Territoriality Among African-American Street Gangs in Los Angeles
Abstract: This thesis analyzes Black gang territories in Los Angeles County, California for four years: 1972, 1978, 1982, and 1996. Gang territories for 1996 were collected in the field by examining gang graffiti and speaking with gang members. Territory data for the other time periods came from law enforcement sources. The thesis also provides a thorough discussion of the history of Black gangs in Los Angeles from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, when the contemporary Black gangs emerged. Black gang territories grew numerically from eighteen in 1972 to 274 by 1996 and grew spatially to cover over 62 square miles by 1996. The thesis also explicitly analyzes the location of gang graffiti, territorial boundaries of gangs, and homicides. The most hostile graffiti was prevalent on boundaries but gang-related homicides did not occur in high frequency at these boundaries.
Alejandro A. Alonso, University of Southern California, Department of Geography, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0255
Keywords:gang, territoriality, Los Angeles
