role of gang members in urban violence and their vulnerability to violence, this is a vital question: Does social media reproduce and thus increase gang violence, or does it transform gang behaviors? For this research I merge data on social media gang interactions with law enforcement data on violent gang events. In my next project with this data, I will focus on gender in relation to gang interactions in online settings. The data reveal that women are interacting in these online spaces as well and I will illuminate commonalities and differences between gang involved women and men in online settings.
Interaction Rituals, Gang Solidarity, and Hyper-Surveillance
Using a case study of Latinx gangs in Chicago over a 15-year period and original data compiled from gang cassette mixtapes, CD’s, and DVD’s, I analyze highly ritualized interactions in public media to investigate how dynamic gang processes and interactions change over time. Specifically, I examine how changing neighborhood dynamics—particularly enhanced policing and surveillance techniques—shape changes in gang group dynamics. I focus on two dynamic group processes highly associated with gang violence: the development of solidarity and status attainment. I argue that to fully understand gang processes it is necessary to conceptualize them as time-varying phenomena that are influenced by multiple forces in a dynamic social world.
The first group process explored is the development of solidarity. I find that both solidarity between gangs and solidarity within gangs is breaking down across the Chicago Latinx gang community. Rather than expressing solidarity with larger gang entities, as was common in years past, many gangs now proudly claim “everybody killer.” In other words, specific gangs no longer have larger gang loyalties or super-gang alliances. In the Latinx gang community in Chicago gang relationships are splintering and individual gangs are becoming more isolated as observed from them representing their gang section more than their parent gang. The differences in alliance structures that I observe today suggest that gangs could be fighting for different reasons than in the 1990s when researchers found violence was based on organizational structure and drug sales in Chicago. I posit that the breakdown in solidarity is important because it is related to changes in patterns of violence and qualitative features of gangs, such as loyalty and unity; emotional components that are the foundation of gang solidarity.
The second group process explored is status attainment. Specifically, I focus on how factors external to the gang space, such as hyper-surveillance and enhanced policing techniques, influence status attainment in gangs. Many of the Chicago neighborhoods where Latinx gangs are active have undergone gentrification, which is associated with increases in police surveillance. To date, research on hyper-surveillance focuses on justice system avoidance and crime rates in hot spots, but largely unaddressed are the consequences on the culture of urban gangs. I find that gangs have normalized and incorporated hyper-surveillance into their interaction rituals. Rather than avoidance, increased surveillance is associated with elevated status both at the individual and gang levels. In addition, due to intensified policing practices, even simple loitering on street corners is now associated with elevated status because of the threat of discovery and sanction. These new status attainment methods are encompassed in what I term the ‘status of the surveilled.’ These results shed light on unique, unintended consequences of hyper-surveillance and enhanced policing in urban areas, as well as how they are incorporated into group processes related to status attainment within the urban street gang. I am preparing to submit these results to an academic press for publishing consideration.
Gangs in the Life Course
Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, I study gang member transitions out of street gangs. I use qualitative methods to explore the subjective understandings of gang-involved individuals as they transition out of gangs based on 29 life history interviews I conducted with formerly violent long-term gang members. The resulting article investigates how individuals perceived and practiced masculinity while they were gang members, as they transitioned out of gangs, and later in their lives.
I used quantitative methods to investigate how perceived gang organization and an individual’s identity within the gang influences the duration of time spent as a gang member in Gang Organization and Gang Identity: An Investigation of Enduring Gang Membership (Leverso and Matsueda 2019). Building off this research, my next project involves investigating the impact of gang organization and identity on gang member offending and victimization.
Geographical Correlates of Gangs
As social groups, gangs are uniquely tied to a spatial context or “turf” that reflects the social structural conditions relevant to members of the gang. I have begun to explore the ways in which neighborhood demographics relate to street gang prevalence using data compiled from longitudinal geodata of the spatial territory of street gangs merged with census and American Community Survey (ACS) estimates. My co-author and I examine the demographic trajectories of Chicago neighborhoods to understand how neighborhoods with black or Latino street gangs changed in their location and composition over time.
Gangs in Online Settings
I created an original data set using digital trace data from a public Chicago Latinx gang Facebook page and law enforcement data on the geographic locations of gangs. The collected data includes 140,140 posts, likes, comments, and comment replies. My first project using this data investigates how gangs as groups interact in online spaces and how those interactions are related to geographic proximity. My co-author and I find that fighting among gang members in the online environment is conditional on the type of post displayed and is correlated with geographic proximity of gang territory. Currently I am investigating the relationship between online gang interactions and violence in neighborhoods and communities. Given the role of gang members in urban violence and their vulnerability to violence, this is a vital question: Does social media reproduce and thus increase gang violence, or does it transform gang behaviors? For this research I merge data on social media gang interactions with law enforcement data on violent gang events. In my next project with this data, I will focus on gender in relation to gang interactions in online settings. The data reveal that women are interacting in these online spaces as well and I will illuminate commonalities and differences between gang involved women and men in online settings.
