Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2021
DOI
10.5281/zenodo.4766541
Publication Title
International Journal of Cyber Criminology
Volume
15
Issue
2
Pages
18-43
Abstract
Gang studies often use location-based approaches to explain gang members’ interconnectedness. Although this perspective remains consistent with the proximity principle that the smaller the geographic space, the greater the likelihood of observing connections between individuals, location-based studies limit our understanding of gang member connections to narrowly defined geographic spaces at specific points in time. The advent of social media has re-spatialized gang member interconnectedness to unbounded geographic spaces, where the preservation of online activity can extend indefinitely. Despite having an online presence, most research examining the digital footprint of gangs tends to be descriptive. This study collects Twitter data to analyze the geospatial distribution of gang member connections using an exponential random graph model (ERGM) of location homophily. An ERGM analyzes network substructures to determine the patterns of relationships between vertices. In this case, the extent to which homophily by city, state, and gang affiliation determine gang member connections. The results of this study support the proximity principle but challenge the assertion that gangs are strictly localized.
Original Publication Citation
Roberts, R. J. (2021). Re-spatializing gangs: An exponential random graph model of Twitter data to analyze the geospatial distribution of gang member connections. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 15(2), 18-43. https://cybercrimejournal.com/menuscript/index.php/cybercrimejournal/article/view/17
Repository Citation
Roberts, Ryan J., "Re-Spatializing Gangs: An Exponential Random Graph Model of Twitter Data to Analyze the Geospatial Distribution of Gang Member Connections" (2021). Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications. 45.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/politicalscience_geography_pubs/45
Included in
Criminology Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, Social Media Commons
Comments
© 2020 International Journal of Cyber Criminology
This is a Diamond Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.