The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S.

Department of Justice and prepared the following final report:

Document Title: Gang Activity in Orange County, California:

Final Report to the National Institute of Justice

Author(s): Bryan J. Vila Ph.D., James W. Meeker Ph.D.

Document No.: 181242

Date Received: February 2000

Award Number: 96-IJ-CX-0030, 96-CN-WX-0019

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice.

To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federallyfunded grant final report available electronically in addition to

traditional paper copies.

Opinions or points of view expressed are those

of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect

the official position or policies of the U.S.

Department of Justice.
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

GANG ACTIVITY IN ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 

Final Report to the National Institute of Justice 

Award Number: 96-IJ-CX-0030

Principal Investigators: 

Bryan J. Vila, Ph.D. 

University of Wyoming 

James W. Meeker, J.D., Ph.D. 

University of California, Irvine 

August 1999 

The authors would like to thank the invaluable assistance of the research assistants on this project: Thomas E. Fossati, Ph.D., Jodi Lane, Ph.D., 

Katie J.B. Parsons, Ph.D., and Douglas Wiebe. We would also like to thank Darcy Purvis for her editorial help. This research would not have 

been possible without the cooperation of the Orange County Police Chiefs and Sheriff's Association Steering Committee on Juvenile Justice and 

Gangs and its Chair James Cook, Police Chief of Westminster. This report was prepared under grant number 96-IJ-CX-0030 from the National 

Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. The public survey of fear was also partially supported by grant number 96-CN-WX-0019 from 

the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. We would also like to thank the helpful comments of 

anonymous reviewers of earlier drafts of this report. Points of view or opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not 

necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Institute of Justice or the U. S. Department of Justice. 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

a 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary vi

Introduction

Organization of Report 1 

Project Overview 2 

Project History 3 

Data Collection 6 

Research Objectives 8 

Dissemination of Project Information 11 

Objective 1: Understanding Gang Crime and Anti-Gang Strategies 

Nature and Distribution of Gang Incidents, 1994–1997 12 

Findings for 1994–1997 Gang-Related Crimes 13 

Temporal Distribution of Gang Incidents: Hourly Trends for Juvenile and Adult 

 Arrest Incidents, 1994–1996 21 

Explaining Violent Gang Crime Variation 28 

Using GITS to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Anti-Gang Strategies 53 

Objective 2: Fear of Gang Crime 

Literature Review 61 

Fear of Crime and Gangs Survey Methods 66 

Analysis of Random Digit Dial Survey Findings 70 

Impact of Fear of Gang Crime 92 

Comparing Perceptions of Gang Crime with Reported Levels 94 

Ethnicity as a Predictor of Perceived Seriousness, Risk, and Fear of Gang Crime 97 

Conclusions 104

Final Report - Aug 99 i 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Objective 3: GITS Validity and Reliability Evaluation 

Validity of Gang Incident Measures 107 

Observations Regarding Use of Definitional Criteria 112 

Validation of Data Collected 117 

Data Coding Reliability Tests 119 

Improving GITS Data Collection 120 

Objective 4: GITS Program Evaluation 

Findings 125 

Goal Analysis 128 

GITS Benefits, Expected and Unexpected 132 

Structure of Interagency Cooperation 133 

Summary 

Discussion of Findings 136 

Future Research Opportunities 139 

References 141

Appendix A: GITS Data Coding Forms 153 

Appendix B: Fear of Crime and Gangs Survey 160 

Appendix C: Dissemination of Project Information Activities 174 

List of Figures 

Figure 1. Information flow into the GITS database 7 

Figure 2. Percentage of incidents in each major crime category 16 

Figure 3. Adult and juvenile arrests in gang-related incidents 17 

Figure 4. Known motivating factors in Orange County gang incidents, 1994-1997 18 

Figure 5. Known victims of gang incidents, 1994-1997 19 

Figure 6. Known victims of violent gang incidents, 1994-1997 20 

Figure 7. Firearm use in gang-related incidents 21 

Final Report – Aug 99 ii
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 8. Hourly number of juvenile gang-related arrest incidents on 550 schooldays 

(n=1,155) and 546 non-schooldays (n=838) in 1994–1996 22 

Figure 9. Hourly number of adult gang-related arrest incidents on 550 schooldays 

(n=1,034) and 546 non-schooldays (n=1,180) in 1994–1996 24 

Figure 10. Hourly number of juvenile gang-related violent (n=605), property (n=413) 

and tagging (n=374) arrest incidents in 1994–1996 26 

Figure 11. Hourly number of adult gang-related violent (n=854), property (n=363) and 

tagging (n=145) arrest incidents in 1994–1996 27 

Figure 12. Violent gang incidents by census tract. 33 

Figure 13. Predicted values for violent gang incidents based on OLS regression 41 

Figure 14. Moran scatterplot of OLS residuals with regression line 43 

Figure 15. OLS residuals by Moran Quadrant 44 

Figure 16. Significantly large positive and negative standardized residuals 45 

Figure 17. SAR model predicted values for Orange County census tracts 48 

Figure 18. Moran scatterplot of SAR residuals with regression line 49 

Figure 19. SAR residuals by Moran Quadrant 50 

Figure 20. Significantly large residuals for the SAR regression model 51 

Figure 21. Location of incidents committed by gang A in 1994 57 

Figure 22. Location of incidents committed by gang A in 1995 58 

Figure 23. Location of incidents committed by gang A in 1996 59 

Figure 24. Structural equation model predicting fear of crime and gangs 91 

Figure 25. Percentage of reported gang-related incidents by judicial district 96 

Figure 26. Gang incident hot spots for Orange County judicial districts 96 

Figure A1. Original GITS Coding Form 154 

Figure A2. Revised GITS Coding Form 158 

Figure A3. Revised GITS Coding Form Instructions 159 

Final Report – Aug 99 iii 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

List of Tables 

Table 1. Major crime categories 14 

Table 2. Detailed crime incidents by year 15 

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for violent incident measures in Orange County census 

tracts 32

Table 4. Description of data sources used and variable information for community 

structure 34

Table 5. Descriptive statistics for census measure of community structure 35 

Table 6. Principal components eigenvalues for community structure dimensions 36 

Table 7. Principal components loadings: varimax rotated solution 36 

Table 8. Reliability results for items used in creation of community dimensions 38 

Table 9. Descriptive statistics for OLS regression model 39 

Table 10. Results from OLS regression model 40 

Table 11. Results from SAR regression model 46 

Table 12. Theoretical constructs and survey questions used to measure them 69 

Table 13. RDD respondents rank the seriousness of eight crimes 71 

Table 14. RDD respondents indicate the likelihood that they will become a victim of 

eight crimes in the next 2-3 years 72 

Table 15. RDD respondents indicate how personally afraid they are of eight crimes 73 

Table 16. Predicting crime seriousness based upon RDD respondent demographic 

characteristics 76

Table 17. Predicting perceived risk of victimization based upon RDD respondent 

demographic characteristics 77 

Table 18. Predicting personal fear based upon RDD respondent demographic 

characteristics 78

Table 19. Predicted perceptions of seriousness based upon demographic, disorder, and 

diversity variables 82 

Table 20. Predicted perceived risk of victimization based upon demographic, disorder, 

and diversity variables 83 

Table 21. Predicting personal fear based upon demographic, disorder, and diversity 

variables 84

Final Report – Aug 99 iv
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 22. Predicting fear of crime from demographics, perceived seriousness and 

perceived risk 88 

Table 23. Predicting fear of crime from demographics, community concerns, perceived 

seriousness, and perceived risk 89 

Table 24. Perceptions of current community crime levels and crime changes in the last 

two to three years 93 

Table 25. Gang crime avoidance behaviors 94 

Table 26. Tukey HSD comparisons of ethnic differences in seriousness ratings for eight 

crimes 98

Table 27. Tukey HSD comparisons of ethnic differences in perceived risk of 

victimization for eight crimes 99 

Table 28. Tukey HSD comparisons of ethnic differences in fear for eight crimes 100 

Table 29. Predicting seriousness ratings of eight crimes based upon ethnicity and region 

of residence 101 

Table 30. Predicting perceived risk of victimization of eight crimes based upon ethnicity 

and county region of residence 102 

Table 31. Predicting fear of eight crimes based upon ethnicity and county region of 

residence 103

Final Report – Aug 99 v 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: GANG ACTIVITY IN ORANGE COUNTY

Background 

This analysis of “Gang Activity in Orange County” began in March 1995, when the 

Orange County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association (OCCSA) asked the University of California, 

Irvine (UCI) to enter into a long-term partnership to assist them in evaluating and monitoring the 

effectiveness of their community-based, multi-agency efforts to address gang violence. 

In response, the UCI School of Social Ecology established a Focused Research Group 

(FRG) on Gangs within its Department of Criminology, Law & Society. The goal of the FRG 

was to work with OCCSA and its countywide Gang Strategy Steering Committee (GSSC) to 

resolve a number of previously intractable questions about gangs, gang crime, and their effects 

on the community, and help them develop strategies to prevent and control illegal gang activity. 

Co-principal investigators for the UCI FRG were Dr. Bryan J. Vila (now with the 

University of Wyoming) and Dr. James W. Meeker. Drs. Vila and Meeker supervised the work 

of four UCI doctoral students: Thomas E. Fossati, Ph.D.; Jodi Lane, Ph.D.; Katie J.B. Parsons, 

Ph.D.; and Douglas Wiebe, ABD. 

Initial funding for the project was provided by $30,000 seed-money grants from Pacific 

Mutual Corp. of Newport Beach, California, and UCI. Two-year funding for the study reported 

here was received from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (Award 

Number 96-IJ-CX-0030) in 1996. Additional support for technical assistance to participating 

law enforcement agencies was received as part of a grant to OCCSA from the Office of 

Community Oriented Policing Services (PNG-22294), 

Final Report – Aug 99 vi
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

One of the primary programs developed by OCCSA and GSSC to be evaluated during the 

two-year study was the Orange County Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS). GITS was 

established in 1993 to document the extent of gang-related crime in the county and provide 

information for strategic planning and evaluation purposes by establishing a baseline against 

which to identify future trends in gang-related crime over time, and determining regional 

variation in gang-related crime patterns. 

GOALS

GITS collected more, and more detailed, cross-jurisdictional information about gang 

incidents than had ever been assembled before. So long as these data provide a reasonably valid, 

reliable, and complete picture of gang activity, they pose a unique opportunity to evaluate the 

nature, extent, and effects of street gang crime in a large metropolitan region. Therefore, our 

main research objectives were to: 

• Evaluate the validity and reliability of GITS data; 

• Describe and, if possible, explain the nature and distribution of gang crime using 

geographic information systems and multi-variate statistical techniques as well as attempt 

to assess the effectiveness of various gang prevention, intervention, and control strategies; 

• Determine the effects of fear of gangs and gang crime on residents of Orange County; and 

• Evaluate how well GITS met the initial goals set for it. 

Following is a brief summary of some of the more important findings from this study: 

Key Findings 

VALIDITY

• Data being collected by GITS appears to present a reasonably unbiased and complete 

picture of gang incidents handled by the police. The study found little evidence to support 

Final Report – Aug 99 vii
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

concerns that the police are drastically over-estimating gang-related crime in Orange 

County. In fact, based on a substantial number of ride-alongs and interviews, as well as 

field observation, and evaluation of official records, we found that law enforcement 

agencies tend to under-report gang incidents to the GITS database. 

• Orange County’s concentrated effort to train officers about legal criteria in California for 

defining who is a gang member appears to have paid off. Contrary to some claims, we 

found no evidence that officers were classifying young people as gang members merely 

because of their mode of dress, ethnicity, or place of residence when they reported gang

incidents for use in the countywide database. 

NATURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF GANG INCIDENTS

• There were 3,600 gang-related incidents reported to the GITS database in 1994, 3,407 in 

1995, 3,408 in 1996, and 3,227 in 1997. Of these incidents, the majority of gang-related 

crimes committed each year were violent crimes—45.2 percent, 46.9 percent, 53.8 

percent, and 48.9 percent, respectively. Vandalism/graffiti was the next most frequent 

gang-related crime during this four-year period (23.4 percent, 21.3 percent, 21 percent, 

and 31.6 percent, respectively), followed by weapons violations (15.1 percent, 16.1 

percent, 15.3 percent, and 11.7 percent, respectively) and property crimes (13.7 percent, 

12.5 percent, 6.9 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively), and narcotic sales (2.6 percent, 

3.3 percent, 3.0 percent, and 1.5 percent, respectively). 

• Overall, adult street gang crime in Orange County appears to be a more serious problem 

than juvenile gang crime. While similar proportions of juveniles and adults were arrested 

for gang-related incidents reported to the police, adults have much higher violent arrest 

rates than juveniles, and—compared to juveniles—a much lower proportion of gangrelated adult arrests are for property crimes. 

• The data clearly suggest that adult and juvenile gang intervention strategies reflect 

different needs at different times of the day. Adult offenses for all types of crime are 

unaffected by schoolday and non-schoolday periods; that is, they show similar time-ofday patterns during either period. In contrast, gang-related juvenile offenses peak much

earlier in the day on schooldays. Moreover, the number of juvenile gang-related arrests at 

Final Report – Aug 99 viii 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

the peak hours on schooldays (from 2–2:59 p.m.) is much higher than at the peak on nonschooldays (from 11–11:59 p.m.). Another important difference between juvenile and 

adult gang-related arrests is that, on schooldays, the number of juvenile arrests for all 

offenses increases sharply early in the day (climbing steadily from 7 a.m. to 3:59 p.m.), 

whereas adult arrests climb slowly throughout the day and peak in the evening. 

• Regional approaches such as the one mounted by the Orange County Chiefs’ and 

Sheriff’s Association are required for tracking, understanding, or addressing street gang 

problems. We found that communities tend to be significantly impacted by violent crime 

in neighboring communities. This means that any attempt to reduce the gang problem in 

areas of Orange County where it is more concentrated will have to consider neighboring 

communities as well. 

FEAR OF GANGS AND GANG CRIME

The focus of the study is on gang crime and associated fears. We specifically studied 

perceptions of fear, risk, and seriousness for six crimes typically association with gangs and two 

crimes that are not. 

• Overall, women tend to be more afraid than men of all eight crimes measured in the 

study—graffiti, home invasion robbery, drive-by shootings, physical assault, harassment, 

carjacking, burglary, and rape. However, women’s perceived risk of actually being a 

victim of these crimes was significantly related only to burglary and rape. Therefore, 

although women report more fear of all eight crimes than do men, they don’t necessarily 

feel more at risk. Women also are more likely to rate crimes, except carjacking, as more 

serious than do men. 

• Age was found to be negatively related to ratings of seriousness for gang-related assault, 

carjacking, and home invasion robbery—i.e., younger residents tended to rate these crimes 

as more serious than did older residents. Younger residents also perceived greater risk of 

graffiti, gang-related harassment, and gang-related assault than did older residents, and 

were more fearful of gang-related assault, carjacking, home invasion robbery, drive-by 

shootings, and rape. 

Final Report – Aug 99 ix
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

• Although lower income and education were significantly related to perceived risk for most 

of the crimes in the study, income was not significantly related to fear of any of the 

crimes. 

• Prior victimization was related to perceived risk of future victimization, but not 

significantly related to fear of any of the crimes. 

• Whites generally were more likely to rate the crimes named in the study as serious. But in 

terms of risk and fear, Vietnamese felt more at risk and more fearful than Hispanics, who 

felt significantly more at risk and more fearful than whites. 

• As with previous studies, concern about community disorder was a significant predictor of 

perceived risk and fear for almost all of the crimes. However, concern about community 

diversity was not significantly related to seriousness ratings, perceived risk, or fear of any 

of the crimes named in the study. 

Final Comments

The Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS) project clearly demonstrates the 

usefulness—and the necessity—of multi-jurisdictional efforts to understand, prevent, intervene 

with, and suppress street gang activities. Just as clearly, we think, it demonstrates the value of 

partnerships between criminal justice practitioners and university researchers. 

One of the most heartening surprises associated with this project is that several dozen law 

enforcement and community agencies can collaborate successfully with one another and with a 

team of university researchers. The Orange County Chief’s and Sheriff’s Association and the 

county Gang Strategy Steering Committee provide an excellent model for regions struggling 

with the reality that crime often is multi-jurisdictional in nature. The findings reported here 

provide evidence of the utility of this type of cooperative endeavor for practitioners. They also 

reveal opportunities for fruitful scholarly research (see Summary and Conclusions). 

Final Report – Aug 99 x 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

INTRODUCTION

Organization of Report 

This is the final report for a research grant titled “Gang Activity in Orange County” 

awarded to the University of California, Irvine (UCI) by the U.S. Department of Justice’s 

National Institute of Justice (Award Number 96-IJ-CX-0030). The grant was administered by 

the UCI School of Social Ecology. Co-principal investigators were Dr. Bryan J. Vila (now with 

the University of Wyoming) and Dr. James W. Meeker. 

Drs. Vila and Meeker supervised the work of four UCI doctoral students, each of whom 

took the lead on a different aspect of the project; developing the research design, overseeing 

implementation, conducting analyses, and preparing draft reports. Three of the students, Thomas

E. Fossati, Ph.D.; Jodi Lane, Ph.D.; and Katie Parsons, Ph.D., worked on the project from its 

inception in March 1995. Douglas Wiebe, ABD, joined the project in 1997. Although Drs. Vila 

and Meeker bear sole responsibility for the work reported here, we acknowledge the invaluable 

role played by Fossati, Lane, Parsons, and Wiebe. Although their individual contributions are 

noted as appropriate in each of the following sections of the report, it is important to recognize 

that during the course of the project each student participated in a wide variety of activities. We

also gratefully acknowledge the diligent work of more than 20 undergraduate research assistants 

who entered data, checked the accuracy of locator data, and assisted with database development. 

The report first provides an overview of the GITS project and relevant history regarding 

its development. After a collective description of the project’s research goals, each of the goals 

is treated as a separate chapter that discusses key problems, describes research methods and 

analysis, then presents findings. Because one of the non-research goals of this project was the 

Final Report – Aug 99 1 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

dissemination of information to scholars, practitioners, and relevant officials, we next list 

scholarly publications that have been made or are currently being prepared, conference 

presentations, public presentations, and reports prepared by project staff for local government 

agencies. The report ends with a summary discussion of findings and future research needs. 

Project Overview 

In recent years, many communities that previously considered themselves insulated from

inner-city problems have been forced to acknowledge that gang violence also can extend into 

their neighborhoods (Curry, Ball and Fox, 1994; Spergel and Curry, 1995). Orange County, 

California is one such community. Located 40 miles south of Los Angeles, Orange County is a 

highly heterogeneous suburban county with 2.7 million people living in 31 cities and 

unincorporated areas. Since 1980, the county has experienced rapid growth, increasing 

urbanization, and racial and ethnic change. Despite a few traditional Hispanic “turf” gangs 

firmly entrenched in its less affluent areas (see Vigil and Long, 1990), Orange County 

historically has enjoyed low crime rates and relative tranquility. 

During the past decade, however, gang activity appears to have been on the rise in the 

county. In 1991, the Orange County Grand Jury reported that gang problems were escalating at 

an alarming rate, a sentiment echoed by the 1995 Orange County Grand Jury. According to 

police and media reports, gang crime in Orange County not only had become more frequent, but 

more violent. More mobile Asian gangs, as well as white “skinhead” gangs have emerged within 

the county, along with a growing number of more traditional turf-oriented gangs. 

Final Report – Aug 99 2 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Orange County residents also have become increasingly concerned about gangs and 

crime. A 1994 survey1 found that 75 percent of residents were aware of gang problems in their 

community, and 61 percent thought gang activities have increased in the past few years. In 

addition, the Orange County Annual Survey2 found that residents' worries about crime—once a 

low concern—ranked highest on the list of county problems for the first time in 1993 and again 

in 1994. 

Project History 

In response to escalating gang activities that often overlapped jurisdictional boundaries, 

the Orange County Chiefs' and Sheriff's Association (OCCSA) established a countywide Gang 

Strategy Steering Committee (GSSC) in 1992. Joining forces with school districts, local 

government agencies, community groups, and businesses, all 22 law enforcement agencies in the 

county developed and implemented an unprecedented community-based, multi-agency effort to 

address gang violence. 

Since then, following the recommendations of the California State Task Force on Gangs 

(1989:37, 57), OCCSA launched a comprehensive set of programs: 

• Project No Gangs, a countywide community education and awareness prevention program

aimed at mobilizing community resources to fight the influence of gangs; 

• TARGET, a suppression program strategically located in eight cities involving law 

enforcement, probation, and prosecution staff in targeting hard-core gang leaders and 

repeat offenders through vigorous surveillance and prosecution (Kent and Smith, 1995); 

 1 The survey, conducted for Drug Abuse is Life Abuse, involved random telephone interviews with 600 adult 

Orange County residents (Mark Baldassare and Associates, 1994). 

2 A random telephone survey of 1,000 adult county residents conducted annually since 1982 (Baldassare and Katz). 

Final Report – Aug 99 3 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

• The Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS), designed to document the extent of gangrelated crime in the county and provide information for strategic planning and evaluation 

purposes (Vila and Meeker, 1997). 

Although OCCSA laid the foundation for interagency coordination and data collection, it 

lacked the analytical resources and expertise to fully evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of 

these programs. Early in 1995, OCCSA asked UCI to enter into a long-term partnership to 

enhance their analytical capabilities. The UCI School of Social Ecology established a Focused 

Research Group (FRG) on Gangs within its Department of Criminology, Law & Society. In 

keeping with the School’s tradition for using innovative research techniques to tackle important 

community problems in a holistic fashion, the goal of the FRG was to work with OCCSA and 

GSSC to resolve a number of previously intractable questions about gangs, gang crime, and their 

effects on the community and help them develop strategies to prevent and control illegal gang 

activity. 

GITS 

Orange County's Gang Incident tracking System (GITS) is intended to accurately 

identify the extent of gang-related crime in Orange County, establish a baseline against which to 

identify future trends in gang-related crime over time, and determine regional variation in gangrelated crime patterns. This information is used by Orange County law enforcement agencies to 

facilitate strategic planning and improve resource allocation for controlling gang activities. 

GITS became operative January 1, 1993, when county law enforcement agencies began 

reporting all gang-related incidents, based on police reports, to a centralized database. By the 

end of 1993, all 22 independent cities and the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner's Department 

(which serves contract cities and unincorporated areas) had established relatively consistent

internal procedures for identifying and tracking gang-related crime, and were reporting to the 

Final Report – Aug 99 4 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

centralized database. Training programs and a short training videotape were used to teach patrol 

officers countywide how to identify and report gang-related incidents to GITS. The GSSC 

declared publicly that 1994 GITS data was to be the benchmark by which future law 

enforcement activities involving gang activities would be judged. 

To help avoid discrepancies between agencies, the GSSC definition of the term “gang” 

closely follows the one used in California's Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention 

(STEP) Act (CPC §186.22), “...a group of three or more persons who have a common 

identifying sign, symbol or name, and whose members individually or collectively engage in or 

have engaged in a pattern of criminal activity creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in 

the community.” 

Gang-related crimes were defined as those where: 

• Suspects(s) are identified as gang members, or admit(s) membership in a gang; 

• A person becomes a victim due to his/her gang association; 

• A reliable informant identifies an incident as gang activity; or 

• An informant of previously untested reliability identifies an incident as gang activity, and 

it is corroborated by other independent information. 

Incidents also may be included that do not fit these criteria if there are strong indications 

of gang involvement (e.g., suspects display gang hand signs, or the incident fits the profile of 

gang incidents, such as drive-by shootings, or home invasion robberies). 

