Violence in Urban Communities

-- By ChrisMendez - 13 Mar 2015

I. Gangs as a Form of Social Control

Donald Black argues that law is one form of social control. He suggests that there exists an inverse relationship between law and other types of social control. The presence of elevated levels of violence in underprivileged communities in the inner city seems to suggest the lack of social control in such areas. Such an argument overlooks the complexities stemming from the heavy gang presence in many urban communities. The form of social control exercised by gangs oftentimes includes particular rules related to permissible attire, regulating access to particular blocks and alleys, and territorial markers via graffiti. The forms of social control exerted by gangs are oftentimes enforced by violence or by the threat of violence.

This is not to suggest that the law is nonexistent in communities with a large gang presence. Many cities have dedicated substantial resources, including additional police officers, to these communities. Many have also turned to surveillance technology to monitor gang activity and drug trafficking. Beginning in 2003, for instance, Chicago began installing “Police Observation Devices” (PODs) in intersections experiencing high rates of violence. On one hand, these devices may exemplify the introduction of more law in underprivileged communities because they allow the police to monitor the activity of individuals passing by the cameras for twenty-four hours a day. On the other hand, the cameras do not necessarily decrease gangs’ level of social control because gangs can simply conduct illicit activities, which are oftentimes linked to violence, in a more clandestine matter. For instance, gangs can move drug operations to another block and they can refrain from wearing gang colors. Overall, violent crime has not decreased much in Chicago since 2004 and many of the areas in close proximity to PODs experience elevated levels of violence.

II. Transitioning Cities, More of the Same

Many cities have responded to the violence that is far too common in underserved communities through policies of urban renewal. Between the late 1990s and the late 2000s the vast majority of the high-rise housing projects in Chicago were torn down. Lower-income Chicagoans were offered Section 8 vouchers to live either in mixed-income apartment buildings to be built where the housing projects previously stood or in other neighborhoods. Given the time it would take to build sufficient mixed-income housing for tens of thousands of people, most residents moved to affordable areas elsewhere in Chicago.

Around the same time, a large number of Chicago gang leaders were prosecuted and sentenced to long prison terms. As the hierarchy was incarcerated, many large gangs split into smaller factions. As a result, the social control that gangs exercised over communities fundamentally changed. While the crime rates dramatically decreased in some neighborhoods as they gentrified, the rates of violence in other communities increased. Many members of decentralized gangs moved to different neighborhoods in Chicago where there was already a gang presence. This may help explain why violent crime rates have worsened in parts of the South Side, West Side, and Northwest Side as overall crime rates have remained stagnant in Chicago for the past decade.

III. Guns

The fracture of formerly hierarchical gangs is especially worrisome given how easily members of gangs are able to access guns. Even though Chicago has very restrictive gun laws, they are nonetheless abundant in the city due to its close proximity to areas that have much more lax gun laws. For instance, more than 1,300 guns confiscated in Chicago between 2008 and 2013 were traced to Chuck’s Gun Shop, which is located only a few miles south of the city limits. Like many other cities, Chicago has stringent gun laws yet guns are far too common as they are easily accessible throughout the Chicagoland region.

To address the violence plaguing many underprivileged urban communities, one option is to address the availability of guns. One approach is to advocate for uniform gun laws across the nation that would limit the flow of guns into cities from the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, given that there are approximately 300 million guns in the United States and the current political climate regarding gun laws, this does not seem to be a realistic option at the moment. Another possibility is to continue with the patchwork of laws that we currently have which led to situations akin to that present in Chicago. The third potential approach is to loosen gun control laws in cities to make it easier for city residents to legally obtain firearms. To a certain degree, the latter two approaches entail letting gun violence play out. These approaches overlook the likelihood that acts of violence are manifestations of underlying societal issues played out through the use of guns.

IV. Looking Forward

A better option to address violence in underprivileged communities is to address the deep socioeconomic inequalities entrenched in many cities throughout the United States. The acts of violence that are far too common in underserved areas are ultimately manifestations of inequality in extremely segregated cities.. While there are compelling benefits in attacking the social control exercised by gangs, revitalizing neighborhoods through urban renewal, and regulating access to firearms, these strategies do not address the socioeconomic inequalities that are the root of the problem. As the socioeconomic conditions improve in underserved communities, fewer youth will be attracted to joining gangs, residents will have improved opportunities, and the levels of violence may decrease. By strategizing to comprehensively address underlying socioeconomic inequalities, it is likely that there will be a reduction in the forms of social control that far too often lend themselves to violence in urban communities.