YOUTH GANGS AND VICTIMIZATION: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE IMPACT OF GANG DYNAMICS ON EXPERIENCES OF VICTIMIZATION.

Studies comparing gang members to similarly situated non-gang members find youth gang involvement is positively associated with experiencing simple and aggravated assault (i.e., violent victimization). This study expands on those studies by using data on gang dynamics from the Denver Youth Survey and bringing theory and concepts directly related to street gangs to the analysis of the relationship between gang membership and different forms of victimization. We focus on specific mechanisms-such as gang organization, centrality, leadership roles, identity, and tenure-that inform gang member behaviors while controlling for risky behaviors and personal histories. Findings indicate (1) gang organization is positively associated with both simple and aggravated assault victimization; (2) gang centrality is positively associated with aggravated assault victimization; and (3) being the leader of a gang is negatively associated with aggravated assault victimization. We discuss the implications of these results using a gang-informed framework.

Debtors' Blocks: How Monetary Sanctions Make Between-neighborhood Racial and Economic Inequalities Worse.

Although recent scholarship has enumerated many individual-level consequences of criminal legal citations and sentences involving fines and fees, we know surprisingly little about the structural consequences of monetary sanctions or legal financial obligations (LFOs). We use social disorganization and critical race theories to examine neighborhood-level associations between and among LFO sentence amounts, poverty, and racial and ethnic demographics. Using longitudinal data from the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts, and the American Community Survey, we find LFOs are more burdensome in high-poverty communities and of color, and that per-capita rates of LFOs sentenced are associated with increased future poverty rates across all neighborhoods.