The definition adopts the gang-involved definition of gang crime. This is often called the 

Los Angeles model because of its adoption by law enforcement in that county. The other 

definition used by law enforcement is the gang-motivated, or Chicago model. This definition 

restricts gang crime to incidents that have a clear gang motivation. The gang-involved model is 

the broader perspective including not only gang-motivated crime, but all crime involving gang 

Final Report – Aug 99 5 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

members. While the gang-involved definition will clearly include more crime, the limited 

research on this issue to date suggests both definitions cover crimes that produce similar patterns 

in factors associated with the crime (see Maxson and Klein, 1990 and 1996). 

Data Collection 

GITS DATABASE DEVELOPMENT

The original GITS reporting forms (Appendix A) collected information on gang 

identification, map grid location, 21 crime categories, and number of juveniles and adults 

arrested during each incident. Additional information about motivating factors, drugs and 

alcohol, and weapons involved in the incident also were collected, as was information about 

victim/offender relationship. The form was changed in 1995 to collect specific address data, and 

all 1994 cases were updated to include address. For reporting purposes, the type of incident is 

divided into three primary categories: violent crime, property crime, and other crime. 

In 1996 the data coding forms were revised based upon input from all jurisdictions 

(Appendix B). There were two major category changes. First, the crime categories were 

expanded to allow coders to list the penal code violations associated with each incident on the 

departmental reports. This eliminated the need for coders to translate specific penal codes into 

the 1994–1995 crime categories, reducing error. Coders also were given the opportunity to 

indicate more than the most serious crime related to the incident; this provided an opportunity to 

identify most of the crimes associated with each incident. Another major change in the data 

coding form was the inclusion of a victim relationship category. On the 1994–1995 forms, the 

victim category was not reliable due to overlapping meanings in the categories. This created 

confusion for coders and resulted in unreliable coding. The new form was modified to clear up 

Final Report – Aug 99 6 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

confusion and to reflect the desire for information about gang-on-gang crime versus gang-onnon-gang crime. 

THE REPORTING PROCESS

Figure 1. Information flow into the GITS database 

Data coded 

onto GITS form

Form submitted 

to researchers

Data entered

1st assessment:

 Gang Related? 

Review: Gang 

Related? 

Researcher review:

Filled out OK? 

Data entry check: 

OK? 

Gang-related 

incident occurs

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

Police prepare 

incident report 

Figure 1 illustrates the flow of information from a gang incident to entry of incident data 

into GITS. When an incident comes to the attention of police and a field incident report is taken, 

officers may indicate that they believe the incident is gang related. If so, the report is reviewed 

Final Report – Aug 99 7 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

later by the person responsible for review of departmental reports for possible inclusion in GITS. 

If the review process is working properly (see reliability evaluation later on), every field incident 

report also receives another review for gang-relatedness. Gang-related incidents then are coded 

onto the GITS form by individuals assigned that task in each department and forwarded to the 

research team. There, the forms are reviewed for completeness and potential errors. Those that 

fail this screening are rejected and returned to the department for correction. Those that pass are 

entered into the GITS database. Once data have been entered, a member of the project team

conducts a last check to assure that they were entered accurately. If not, the errors are corrected. 

Research Objectives 

The Orange County Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS) collected more, and more 

detailed, cross-jurisdictional information about gang incidents than had ever been assembled 

before. So long as these data provide a reasonably valid, reliable, and complete picture of gang 

activity, they pose a unique opportunity to evaluate the nature, extent, and effects of street gang 

crime in a large metropolitan region. Our initial research objectives were to: 

• Evaluate the validity and reliability of GITS data; 

• Describe and, if possible, explain the nature and distribution of gang crime as well as 

attempt to assess the effectiveness of various gang prevention, intervention, and control 

strategies; 

• Determine the effects of fear of gangs and gang crime on residents of Orange County; and 

• Evaluate how well GITS met the initial goals set for it. 

Obviously, it would not be possible to exhaust the research potential of such an extensive data 

collection project—especially when more than half of project staff time was devoted to mundane

tasks such as data collection, entry, and geocoding as well as the endless coordination and 

Final Report – Aug 99 8 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

administrative tasks associated with the cooperative effort of more than 30 government agencies. 

In the following four sections we present results of our evaluation of GITS reliability and 

validity and our assessment of the effects of fear of gangs and gang crime on county residents. 

We also describe the nature and extent of gang crime in the region and present results of 

explanatory research (with the caveat that there still is substantial potential in the data with 

regard to explaining gang crime). 

Objective 1: Understanding Gang Crime and Anti-Gang Strategies. Use geographic 

information system and multi-variate statistical techniques to analyze the extensive Orange 

County gang incident data collected by OCCSA in order to (1) increase understanding of the 

nature and distribution of gang incidents reported by the police, and (2) test the effectiveness of 

different gang prevention and control efforts initiated by law enforcement agencies, such as 

“street sweeps” and targeting gang leadership. Potential research questions under this objective 

included: 

• What is the extent of the gang problem in Orange County? 

• How many gang-related incidents are there? 

• How many gangs are there, where are they located, how many members do they have, 

what are their personal characteristics, and what types of crimes do they commit? 

• Are there statistically significant relationships between gang incidents reported by police 

in Orange County and social, economic, demographic, educational, ecological and 

geographical variables? 

• What strategies are likely to be more effective for combating gang crime? 

• Are different control and prevention strategies effective against different types of gangs?

• Does suppression of gang activities in one area displace them to another area?

Final Report – Aug 99 9 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

• Does suppression of one type of gang activity deflect gang members toward other types of 

crime? 

• What effect does removal of gang leaders have (i.e., does it lead to more or less violence 

by gang members and is any increase in violence focused inside or outside the gang)? 

Objective 2: Fear of Gang Crime. Identify factors that contribute to community 

members’ perceptions of—and fears about—gang violence and compare residents’ fears to 

actual levels of gang activity in the county so that law enforcement efforts may be targeted to 

address community concerns more efficiently and effectively. Potential research questions under 

this objective included:

• How much fear do Orange County residents currently have about gang violence? 

• How closely are these fears related to actual risks of victimization? 

• What factors have the most impact on residents’ perceptions of, and fears about, gang 

activity? 

• What effect does increased gang violence—or the perception of increased gang 

violence—have on residents’ day-to-day activities and quality of life? 

Objective 3: GITS Validity and Reliability Evaluation. Determine how completely, 

accurately and reliably Orange County law enforcement agencies measure illegal gang activity. 

Potential research questions under this objective included: 

• Are current techniques for measuring gang-related incidents and violence and for 

identifying gang members valid? 

• How consistently are gang members and gang-related incidents identified by officers 

within and between law enforcement agencies? 

Final Report – Aug 99 10 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

• What can be done to improve collection of data on gangs and gang incidents in Orange 

County?

Objective 4: GITS Program Evaluation. Determine how well GITS meets the goals 

originally set by law enforcement officials and identify ways to improve the original program

goals. 

Dissemination of Project Information 

Another of the project deliverables was an active effort to disseminate information to

academics, practitioners, and policy makers. Since 1995, we have presented 23 conference 

papers on GITS research, given 17 talks to practitioner bodies and the general public, prepared 

nine extensive reports for local agencies, and prepared two more specialized analyses for federal 

agencies. We also have published three doctoral dissertations, one refereed journal article—with 

an additional eight under preparation along with a book. Appendix C provides a complete listing 

of publications, presentations, and other information dissemination activities. 

Final Report – Aug 99 11 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

OBJECTIVE 1: UNDERSTANDING GANG CRIME AND ANTI-GANG 

STRATEGIES

Our objective in this portion of the research was to analyze the extensive Orange County 

gang incident data collected by OCCSA using geographic information system software and 

multivariate statistical analysis techniques to (1) increase understanding of the nature and 

distribution of gang incidents reported by the police, and (2) test the effectiveness of different 

gang prevention and control efforts initiated by law enforcement agencies, such as “street 

sweeps” and targeting gang leadership. Dr. Katie J.B. Parsons shouldered primary responsibility 

for oversight of data screening and entry activities, Dr. Thomas E. Fossati was team leader for 

crime mapping and geospatial analyses. Mr. Douglas Wiebe took a leadership role with regard 

to temporal analyses and the evaluation of gang prevention and control efforts. 

Nature and Distribution of Gang Incidents, 1994-1997 

GANG INCIDENT TRACKING SYSTEM DATABASE

The original Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS) reporting forms collected 

information on gang identification, map grid location, 21 crime categories, and number of 

juveniles and adults arrested for each incident. Information about motivating factors, drugs and 

alcohol, and weapons involved in the incident also were collected, as was information about 

victim/offender relationship. The form was changed in 1995 to collect specific incident address 

data that would enable us to apply GIS analysis, and all 1994 cases were updated to include 

incident addresses. For reporting purposes, the “type of incident” entry is divided into three main 

categories: violent crime, property crime, and other crime. More specific findings are listed for 

Final Report – Aug 99 12 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

particular elements found on the GITS reporting sheet. Due to the amount of information tracked 

by this database, specific findings are limited to major elements found on the GITS data form. 

In 1996 the data coding forms were revised based upon departmental input from all 

jurisdictions. There were two major category changes. First, the crime categories were 

expanded to allow coders to indicate the penal codes designated on the departmental reports. 

This eliminated the need for coders to translate specific penal codes into the 1994–1995 crime 

categories, reducing error. Coders also were given the opportunity to indicate more than the most 

serious crime related to the incident. Another major change in the data coding form included the 

victim relationship category. On the 1994–1995 forms, the victim category was not reliable due 

to overlapping meanings in the categories creating confusion for coders. The new form was 

modified to clear up confusion and to reflect the desire for information about gang-on-gang 

crime versus gang-on-non-gang crime. Appendix A provides copies of the coding forms and 

describes the data collection system in more detail. 

Findings for 1994-1997 Gang-Related Crimes 

GENERAL FINDINGS

The findings reported here represent all data entered into the Gang Incident Tracking 

System (GITS) by May 1, 1998 for Orange County. Because data forms were changed to collect 

information on penal codes, only incidents that contained one of the original 21 crime categories 

are included in 1996 and 1997 data. The use of penal codes resulted in 42 separate crime 

categories. Those additional categories include alcohol, conspiracy, contributing to minors, 

counterfeiting, court order violations, curfew violations, domestic abuse, fraud, narcotic 

possession, narcotic use, probation violation-adult, probation violation-juvenile, receiving stolen 

Final Report – Aug 99 13 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

property, reimprisonment of parolee, school, status offenses, suspicious circumstance, theft, 

traffic, trespassing, and other. 

NUMBER OF GANG-RELATED INCIDENTS

The first two tables present the number of violent, property and other crimes reported to 

the GITS system for 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997. To the right of the total number is the relative 

proportion of reported gang-related crime that this category represents. Table 1 reports the 

number of crimes occurring in the broad categories, and Table 2 reports a more detailed 

description of the specific crimes included in the original 21 crime categories.3 

Table 1. Major crime categories

INCIDENT CATEGORY ALL 

94 

% 94 ALL 

95 

% 95 ALL

96 

% 96 ALL 

97 

% 97

TOTAL REPORTED 3600 100 3407 100 3408 100 3227 100

VIOLENT INCIDENTS 1628 45.2 1598 46.9 1832 53.8 1578 48.9

PROPERTY INCIDENTS 492 13.7 425 12.5 235 6.9 204 6.3

OTHER INCIDENTS: 1480 41.1 1384 40.6 1341 39.3 1445 44.8

 NARCOTIC SALES 94 2.6 114 3.3 102 3.0 48 1.5

 VANDALISM/GRAFFITI 844 23.4 725 21.3 716 21.0 1019 31.6

 WEAPON LAW VIOL. 542 15.1 545 16.0 523 15.3 378 11.7

 3

 Data collection for the years 1994 and 1995 are directly comparable. The 1996 data were collected on a new form

with crimes being recorded differently. In 1994 and 1995, broad crime categories were checked by the data coders. 

In 1996 and 1997, data coders simply entered the penal code section(s) from the police field report in the incident

blank on the form. These penal codes then were aggregated into the larger crime categories used in 1994 and 1995. 