Interaction Rituals, Gang Solidarity, and Hyper-Surveillance
Using a case study of Latinx gangs in Chicago over a 15-year period and original data compiled from gang cassette mixtapes, CD’s, and DVD’s, I analyze highly ritualized interactions in public media to investigate how dynamic gang processes and interactions change over time. Specifically, I examine how changing neighborhood dynamics—particularly enhanced policing and surveillance techniques—shape changes in gang group dynamics. I focus on two dynamic group processes highly associated with gang violence: the development of solidarity and status attainment. I argue that to fully understand gang processes it is necessary to conceptualize them as time-varying phenomena that are influenced by multiple forces in a dynamic social world.
The first group process explored is the development of solidarity. I find that both solidarity between gangs and solidarity within gangs is breaking down across the Chicago Latinx gang community. Rather than expressing solidarity with larger gang entities, as was common in years past, many gangs now proudly claim “everybody killer.” In other words, specific gangs no longer have larger gang loyalties or super-gang alliances. In the Latinx gang community in Chicago gang relationships are splintering and individual gangs are becoming more isolated as observed from them representing their gang section more than their parent gang. The differences in alliance structures that I observe today suggest that gangs could be fighting for different reasons than in the 1990s when researchers found violence was based on organizational structure and drug sales in Chicago. I posit that the breakdown in solidarity is important because it is related to changes in patterns of violence and qualitative features of gangs, such as loyalty and unity; emotional components that are the foundation of gang solidarity.
The second group process explored is status attainment. Specifically, I focus on how factors external to the gang space, such as hyper-surveillance and enhanced policing techniques, influence status attainment in gangs. Many of the Chicago neighborhoods where Latinx gangs are active have undergone gentrification, which is associated with increases in police surveillance. To date, research on hyper-surveillance focuses on justice system avoidance and crime rates in hot spots, but largely unaddressed are the consequences on the culture of urban gangs. I find that gangs have normalized and incorporated hyper-surveillance into their interaction rituals. Rather than avoidance, increased surveillance is associated with elevated status both at the individual and gang levels. In addition, due to intensified policing practices, even simple loitering on street corners is now associated with elevated status because of the threat of discovery and sanction. These new status attainment methods are encompassed in what I term the ‘status of the surveilled.’ These results shed light on unique, unintended consequences of hyper-surveillance and enhanced policing in urban areas, as well as how they are incorporated into group processes related to status attainment within the urban street gang. I am preparing to submit these results to an academic press for publishing consideration.
Gangs in the Life Course
Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, I study gang member transitions out of street gangs. I use qualitative methods to explore the subjective understandings of gang-involved individuals as they transition out of gangs based on 29 life history interviews I conducted with formerly violent long-term gang members. The resulting article investigates how individuals perceived and practiced masculinity while they were gang members, as they transitioned out of gangs, and later in their lives.
I used quantitative methods to investigate how perceived gang organization and an individual’s identity within the gang influences the duration of time spent as a gang member in Gang Organization and Gang Identity: An Investigation of Enduring Gang Membership (Leverso and Matsueda 2019). Building off this research, my next project involves investigating the impact of gang organization and identity on gang member offending and victimization.
Geographical Correlates of Gangs
As social groups, gangs are uniquely tied to a spatial context or “turf” that reflects the social structural conditions relevant to members of the gang. I have begun to explore the ways in which neighborhood demographics relate to street gang prevalence using data compiled from longitudinal geodata of the spatial territory of street gangs merged with census and American Community Survey (ACS) estimates. My co-author and I examine the demographic trajectories of Chicago neighborhoods to understand how neighborhoods with black or Latino street gangs changed in their location and composition over time.
Publications
Leverso, John, and Yuan, Hsiao. (In Press) “Gangbangin On The [Face]Book: Understanding Online Interactions of Chicago Latina/o Gangs.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.
Leverso, John, and Ross L. Matsueda. (2019). “Gang Organization and Gang Identity: An
Investigation of Enduring Gang Membership.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology.
McCoy, Henrika, John Leverso, and Elizabeth A. Bowen. 2016. "What the MAYSI-2 Can Tell Us About
Anger–Irritability and Trauma." International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative
Criminology 60(5):555-574.
Leverso, John, William Bielby, and Lynette F. Hoelter. 2015. "Back on the streets: Maturation and
risk factors for recidivism among serious juvenile offenders." Journal of
Adolescence 41:67-75.
Leverso, John, and Ross L. Matsueda. (2019). “Gang Organization and Gang Identity: An
Investigation of Enduring Gang Membership.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology.
McCoy, Henrika, John Leverso, and Elizabeth A. Bowen. 2016. "What the MAYSI-2 Can Tell Us About
Anger–Irritability and Trauma." International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative
Criminology 60(5):555-574.
Leverso, John, William Bielby, and Lynette F. Hoelter. 2015. "Back on the streets: Maturation and
risk factors for recidivism among serious juvenile offenders." Journal of
Adolescence 41:67-75.