In 1994 and 1995 vandalism and graffiti were two distinct categories. The penal code used for law enforcement 

purposes covers both activities. For ease in analyzing the data, vandalism and graffiti were collapsed for the first 

two years and are described as “other crimes.” This category was created to avoid weighing down the “property

incidents” category with unreliable data. 

Final Report – Aug 99 14 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 2. Detailed crime incidents by year 

TOTAL REPORTED 

INCIDENTS

94 %94 95 %95 96 %96 97 %97

VIOLENT INCIDENTS

ASSLT/BATT. ON POLICE 33 0.9 18 0.5 101 3.0 103 3.2

CARJACKING/ROBBERY 48 1.3 47 1.4 28 0.8 18 0.6

EXTORTION 9 0.3 8 0.2 2 0.1 5 0.0

FELONIOUS ASSAULT 542 15.1 585 17.2 516 15.1 359 11.1

HOME INVASION ROB’RY 21 0.6 42 1.2 0 0.0 0 0.0

HOMICIDE/MANSLA’TER 67 1.9 66 1.9 45 1.3 29 0.9

WITNESS INTIMIDATION 12 0.3 11 0.3 13 0.4 6 0.2

KIDNAPPING 9 0.3 4 0.1 8 0.2 6 0.2

MISD. ASSAULT/BATTERY 177 4.9 161 4.7 162 4.8 149 4.6

ROBBERY 519 14.4 424 12.4 764 22.4 748 23.2

SEXUAL ASSAULT 22 0.6 10 0.3 13 0.4 12 0.4

SHOOT–INHAB. DWELNG. 108 3.0 116 3.4 110 3.2 75 2.3

SHOOT–UNINHAB. VEH. 25 0.7 44 1.3 20 0.6 15 0.5

TERRORISM 36 1.0 62 1.8 50 1.5 53 1.6

VIOLENT TOTAL 1628 45.2 1598 46.9 1832 53.8 1578 48.9

PROPERTY INCIDENTS

ARSON 7 0.2 4 0.1 6 0.2 1 0.0

AUTO THEFT 169 4.7 122 3.6 83 2.4 72 2.2

BURGLARY 316 8.8 299 8.8 146 4.3 131 4.1

PROPERTY TOTAL 492 13.7 425 12.5 235 6.9 204 6.3

OTHER INCIDENTS

NARCOTICS SALES 94 2.6 114 3.3 102 3.0 48 1.5

VANDALISM/GRAFFITI 844 23.4 725 21.3 716 21.0 1019 31.6

WEAPON LAW VIOL. 542 15.1 545 16.0 523 15.3 378 11.7

OTHER TOTAL 1480 41.1 1384 40.6 1341 39.3 1445 44.8

TOTAL ALL INCIDENTS 3600 100.0 3407 100.0 3408 100.0 3227 100.0

Final Report – Aug 99 15 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 2 illustrates the relative proportion of incidents which fall into each broad crime 

category during all years. Therefore, it is possible to determine the change in the relative 

proportions over time. Remember that vandalism and graffiti have been collapsed into one 

category. 

Figure 2. Percentage of incidents in each major crime category 

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Violent Property Weapons Vandalism/Graffiti Narcotic Sales

1994 1995 1996 1997

Final Report – Aug 99 16 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 3 has two columns, one indicating adult arrests and another indicating juvenile 

arrests. Each column illustrates the number of incidents in which there was an arrest. It does not 

represent the total number of adult and juvenile arrests. A single incident could be counted in 

each component because: 

• both adults and juveniles could be arrested in a single incident 

• more than one individual can be arrested in a single incident. 

Figure 3. Adult and juvenile arrests in gang-related incidents 

0

200

400

600

800

1994 1995 1996 1997

Adult Juvenile

 

Final Report – Aug 99 17 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 4 indicates the number of times that three key types of motivating factors were 

linked to gang incidents in from 1994 to 1997. Gang-related factors include gang rivalry, 

retaliation, territorial disputes, intimidation and initiation. Economic gain and personal conflict 

are self-explanatory. It is important to note that coders could choose more than one factor when 

filling out the GITS form based upon the information contained in the police field report. For 

example, an incident could be linked to both personal conflict and economic gain. 

Figure 4. Known motivating factors in Orange County gang incidents, 1994–1997 

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Gang Related Economic Gain Personal Conflict

1994 1995 1996 1997

Final Report – Aug 99 18 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 5 provides information about known victims of gang-related crime (personal and 

property).4 Changes in reporting make it difficult to compare victim information for 1994–1995 

with that from 1996–1997. Coders were asked to determine if the victim was an acquaintance of 

the suspect, an innocent or unintended victim, or a rival gang member. However, a person 

actually could be an acquaintance, an innocent bystander, and an unintended victim. This was 

confusing for coders and we do not consider data for 1994–1995 to be reliable. In 1996, we 

modified the coding sheet to minimize these sources of error. Coders were asked to respond to 

two separate questions, whether the victim was a rival gang member or not, and whether the 

victim was intentionally or unintentionally injured. 

Figure 5. Known victims of gang incidents, 1994-1997 

0%

20%

40%

60%

Rival Gang Mem ber Innocent / Unintended

1994 1995 1996 1997

 4

 Victims were identified in 3,058 incidents in 1994, 2,951 incidents in 1995, 2,763 in 1996, and 2,715 in 1997. 

Final Report – Aug 99 19 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 6 provides information about known victims of gang-related violent crime.5 

Again, data for 1994 and 1995 are not reliable due to overlapping categories on the old data 

coding sheet. Nevertheless, relative consistency of reports over the four-year period gives some

perspective on relationships between victims and offenders in violent gang incidents. 

Figure 6. Known victims of violent gang Incidents, 1994-1997 

0%

25%

50%

75%

Rival Gang Member Innocent / Unintended

1994 1995 1996 1997

 5

 The number of violent incidents in which a victim was identified in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 respectively was 

1,528, 1,532, 1,718, and 1,454. 

Final Report – Aug 99 20 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 7 depicts the proportion of gang-related incidents in which firearms such as 

handguns, rifles, shotguns, or automatic weapons were used during 1994–1997.6

Figure 7. Firearm use in gang-related incidents 

0%

25%

50%

1994 1995 1996 1997

Temporal Distribution of Gang Incidents: Hourly Trends for Juvenile 

and Adult Arrest Incidents, 1994–1996 

INTRODUCTION

We used data from the Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS) to analyze hourly trends 

of gang incidents that resulted in a juvenile and/or adult arrest. Mr. Douglas Wiebe took the lead 

on temporal analysis of gang arrest incidents. GITS records contain 10,393 incidents of gangrelated crime in the years 1994–1996. Of these, 3,801 (36.6 percent) involved arrests of 

 6

 Incidents involving the use of firearms numbered 1,628 in 1994, 1,598 in 1995, 1,832 in 1996, and 1,578 in 1997.

Final Report – Aug 99 21 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

juveniles under age 18 or adults. Both juveniles and adults were arrested in 445 incidents (11.7 

percent). 2,016 incidents (53.0 percent) had at least one arrest of a juvenile, and 2,230 incidents 

(58.7 percent) had at least one arrest of an adult. 

JUVENILE GANG INCIDENTS ON SCHOOLDAYS AND NON-SCHOOLDAYS

Figure 8. Hourly juvenile gang-related arrest incidents on 550 schooldays (N=1,155) 

and 546 non-schooldays (N=838) in 1994–1996. 

0

20

40

60

80

100

6:00-6:59am8:00-8:59am

10:00-10:59am

12:00-12:59pm

2:00-2:59pm4:00-4:59pm6:00-6:59pm8:00-8:59pm

10:00-10:59pm

12:00-12:59am

2:00-2:59am4:00-4:59am

Gang Arrest Incidents

Schooldays Non-schooldays

The hourly trend of juvenile gang-related arrest incidents committed during schooldays in 

Orange County is substantially different than the trend for non-schooldays. Figure 8 shows the 

hourly trend of (gang related) juvenile arrest incidents for all crime categories (i.e., violent crime, 

property crime, narcotics offenses, weapons law violations, and tagging/vandalism) occurring 

during schooldays and non-schooldays. The number of incidents resulting in arrest on 

Final Report – Aug 99 22 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

schooldays increases rapidly during the morning and early afternoon and peaks between 3–3:59 

p.m. Unlike non-gang violent juvenile victimization (Sickmund, Snyder & Poe-Yamagata, 1997: 

26), gang arrest incidents begin increasing sharply very early on schooldays (between 7:59 a.m). 

The hourly number of arrest incidents then decreases until 6:59 p.m, increases slightly between 

8–9:59 p.m., and then steadily decreases after 10 p.m. During the data collection period, all 

Orange County jurisdictions had curfew laws in effect on schooldays, most starting at 10 p.m.

Thirty-five percent of juvenile gang arrest incidents on schooldays occur during the 

typical seven-hour schoolday from 8 a.m. to 2:59 p.m., and 20.7 percent occur during the first 

three hours after school, from 3–5:59 p.m. While other research found this after-school period to 

be the peak time for all juvenile crime (Sickmund, Snyder & Poe-Yamagata, 1997: 26), the 

GITS data show a different pattern. That is, the same number of gang-related juvenile arrest 

incidents (20.1 percent) in Orange County occur during the last three hours of the school/day as 

occur during the three hour after-school period. The early afternoon on schooldays appears to be 

just as volatile as the period immediately after school with regard to gang incidents involving 

juveniles. 

On non-schooldays (weekends, summers and vacations), the hourly arrest trend follows a 

different pattern. Arrest incidents increase more gradually overall until the most active hour 

between 11–11:59 p.m. A greater proportion of non-schoolday incidents occurs later in the 

evening, and far fewer daytime incidents occur on non-schooldays. This becomes evident when 

the incident rate during the 8 a.m. to 2:59 p.m. period is compared for schooldays and nonschooldays: .74 arrest incidents per period on schooldays versus only .26 arrest incidents per 

period on non-schooldays. The overall daily incident rates also differed. There were 2.1 arrest 

incidents per schoolday and 1.5 arrest incidents per non-schoolday in 1994–1996. 

Final Report – Aug 99 23 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

ADULT GANG INCIDENTS ON SCHOOLDAYS AND NON-SCHOOLDAYS

Hourly trends for adult incidents do not vary significantly between schooldays and nonschooldays. Figure 9 shows that while adult gang arrest incidents peak an hour earlier on 

schooldays than on non-schooldays, the overall trends of gradually increasing arrest incidents 

over the course of the day are quite similar. The most notable difference is that more of the 

schoolday arrest incidents occur earlier in the day, and more of the non-schoolday arrest 

incidents occur later in the evening. There were 1.9 arrest incidents per schoolday for adults and 

2.2 arrest incidents per non-schoolday. Finally, adult gang-related arrest incidents do not 

increase rapidly in early morning hours on schooldays as do juvenile arrest incidents. 

Figure 9. Hourly number of adult gang-related arrest incidents on 550 schooldays 

(N=1,034) and 546 non-schooldays (N=1,180) in 1994–1996 

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

6:00-6:59am8:00-8:59am

10:00-10:59am12:00-12:59pm

2:00-2:59pm4:00-4:59pm6:00-6:59pm8:00-8:59pm

10:00-10:59pm12:00-12:59am

2:00-2:59am4:00-4:59am

Gang Arrest Incidents

Schooldays Non-schooldays

Final Report – Aug 99 24 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

JUVENILE GANG-RELATED ARRESTS FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF CRIMES7

Figure 10 compares the hourly trends of juvenile gang-related violent crime

8

 and property 

crime

9

 arrest incidents that were reported to GITS. There were a total of 605 violent arrest 

incidents and 413 property arrest incidents in the period 1994–1996. Violent crimes peak in the 

afternoon (between 3–3:59 p.m.), early evening (between 8–8:59 p.m.), and nighttime (between 

11–11:59 p.m.). This trend varies substantially between schooldays and non-schooldays with 

schoolday incidents occuring mainly during the afternoon, and non-schoolday incidents in the 

evening and nighttime. 

A majority of the juvenile property crime arrest incidents occur after 4 p.m. (68.0 

percent), and juveniles are involved in more property crime arrest incidents than violent crime 

arrest incidents in the early morning hours. 

Juveniles were arrested in 374 incidents of tagging and vandalism, and the distribution of 

those incidents is quite consistent between the hours of 4 p.m. and 2:59 a.m. Tagging appears to 

be more of a late night activity for juveniles than are violent and property crimes. 

 7

 GITS data are grouped by five major crime types: violent crimes, property crimes, narcotics offenses, weapon law 

violations, and tagging/vandalism. The juvenile and adult trends of narcotics offenses and weapons law violations 

are not addressed here. 8

 Violent crime incidents include assault and battery on a police officer, car jacking, extortion, felonious assault,

home invasion robbery, homicide, intimidation of a witness, kidnapping, misdemeanor assault and battery, robbery,

sexual assault, shooting into an inhabited dwelling, shooting into an uninhabited vehicle, and terrorism. 9

 Property crime incidents include arson, auto theft, and burglary. Theft data are available only for 1996 and 

subsequent years and are therefore excluded from this analysis. 

Final Report – Aug 99 25 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 10. Hourly number of juvenile gang-related violent (N=605), property (N=413) 

and tagging (N=374) arrest incidents in 1994–1996 

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

6:00-6:59am8:00-8:59am

10:00-10:59am12:00-12:59pm

2:00-2:59pm4:00-4:59pm6:00-6:59pm8:00-8:59pm

10:00-10:59pm12:00-12:59am

2:00-2:59am4:00-4:59am

Gang Arrest Incidents

Violent Property Tagging

ADULT GANG-RELATED INCIDENTS OF VIOLENT CRIME, PROPERTY CRIME, AND TAGGING

Figure 11 shows that the majority (38.4 percent) of gang-related incidents resulting in 

adult arrests involve violent crime, and that violent gang arrest incidents are most likely to occur 

between 5–6:59 p.m. and in the late evening between 9–11:59 p.m. It also is important to note 

that the number of violent adult gang-related arrest incidents is much greater than the number of 

violent juvenile arrest incidents. Adult arrests peak at 83 between 11–11:59 p.m., compared to a 

peak of 50 juvenile arrest incidents between 3–3:59 p.m. Adults actually were involved in 41.2 

percent more violent arrest incidents than were juveniles. In each of the three years, adults have

much higher rates of gang-related arrests for violent crimes than juveniles. 

Final Report – Aug 99 26 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Arrest incidents for property crime indicate a much flatter trend and relatively few adults 

were arrested for tagging and vandalism (which were widely dispersed, with some fluctuation, 

between 10 a.m. and 2:59 a.m). Note that whereas Figure 10 shows 374 juvenile arrests for 

tagging, only 145 adults were arrested for tagging. 

Figure 11. Hourly number of adult gang-related violent (N=854), property (N=363) and 

tagging (N=145) arrest incidents in 1994–1996 

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

6:00-6:59am8:00-8:59am

10:00-10:59am12:00-12:59pm

2:00-2:59pm4:00-4:59pm6:00-6:59pm8:00-8:59pm

10:00-10:59pm12:00-12:59am

2:00-2:59am4:00-4:59am

Gang Arrest Incidents

Violent Property Tagging

CONCLUSIONS

We reached several tentative conclusions with respect to the temporal distribution of 

gang-related crime in Orange County. Similar proportions of juveniles and adults were arrested 

for gang-related incidents reported to the police. However, adults have much higher violent 

Final Report – Aug 99 27 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

arrest rates than juveniles, and—compared to juveniles—a much lower proportion of gangrelated adult arrests are for property crimes. Overall, adult street gang crime in Orange County 

appears to be a more serious problem than juvenile gang crime. 

Adult offenses for all types of crime are unaffected by schoolday and non-schoolday 

periods; that is, they show similar time-of-day patterns during either period. In contrast, gangrelated10 juvenile offenses peak much earlier in the day on schooldays. Moreover, the number of 

juvenile gang-related arrests at the peak hours on schooldays (at 2–2:59 p.m.) is much higher 

than at the peak on non-schooldays (from 11–11:59 p.m.). Another important difference 

between juvenile and adult gang-related arrests is that, on schooldays, the number of juvenile 

arrests for all offenses increases sharply early in the day (climbing steadily from 7:00 a.m. to 

3:59 p.m.), whereas adult arrests climb slowly throughout the day and peak in the evening. The 

data clearly suggest that adult and juvenile gang intervention strategies reflect different needs at 

different times of the day. 

Explaining Violent Gang Crime Variation 

INTRODUCTION

Orange County officials began to measure gang crime in 1993 to determine its extent 

and to track changes over time. While a number of researchers have found a relationship 

 10 At the request of OJJDP, we compared our findings regarding gang-related juvenile arrests with data from

another state (Sickmund et al., 1997) on juvenile temporal offense patterns. We found that there appears to be an

important difference between temporal patterns for gang-related versus non-gang-related juvenile offenses. While

gang-related juvenile offenses precipitously and steadily increase throughout the schoolday, non-gang juvenile 

offenses increase much more slowly throughout the schoolday and show a sharp increase between 3–4:00 p.m.

(Sickmund et al., 1997: 26). However, a strict comparison of these trends is problematic as are assumptions 

concerning when the school day ends. The gang and juvenile data are from different states, which well may differ in

terms of school dismissal times. What is clear, however, is that more crime occurs in the early afternoon for both

sets of data and policies should be tailored to focus on this time period. 

Final Report – Aug 99 28 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

between violent crime and community characteristics in larger, well-established cities such as 

Chicago, it was unclear if such relationships existed in a region like Orange County, which is 

made up of many smaller cities and unincorporated areas. (See generally Blau and Blau, 1982; 

Block and Block, 1995; Burgess, 1925; Bursik, 1986; Bursik, 1988; Bursik and Grasmick, 1993; 

Byrne and Sampson, 1986; Figlio, Hakim and Rengert, 1986; Sampson, Castellano, and Laub, 

1981; Stahura and Huff, 1981; Sampson, 1985; Sampson and Groves, 1989; Taylor and 

Covington, 1988; Warner and Pierce, 1993). To date, researchers have not been able to study 

violent gang crime in multiple contiguous jurisdictions. Thus, it is unclear if relationships 

between community factors and gang crime will be in areas that depart from traditional city 

modes of organization, or when a mosaic of multiple contiguous cities like these existing in 

Orange County are analyzed together. 

Our goal here is to determine if similar patterns exist in Orange County between violent 

gang crime and community characteristics, as are suggested by research conducted in traditional 

cities (e.g., see Evans, 1980; Fabrikant, 1979; Georges, 1978; Georges-Abeyie and Harries, 

1980; Gottfredson, McNeil and Gottfredson, 1991; Greenberg, Rohe, and Williams, 1982; 

Harries, 1976; Harries, 1990; Maxson, Gordon and Klein, 1985; Reiss, 1986; Roncek, 1981; 

Roncek and Bell, 1981; Sampson, 1983). Previous research has been unable to determine if the 

geographic concentration of crime is solely an inner city problem, or if similar relationships 

would be found in non-urban areas with similar social, economic, and demographic 

characteristics. It also is unclear whether community-based theories can explain violent gang 

crime in a growing metropolitan area that includes multiple jurisdictions. In other words, do 

community-based theories have any external validity when the area under study is not a large 

traditionally structured city? 

Final Report – Aug 99 29 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

BACKGROUND

The social disorganization perspective can be traced back to Durkheim (1897) who 

suggested rapid social change and the resulting breakdown of social controls are associated with 

increases in crime. These basic tenets were further examined by Park and Burgess (1921) and 

later by Shaw and McKay (1931), who found geographic mobility was related to crime within a 

community. Shaw and McKay’s central thesis was that a high rate of delinquency reflected the 

inability of a community to engage in self-regulation. Berry and Kasarda (1977) suggest that 

primary associations result in forms of informal social control that are less effective when local 

networks are in a constant state of flux. 

Ecological factors and social disorganization often have been used to explain crime in 

communities. Shaw and McKay (1942), contended crime rates are associated with the inability 

of local institutions and organizations to control behavior. Neighborhood deterioration, shifts 

from single to multiple family dwellings, residential mobility, size of the minority population 

and the number of females in the labor force appear to be antecedents to rising crime rates in 

communities (Burgess, 1925; Bursik, 1986; Schuerman and Kobrin, 1986). Burgess (1925) 

suggested that these ecological factors contribute to crime because they overload the ability of 

local institutions to function effectively. Recent studies (see Cau and Maume, 1993; Sampson, 

Raudenbusch and Earls, 1997; Taylor and Covington, 1988; Taylor and Covington, 1993; 

Warner and Pierce, 1993) have used a more integrated theoretical framework, which includes 

many of the dimensions found in traditional community-based theories. 

More recently, technological advances have given rise to changes in methodological 

approaches for studying the community/crime relationship. The use of Geographic Information 

System (GIS) and spatial statistics have proven beneficial in other fields, and are likely to 

enhance our understanding of geographic or spatially related problems such as crime (See 

Final Report – Aug 99 30 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

generally Anselin, 1990; Anselin, 1994; Anselin and Getis, 1992; Anselin and Hudak, 1992; 

Anselin and Hudak, 1993; Baily, 1994; Cliff and Ord, 1973; Cliff and Ord, 1981; Goodchild, 

1987; Goodchild, Haining and Wise, 1992; Griffith, 1987; Haining, 1990; Land, McCall and 

Cohen, 1990; Rich, 1995). 

We examined the community-based theoretical dimension of crime in Orange County to 

determine if similar patterns exist between community structure and violent gang incidents, as 

have been found by past research, in mature cities. This relationship was tested by applying GIS 

and spatial analytical methods to GITS data on gang incidents and tract-level census data. 

RESEARCH DESIGN

Dr. Thomas E. Fossati took the lead in performing GIS analysis for the project. We used 

5,540 violent gang incidents for the years 1994–1997 from the Gang Incident Tracking System

database. Violent incidents are represented by points located at the address where the incident 

occurred. Census tract boundaries are polygons created from U.S. Bureau of the Census Tiger 

files. Orange County contains 485 census tracts covering approximately 798 square miles with a 

population of 2.4 million people. Analysis for this study is based on 471 census tracts, excluding 

14 tracts found in mostly rural or sparsely populated areas within the county. Of these 14 tracts, 

nine contained fewer than 100 persons per square mile, four were missing all census-based data, 

and one was a naval station. The total area under study was reduced by 224 square miles, 

approximately 28 percent of the total area within Orange County. Total persons were reduced by 

12,792 or 0.53 percent of the county population. Gang incidents were reduced by 41 or 0.6 

percent of the violent gang incidents reported in the county over the four-year period. 

Incident and census data sets were integrated using ArcView version 3.0a. A point in 

polygon overlay was used to determine the tract containing each incident. Incident level data 

Final Report – Aug 99 31 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

then were aggregated, resulting in counts for the number of violent crimes contained within each 

tract boundary. Table 3 contains descriptive statistics for violent gang incidents. 

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for violent incident measures in Orange County census 

tracts 

VIOLENT INCIDENT: 

Min MAX SUM MEAN STD. 

DEV

SKEW KURT

CARJACKING/ROB’RY 0 6 155 .33 .84 3.40 13.92

FELONIOUS ASSAULT 0 39 2135 4.53 7.05 2.35 5.78

HOMICIDE 0 9 208 .44 1.14 3.82 17.51

ROBBERY 0 102 2501 5.31 11.77 3.83 18.17

SHOOTING INTO 

INHABITED DWELLING

0 19 429 .91 2.35 3.71 16.43

SHOOTING INTO 

UNINHAB. DWELLING

0 8 112 .24 .84 4.85 28.39

VIOLENT GANG

INCIDENTS

0 160 11.76 21.76 3.17 11.60

LN (VIOLENT GANG

INCIDENTS +1) .00 5.08 1.59 1.34 .50 -7.25

The individual incidents along with the variable created for violent incidents are highly 

skewed. To induce normality in violent incidents the variable was transformed with a natural log 

function. Since the natural log of 0 is undefined, a constant (+1) was first added to the violent 

incident variable for each census tract. Descriptive statistics for incidents used in the creation of 

the violent incident measure, along with violent incidents and the transformed violent incident 

measure are located in Table 3. Further analysis with violent incidents will be based on the 

natural log transformation of violent gang incidents. Figure 12 illustrates the location and 

concentration of violent gang incidents within each census tract throughout the county. 

Final Report – Aug 99 32 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 12. Violent gang incidents by census tract. (Darker colors represent greater 

numbers of violent incidents) 

n (Violent Gang Incidents + 1)

1st Quintile

2nd Quintile

3rd Quintile

4th Quintile

5th Quintile

10 0 10 Miles

N

l

Community structure data are based on 1990 U.S. Census data for 471 census tracts in 

Orange County. Census data were extracted from Summary Tape Files (STF) 1A and STF 3A. 

STF 1A contains full count demographic information down to the block group level. STF 3A 

provides more detailed demographic information but is based on sample count information. Full 

count STF 1A data have no sampling error, while the more detailed STF 3A data are subject to 

sampling variability (Myers, 1992). Brief descriptions of the census-based data used in this 

study are provided in Table 4. 

Final Report – Aug 99 33 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 4. Description of data sources used and variable information for community 

structure 

VARIABLE: 

CENSUS 

FILE DESCRIPTION UNIVERSE

NOVEHICLE STF3A 

% Housing units with no vehicles 

available Occupied housing units 

RACIAL HETERO STF1A (1 )

2 − Σ p where p is fraction of 

population in a given group

Persons

FOREIGNBRN STF3A % Foreign Born Persons

MINUNDER25 STF1A % Minorities under age 25 Minority under 25/ 

persons under 25 

HOUSE85 STF3A % Living in same residence in 1985 Persons age 5 and up 

HOMEOWNERS STF1A % Owner occupied housing units Occupied housing units 

OWN1UNIT STF1A 

% Owner occupied single unit (attached

and detached)housing units

Occupied housing units 

PUBTRANSWRK STF3A % Traveling to work via public 

transportation

Workers age 16 & over 

LOW INCOME STF3A % Household income less than $12,500 Households

URBANIZATION — Number of years city containing census

tract has been incorporated — 

Under the social disorganization framework, community structure consists of three 

dimensions: economic deprivation or status, minority and youth concentration, and community 

stability. Principal components analysis of census information at the tract level were used to 

create measures representing these dimensions of community structure. Each of the census 

variables used in the principal components analysis is described in Tables 4 and 5. Census 

variables used in this analysis were selected because of similarity with variables used in prior 

research (See generally Berry and Kasarda, 1977; Taylor and Covington, 1988; Sampson, 

Raudenbush, and Earls, 1997). 

Final Report – Aug 99 34 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 5. Descriptive statistics for census measure of community structure 

VARIABLE: 

MIN MAX MEAN STD. 

DEV

SKEW KURT

NOVEHICLE .000 28.959 4.260 4.124 2.231 7.452

PUBTRANSWRK .000 17.800 2.243 2.853 2.403 6.460

LOWINCOME .000 45.338 8.861 5.682 1.574 4.782

RACIALHETERO .049 .683 .403 .150 -.182 -.857

FOREIGNBRN 3.370 72.071 22.315 14.255 1.365 1.399

MINUNDER25 2.460 98.840 33.390 21.728 1.180 .890

HOMEOWNERS .170 97.940 60.917 22.080 -.403 -.662

HOUSE85 3.058 85.450 46.990 14.189 -.406 .206

OWN1UNIT .160 97.350 53.857 24.035 -.149 -.920

One variable used in model specification but not included in the principal components 

analysis is urbanization (Years of Incorporation). A number of studies have noted a relationship 

between ecological change and crime (Cau and Maume, 1993; Taylor and Covington, 1988; 

Jackson, 1991). While ecological factors likely play a role in Orange County, links between 

crime and changes in the ecology of communities associated with urbanization are difficult to 

measure using cross-sectional data. However, a general measure may detect this urbanization 

effect. Data for the number of years a particular city has been incorporated were added to each 

census tract contained within that city. Tracts within unincorporated areas represent number of 

years of incorporation, and are likely to represent areas that are less urbanized than tracts lying 

within the oldest city, represented by 121 years of incorporation. Since Orange County, and the 

cities within, are relatively young, this measure is likely to tap urbanization for this region. 

Descriptive statistics for urbanization are found in Table 4. 

Results from the principal components analysis are listed in Tables 6 and 7. Each of the 

components was subjected to varimax rotation since it tends to produce clearer separation of 

components. Table 6 shows the eigenvalues and explained variance for each of the community 

Final Report – Aug 99 35 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

structure components. Economic deprivation explains most of the variance for the variables 

included in the analysis, followed by minority/youth concentration and community stability. 

Overall, these components account for 83 percent of the variance among the original variables. 

 Table 6 Principal components eigenvalues for community structure dimensions 

COMPONENT: EIGENVALUES % OF VARIANCE CUMULATIVE % 

ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION 2.639 29.322 29.322

MINORITY/YOUTH CONCENTRATION 2.436 27.068 56.390

COMMUNITY STABILITY 2.427 26.971 83.361

Table 7 contains the loadings for each component. Values for each component factor are 

expressed as correlations, and describe the relationship between each variable and a factor. 

Variable communalities indicate the amount of variance contributed by each variable. 

Component scores were calculated for each of the community structure dimensions using 

regression. 

Table 7. Principal components loadings: varimax rotated solution 

COMPONENT: 

VARIABLE: ECONOMIC 

DEPRIVATION

MINORITY/YOUTH 

CONCENTRATION

COMMUNITY 

STABILITY

EXTRACTION 

COMMUNALITIES

NOVEHICLE .877 .112 -.227 .832

LOWINCOME .773 .160 -.407 .789

PUBTRANSWRK .675 .572 -8.382E-2 .790

MINUNDER25 .420 .873 -9.508E-2 .948

FOREIGNBRN .489 .821 -7.334E-2 .918

RACIAL HETERO -.242 .737 -.323 .707

HOUSE85 -3.171E-02 -7.194E-02 .856 .739

HOMEOWNERS -.339 -.258 .828 .867

OWN1UNIT -.477 -.138 .816 .913

Final Report – Aug 99 36 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Reliability analysis was used to assess how well each of the census-based variables 

represents its respective component dimension. Table 8 contains the results from the reliability 

analysis. Under the economic deprivation dimension, percent using public transportation to 

commute to work has the weakest relationship with other items and with the economic 

deprivation scale. Households without vehicles and percent households with income under 

$12,500 are similar in strength with moderate correlations. All three variables were extracted 

from sample census data. Percent using public transportation is based on the sample universe of 

employed workers while households without vehicles and household income under $12,500 use 

the sample universe ‘households’. Cronbach’s alpha statistics suggest that the economic 

deprivation scale is fairly reliable. 

Within the minority and youth concentration scale, racial heterogeneity is weakest in 

strength. Both foreign born and minorities under age 25 have strong item and scale correlations. 

Racial heterogeneity is calculated differently than percent foreign born or minorities under age 

25. Racial heterogeneity taps the degree of racial and ethnic mixture within each census tract, 

taking into consideration the number of groups and number of persons within each group. 

Percent foreign born and minorities under 25 simply indicate group size (foreign born and 

minorities under 25 are not mutually exclusive groups). 

 Community stability shows a pattern similar to that found with the previous two 

dimensions. Percent living in same house during the previous five years has the lowest item and 

scale correlations. Both percent homeowners and percent homeowners of single-unit dwellings 

are moderately strong and similar in strength. The weak relationship found with percent living in 

the same house may be due to measurement error. The variable was extracted from STF 3A 

Final Report – Aug 99 37 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

files, which are derived from sample counts rather than the full-count census. Reliability for 

community stability is moderately strong. 

Table 8 Reliability Results for items used in creation of community dimensions 

VARIABLE: 

SCALE MEAN IF

ITEM DELETED

CORRECTED ITEM 

CORRELATION. 

SQ. MULTIPLE 

CORRELATION

ALPHA IF ITEM 

DELETED

ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION

NOVEHICLE 11.103 .834 .708 .592

LOWINCOME 6.503 .789 .685 .697

PUBTRANSWRK 13.121 .569 .335 .879

SCALE: Mean = 15.363 S.D. = 11.249 

N = 471 Alpha = .819 Std. Alpha = .842 

MINORITY/YOUTH CONCENTRATION

RACIALHETERO 55.705 .464 .292 .931

FOREIGNBRN 33.793 .950 .909 .014

MINUNDER25 22.718 .951 .918 .017

SCALE: Mean = 56.108 S.D. = 35.622 

N = 471 Alpha = .702 Std. Alpha = .828 

COMMUNITY STABILITY

HOMEOWNERS 100.847 .882 .817 .715

HOUSE85 114.774 .655 .429 .945

OWN1UNIT 107.908 .875 .815 .736

SCALE: Mean = 161.764 S.D. = 55.281 

N = 471 Alpha = .878 Std. Alpha = .889 

ANALYTICAL MODELS

A number of spatial diagnostics are included in the following regression equations in 

order to measure the possibility of spatial effects. These diagnostics, along with the 

specifications of the final regression model require the use of a spatial weights matrix. The 

weights matrix is a first order contiguity matrix computed from census tract boundaries within 

ArcView. The weights matrix contains information values for the dependent variable on the 

surrounding areas of a given census tract. Weight matrices calculated from boundary files in this 

manner follow the queen convention, which means that tracts are considered a neighbors when 

Final Report – Aug 99 38 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

they have one or more nodes in common (for a complete description on weight matrices and 

methods for computing them see Anselin, 1995; Anselin and Bao, 1996; Anselin and Bao, 1997). 

All regression models and diagnostics were computed with SpaceStat version 1.86 (Anselin, 

1995a). 

ORDINARY LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION

An ordinary least squares (OLS) model was specified by regressing violent gang 

incidents on economic disadvantaged, minority/youth concentration, community stability and 

urbanization. Table 9 provides the descriptive statistics for the independent variables included in 

the OLS regression model. 

 Table 9. Descriptive statistics for OLS regression model 

VARIABLE: 

MIN MAX MEAN STD. 

DEV

SKEW KURT

ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION -1.731 6.368 -8.493E-08 1.000 2.294 8.096

MIN/YOUTH CONCENTRATION -3.894 2.381 -1.911E-07 1.000 -.066 .100

COMMUNITY STABILITY -3.343 2.286 -6.369E-08 1.000 -.447 .032

URBANIZATION .000 121.000 67.289 37.717 -0.146 1.759

Results for the OLS regression model are found in Table 10. Each of the community 

structure dimensions and the urbanization variables are significant. Violent gang incidents 

increase as communities with greater economic deprivation, minority and youth composition, 

and greater urbanization. Additionally, the model suggests that as communities become more 

stable, violent gang incidents tend to decrease. Community-based factors account for 

approximately 70 percent of the variance in violent gang incidents for these data. 

Final Report – Aug 99 39 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 10. Results from OLS regression model 

Dependent Variable: ln (Violent Incidents +1) 

R2 0.705; R2-adj 0.702; OLS σ = 0.536; σ

2

 = 0.732; ML σ = 0.530; σ

2

 = 0.728 

LIK -518.826; AIC 1047.65 

RSS 249.651; F-test 278.245; Prob 0.00 

N = 471; DF 466 

VARIABLE: B

STD. 

ERROR BETA t-VALUE PROB

CONSTANT 1.203 0.074 16.308 0.000

ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION 0.421 0.035 .314 11.882 0.000

MIN/YOUTH CONCENTRATION 0.917 0.035 .684 26.069 0.000

COMMUNITY STABILITY -0.201 0.034 -.150 -5.950 0.000

URBANIZATION 5.759E-03 0.001 .162 5.906 0.000

MULTICOLLINEARITY: Multicollinearity Condition Number 4.223 

NORMALITY OF ERRORS: Jarque-Bera = 4.395 (p = 0.111) 

HETEROSKEDASTICITY: Breusch-Pagan (Sq. Miles) = 0.871 (p = 0.351) 

DIAGNOSTICS FOR SPATIAL DEPENDENCE: 

Moran's I (error) = 0.249; z = 9.243 (p = 0.000) 

Robust LM (error) = 4.488 (p = 0.034) 

Robust LM (lag) = 39.253 (p = 0.000)

Figure 13 contains a map of the predicted values based on the OLS regression model. 

This map can be compared to the map of observed values (Figure 12) to observe how well the 

regression model fits these data. 

Final Report – Aug 99 40 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 13. Predicted values for violent gang incidents based on OLS regression 

OLS Regression Predicted Values

1stQuintile

2ndQuintile

3rdQuintile

4thQuintile

5thQuintile

10010 Miles

N

OLS REGRESSION RESIDUAL ANALYSIS

We used a number of diagnostics to determine the level of confidence in interpreting the 

OLS regression model. Statistics testing for the presence of multicollinearity, normality and 

heteroskedasticity did not indicate any problems. A number of spatial diagnostics also were used 

to determine if residual error is spatially related. Diagnostics for spatial dependence indicate a 

significant amount of spatial autocorrelation may be present in the residuals. Moran’s I, a 

familiar statistic for spatial autocorrelation, is significant. However, Moran’s I is sensitive to a 

Final Report – Aug 99 41 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

number of misspecification errors such as non-normality and heteroskedasticity (Anselin and 

Rey, 1991; Anselin, 1995). The Lagrange Multiplier tests are robust to other forms of 

misspecification and aid in narrowing down the source of spatial dependence (See generally 

Anselin, 1990; Anselin, Bera, Florax and Yoon, 1996). Robust LM (lag) can detect spatial lag11

error and is robust to the presence of spatial error dependence. This statistic is significant, 

indicating error in the form of spatial lag. The LM (error) statistic tests for the presence of 

spatial error and is robust to the presence of spatial lag, if it exists. The value for the Robust LM 

(error) test is lower than the Robust LM (lag) value, and is not significant at the .01 level. These 

diagnostics suggest spatial dependence in the residuals is due to the presence of spatial lag error. 

Ignoring the presence of lag error results in OLS estimates that are biased and any inference 

based on the regression model may be incorrect (Anselin, 1995b). 

Based on the results of the diagnostic tests a plot of the residual and associated spatial lag 

is shown in Figure 14. The slope coefficient in an OLS regression model of residual spatial lag 

on the regression residuals is equivalent to Moran’s I (Anselin, 1995b). Figure 14 also contains 

the regression line, which summarizes the overall spatial pattern of linear association in the 

residuals. The presence of spatial autocorrelation in variables specified in the model and in the 

residuals suggests that including a variable in the model representing these neighborhood effects 

may decrease the amount of residual variation. 

 11 Spatial lag for a tract is represented by the number of violent incidents that occur in closely contiguous areas. 

Final Report – Aug 99 42 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure14. Moran scatterplot of OLS residuals with regression line 

SAR Residuals

-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4

Spatial L

a

g

2

1

0

-1

-2

To further clarify the behavior of the residuals two maps (Figures 15 and 16) were 

generated that display the distribution of positive and negative residuals. Figure 15 contains 

residual values by Moran quadrant. Spatial autocorrelation is clearly visualized by groupings of 

areas where the OLS model over-predicts surrounded by areas that also were over predicted. 

Similarly, under-predicted areas surrounded by areas of under prediction are grouped together. 

Final Report – Aug 99 43 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 15. OLS residuals by Moran Quadrant 

sitive/Positive

Positive/Negative

Negative/Negative

Negative/Positive

10 0 10 Miles

N

OLS Regression

Residuals by Moran Quadrant

Po

Figure 16 illustrates areas with large standardized residuals. Although Figure 15 

represents general grouping of residuals, it does not differentiate between significantly large or

small residuals. Figure 16 indicates only those areas where over and under prediction are 

significantly large. 

Final Report – Aug 99 44 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 16. Significantly large positive and negative standardized residuals 

OLS Large Pos/Neg Residuals

< -1.96 Std. Dev.

< 1.96 Std. Dev.

10 0 10 Miles

N

MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD REGRESSIVE SPATIAL AUTOREGRESSIVE (SAR) MODEL

Based on diagnostics suggesting the presence of spatial lag in residuals of the OLS 

regression model, a spatial lag regression model was specified. This model is justified since the 

OLS model, with spatial dependence in the residuals, results in biased coefficients. Therefore, 

interpretation of the OLS model should be used with caution. All variables included in the OLS 

model were included in the SAR model in addition to a spatial lag of the dependent variable. 

The spatial lag for a tract is represented by the number of violent incidents surrounding a tract. 

Final Report – Aug 99 45 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

A spatial lag variable thus represents the neighborhood effect of violent gang incidents. Results 

from the SAR model are located in Table 11. 

Table 11. Results from SAR regression model 

Dependent Variable ln (Violent Incidents +1) 

(pseudo) R2 0.732; Sq. Corr. 0.725; σ = 0.399; σ

2

 = 0.632 

LIK -463.365; AIC 938.731 

RSS = 188.107 

N = 471; DF 465

VARIABLE: B

STD. 

ERROR BETA Z-VALUE PROB

LAG VIOLENT INCIDENTS 0.487 0.042 0.487 11.650 0.000

CONSTANT 0.622 0.080 7.829 0.000

ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION 0.256 0.033 0.191 7.669 0.000

MIN/YOUTH CONCENTRATION 0.552 0.044 0.411 12.680 0.000

COMMUNITY STABILITY -0.191 0.029 -0.142 -6.524 0.000

URBANIZATION 2.643E-03 8.842E-04 7.431E-02 2.989 0.003

HETEROSKEDASTICITY: Spatial Breusch-Pagan (Sq. Miles) = 0.122 (p = 0.727) 

SPATIAL DEPENDENCE: Likelihood Ratio Test = 110.920 (p = 0.000) 

SPATIAL ERROR DEPENDENCE: 

Moran’s I = -0.007; z = -0.165 (p=0.869) 

Lagrange Multiplier Test = 0.121 (p = 0.728) 

Figure 17 contains the predicted values from the SAR model. The spatial lag for violent 

gang incidents is significant and has several impacts on the model. The coefficient for 

community stability has changed little (-0.191 vs. -0.201), while the constant (0.622 vs. 1.203), 

economic deprivation (0.256 vs. 0.421), minority and youth concentration (0.552 vs. 0.917) and 

urbanization (2.643E-03 vs. 5.759E-03) have been reduced. This suggests that the coefficients in 

the OLS model are biased, since a significant explanatory variable was omitted from the model. 

The top portion of Table 11 contains a number of statistics used to assess model fit. 

Commonly used OLS statistics such as R2

, R2

adj and estimates for error variance and standard 

Final Report – Aug 99 46 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

deviations measures are not appropriate for maximum likelihood based models. SpaceStat 

produces two estimates of the R2 labeled (pseudo) R2 and Sq.Corr. The (pseudo) R2 is the ratio 

of the variance for predicted values over the variance of the observed. The Sq. Corr is computed 

as the squared correlation between predicted and observed values (Anselin, 1995). Both 

(pseudo) R2

 and Sq. Corr are estimates and cannot be compared to OLS-based R2. Based on 

these statistics, approximately 72 percent of the variance in violent gang incidents can be 

explained by the level of crime in neighboring communities, along with community structural 

characteristics and urbanization. 

For comparison purposes ML based statistics, log-likelihood (LIK), Akaike Information 

Criterion (AIC) and ML estimates for error variance and standard deviation are located in the top 

portion of Table 10. When comparing multiple models, higher LIK represents the better fitting 

model while a lower AIC indicates better fit. Including the spatial lag for violent gang incidents 

improves the overall fit of the model suggested by the higher LIK value (-463.365 vs. –518.826) 

and lower AIC (938.731 vs. 1047.65) of the SAR model. Additionally, the residual sums of 

squares for the SAR model is lower (188.107 vs. 249.651) and standard estimates of the error are 

lower (0.632 vs. 0.728). 

Final Report – Aug 99 47 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 17. SAR model predicted values for Orange County census tracts 

SAR Predicted Values

1stQuintile

2ndQuintile

3rdQuintile

4thQuintile

5thQuintile

10010 Miles

N

SAR RESIDUAL ANALYSIS

The bottom portion of Table 11 contains diagnostics for the SAR model. Anselin (1995) 

suggests a variable related to unit size is often a good choice in the heteroskedastic specification 

for variance in the residuals. Due to the irregular polygon structure of census tracts in this study, 

the area for each tract was specified. The Breush-Pagan value of .122 was not significant, 

indicating no apparent heteroskedasticity in the residuals. 

Final Report – Aug 99 48 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

The Likelihood Ratio (LR) test is an evaluation of the spatial lag variable for violent 

crime. The LR test is equivalent to twice the difference between the log likelihood of the spatial 

lag model and the log likelihood for the OLS regression model for violent gang incidents. This 

test is significant, indicating that spatial lag has contributed significantly to the model. 

The final diagnostic in Table 11 is the Lagrange Multiplier test for spatial error 

dependence. The value of 0.121 is not significant, suggesting that spatial dependence is no 

longer present in the model. 

Figure 18 contains the Moran scatterplot of the residuals and associated spatial lag. The 

Moran’s I coefficient of –0.007 is not significant (See bottom of Table 11). 

Figure 18. Moran scatterplot of SAR residuals with regression line 

SAR Residuals

-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 

Spatial Lag

2 

1 

0 

-1

-2

The regression line from the regression used to calculate the Moran coefficient, which is 

equivalent to the slope in a regression of residual spatial lag on the residuals, is provided in 

Figure 18. Clearly, no detectable pattern is suggested in Figure 18 compared to the Moran 

scatterplot for the OLS regression (see Figure 14). 

Final Report – Aug 99 49 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 19 is a map of residuals from SAR model by Moran quadrant. The map is useful 

for detecting the two types of positive spatial autocorrelation (large residuals surrounded by large 

residuals and small residuals surrounded by small residuals) and corresponding negative spatial 

autocorrelation (large residuals surrounded by small residuals or small residuals surrounded by 

large). 

Figure 19. SAR residuals by Moran Quadrant 

SAR

Positive/Positive

Positive/Negative

Negative/Negative

Negative/Positive

10 0 10 Miles

N

Residuals by Moran Quadrant

Final Report – Aug 99 50 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 20 is a map of significantly large residuals for the SAR regression model. There 

are noticeably few large residuals present in the map for the SAR model. Compared to the map 

in Figure 15 for the OLS model, there are fewer large positive or negative residuals spatially 

grouped. Interestingly, the location of large residuals is in approximately the same location as 

predicted by the OLS model. 

Figure 20. Significantly large residuals for the SAR regression model 

SAR Large Pos/Neg Residuals

< -1.96 Std. Dev.

> 1.96 Std. Dev.

10 0 10 Miles

N

Final Report – Aug 99 51 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

CONCLUSIONS

The strength of the spatial relationship for violent gang incident results from OLS based 

regression make them somewhat difficult to interpret. However, since the maximum likelihood 

spatial autoregressive model was successful in reducing the spatial effect to an insignificant 

level, the relationship between community structure and violent gang incidents can be safely 

interpreted. Based on the findings of the SAR model, approximately 72 percent of the variance 

in violent gang incidents can be explained by community structural characteristics, urbanization, 

and the level of crime in neighboring communities. It appears that modern community-based 

theories provide robust explanations for the relationship between communities and gang crime in 

a region with many contiguous cities. 

One of the strongest findings from the SAR model—and one with important policy 

implications—is that communities tend to be significantly impacted by violent crime in 

neighboring communities. Clearly, any attempt to reduce the gang problem in concentrated 

areas within Orange County will have to consider neighboring communities as well. This means 

that regional approaches such as the one mounted by the Orange County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s 

Association are required for tracking, understanding, or addressing street gang problems. 

Although the aforementioned OLS regression model is similar to models found in other 

studies (Schuerman and Kobrin, 1986; Messner and Sampson, 1991; Sampson and Grove 1989) 

it should be interpreted with caution. Due to the level of spatial dependence, stemming from the 

level of spatial autocorrelation in the dependent variable estimates for the coefficients will be 

biased and any inference based on the t-tests and indication of fit from R2

 are incorrect. As an 

alternative, a spatial autoregressive model (SAR) is estimated which allows us to correctly 

estimate the significance of the theoretical variables after controlling for spatial dependence. 

Admittedly, the comparison of the two models suggests only minor differences in the degree of 

Final Report – Aug 99 52 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

fit and the coefficients. Preliminary analysis revealed a number of individual indicators of 

community structure to be unstable. Unique factors of community structure included in the OLS 

and SAR models illustrate more stability since they have been generalized to represent those 

characteristics that best represent the components of the community structure. 

Using GITS to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Anti-Gang Strategies 

INTRODUCTION

As part of a project funded by the USDOJ Community Oriented Policing Services Office 

(COPS), a Tri-Agency Resource/Gang Enforcement (TARGET) Team12 was funded for the 

Orange County city of Santa Ana. This brought the total number of TARGET Teams

13 to four in 

that city and 11 for the county as a whole. Each team is located in a specific police department 

and consists of officers from that police department who serve as gang investigators, a probation 

officer, a senior deputy district attorney and a district attorney’s investigator. The hallmark of 

such teams is mutual cooperation across law enforcement agencies and vertical prosecution14

(see Kent and Smith, 1995). As part of the COPS grant the FRG was to explore the potential 

usefulness of the GITS database for assessing TARGET Teams’ impact on gang activity. For 

this analysis, the focus is only on the efforts in the City of Santa Ana. 

TARGET Teams aim to suppress gang crime in Santa Ana through the efficient 

identification, apprehension, and conviction of the violent gang leaders thought to be responsible 

for much of the city’s gang problems. In the past, the usual method of determining the impact of 

TARGET teams was to examine law enforcement records for changes in arrests, prosecutions, 

convictions and sentencing. The GITS database also allows one to examine the impact of 

 12 For a description of TARGET Teams see Kent and Smith (1995). 13 In Santa Ana the TARGET Teams are called Street Terrorist Offender Programs (STOP). 

Final Report – Aug 99 53 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

TARGET team activity on levels of gang activity within defined areas as well as effects on the 

spatial distribution of gang incidents involving targeted gangs. 

LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORD

Analyses of the TARGET Teams’ adjudication efforts use data on the prosecution of 

targeted gang members. These data are compiled by the Orange County District Attorney’s 

Office, and TARGET Teams also maintain records of each case handled by their prosecutors. 

The District Attorney Office's report on the county TARGET Team efforts contains greater detail 

on county-wide law enforcement statistics; what follows is a brief look at some of the statistics 

for the city of Santa Ana. 

In 1994, 1995, and 1996, the TARGET Teams reported substantial success in the arrest, 

prosecution, and conviction of targeted gang offenders. After two years of targeting 42 members 

of one Santa Ana gang, 28 members had been arrested, and 24 (86 percent) had been convicted 

on a wide variety of charges. The average sentence length for all those convicted was 34 months 

(not including one triple life sentence). After one year of targeting 20 members of another Santa 

Ana gang, nine members had been arrested, and all nine had already been convicted within that 

year. Not only are the cases of targeted gang members adjudicated quickly, conviction rates also 

are high. As of December of 1996, only three of the targeted gang members who had been 

arrested did not receive convictions. 

In general TARGET teams throughout the county have managed to generate impressive 

records with regard to both conviction rates and sentencing for individuals who have been 

targeted. An alternative approach to evaluating TARGET teams is to look at their impact on 

gang criminal activity. 

 14 Vertical prosecution refers to the Team’s continued and coordinated focus on an offender from level to level

within the criminal justice system (e.g., from investigation through arrest and prosecution). 

Final Report – Aug 99 54 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

USING GITS TO EVALUATE TARGET PERFORMANCE

Our knowledge of a TARGET Team’s ability to successfully convict and prosecute 

targeted gang members is complimented nicely by evaluations of gang-related crime incidents in 

Santa Ana. The analyses used here help us understand the relationship between the TARGET 

team’s use of targeting strategies and actual levels of gang crime. As is shown below, the GITS 

database makes several methods of analysis possible. Each method provides a unique view of 

the relationship between gang crime and targeting. The effects of a TARGET team's efforts 

against a particular gang can be examined from longitudinal trends in gang crime by comparing 

pre- and post-targeting crime levels. Not only can changes in the annual number of incidents 

committed by a gang be determined, but the nature of those incidents also can be examined. For 

example, a gang may commit more incidents in a year following targeting, but the majority of 

those incidents may be for less serious crimes than were committed before targeting. Because 

the GITS database is longitudinal and because it contains many categories of variables, it is a 

relatively straightforward task to build upon analyses in this manner. Clearly, doing so affords a 

greater understanding of gang crime. 

The following example focuses on the question, “What are the effects of targeting gang 

rivalry, how does this affect criminal activity?” A related question concerns the possibility of

targeting impacting activity outside the targeting jurisdiction. That is, a gang that is targeted 

may commit more or less crime in places outside the jurisdictional area of the TARGET Team. 

Evaluations that consider only the amount of crime (not location) reported by the Santa Ana 

Police Department may show a reduction in one targeted gang’s criminal activity, when in fact 

the gang has reacted to police pressure and is offending in areas outside the city. Because gang 

crime data from cities outside Santa Ana are not always readily available to the Santa Ana 

TARGET Teams, if this is occurring, they may have inaccurate perceptions of their impact. 

Final Report – Aug 99 55 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Some of the gangs that have been targeted in Santa Ana are known to commit a majority 

of their crimes in certain areas of the city. To demonstrate the use of GITS for monitoring the 

spatial distribution of gang activity and targeting we focus on two active and violent gangs with 

territories in Santa Ana, gang A and gang D.15 These gangs were long-time rivals with violent 

histories of repeat offending and retaliation against one another. The TARGET team began 

targeting gang D in 1995 in an attempt to ameliorate this rivalry. Given limited resources, it was 

hoped that the targeting of one gang would remove some of its violent gang leaders from the 

streets, which would directly impact on the level of activity for the targeted gang. This reduction 

in gang presence was also intended to limit opportunities for inter-gang violence between gang D 

and gang A and as a consequence impact the non-targeted rival gang A. The following maps 

illustrate the effects of this strategy and help us understand whether targeting just one gang was 

an effective way to interrupt the cycle of rivalry-related crime. 

Figure 21 is a map of Santa Ana and surrounding areas that shows the turf of gang D and 

gang A. Each point represents an incident of gang crime committed in 1994 by gang A. In 

1994, when neither of the gangs was targeted, 88 percent of gang A's incidents (15 out of 17) 

occurred in Santa Ana. Thirty-five percent of their incidents occurred on their own turf, six 

percent occurred on rival gang D's turf, and only twelve percent occurred outside of Santa Ana. 

Most of gang A's activity was restricted to Santa Ana (88 percent). 

 15 The Santa Ana Police Department has a policy of not using actual gang names in public reports because public

exposure tends to enhance gang identity. 

Final Report – Aug 99 56 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 21. Location of incidents committed by gang A in 1994 

Figure 22 shows that during 1995, when gang D was targeted (but rival gang A was not), 

the level of gang A's activity increased dramatically by 159 percent (from 17 to 44) but only 57 

percent (25) now occurred in Santa Ana. While the proportion of gang A's activity on their turf 

and gang D's turf dropped, the actual number stayed about the same. The major change occurred 

in the actual increase in number of incidents both inside Santa Ana (but not on either A or D's 

turf) and the number of incidents outside Santa Ana (an increase from two incidents to 19 

incidents or 850 percent). 

Final Report – Aug 99 57 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 22 Location of incidents committed by gang A in 1995. (Each dot may represent 

more than one incident.) 

Targeting of gang D was continued in 1996. At this point, because of continued rivalry 

and a growing number of incidents as well as increased police resources, the decision was made 

to also target the gang A directly. Figure 23 indicates that direct targeting further dispersed as 

well as decreased gang A's activity. The number of incidents were decreased by 66 percent 

(from 44 to15). By targeting gang A directly, its level of activity was brought back down to 

where it was before the big increase in 1996 when rival gang D was targeted. The actual level of 

activity outside of Santa Ana also decreased by 63 percent (from 19 to seven) but the pattern of 

conducting a significant proportion of activity outside of Santa Ana, 47 percent, continued. 

Final Report – Aug 99 58 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 23. Location of incidents committed by gang A in 1996 

Spatial analysis of gang incidents clearly indicates the possibility of both direct and 

indirect effects when a gang is targeted. Targeting gang A’s rival, gang D, is associated with 

changes in the number and location of incidents involving gang A. Incidents involving gang A 

increased, a greater proportion of their activity shifted to outside Santa Ana, and the proportion 

of activity occurring on either gang’s turf diminished. When gang A was targeted directly, its 

overall activity decreased dramatically both inside and outside Santa Ana. However, there still 

was substantial activity outside Santa Ana. This example suggests that targeting a gang within 

one city may affect its level of activity outside that city.16 Without county-wide data it is unlikely 

that the Santa Ana TARGET Team would have been able to assess its impact on gang A this 

completely. 

 16Of course other factors besides targeting, or interacting with targeting, may explain the geographic shift of

incidents (e.g., increased recruitment of members outside Santa Ana or gang members moving outside the city.) 

Final Report – Aug 99 59 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

ONGOING ANALYSES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The county-wide data provided by GITS enable us to consider the activity of gangs in the 

city where they are targeted. But they also let us look well beyond the city of origin. Our 

ongoing analyses of crime committed by gangs A and D, as well as other targeted gangs, take 

advantage of these comprehensive data. Density analyses are used to determine location of “hotspots” involving all gangs or particular gangs of interest. These analyses are provided to gangenforcement teams to judge whether they are targeting the most volatile areas of their cities. 

Nearest-neighbor analyses also are being used to investigate spatial randomness of 

incidents. For instance, it can be determine whether the activity of one gang is occurring 

randomly within an expected area of activity, or if that gang is most likely to commit crime in 

discrete locations. The spatial distribution of incidents around a point is being evaluated as well. 

These analyses determine whether juvenile gang members, for example, are committing offenses 

disproportionately around popular locations such as stores, schools, or parks. 

Analyses such as these that currently are being conducted by the FRG appear very 

promising for helping guide gang control policy and tactics at local and regional levels. GITS 

data helps us understand the relationship between gang crime in Orange County and gangsuppression efforts in a manner that would not be possible without such data. Individual law 

enforcement agencies generally have data that are idiosyncratic, very limited in scope, and often 

stored in formats that make empirical evaluation difficult. Given the limited (by location and 

depth) data that individual departments may maintain, in-house analyses can lead to inaccurate 

perceptions of gang crime, and thus to the implementation of misguided gang-suppression 

strategies. Furthermore, police departments typically lack physical resources (e.g., software, 

hardware) and skilled analysts to critically interpret the data that are available. 

Final Report – Aug 99 60 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

OBJECTIVE 2: FEAR OF GANG CRIME 

Our objective in this part of the research was to identify factors that contribute to 

community members’ perceptions of—and fears about—gang violence. In order to determine 

the accuracy of people’s perceptions of gang activities and their risks of becoming victims of 

gang activities, we also compared residents’ reported fears to actual levels of gang activity in the 

county as indicated by gang incidents reported by police. A final, and important, issue addressed 

in this domain was how much perceptions about gang activities affected routine behavior and 

quality of life. Dr. Jodi Lane was the team leader for this portion of the research. 

Literature Review 

Public opinion polls indicate that the fear of crime is increasing in the United States and 

that people are modifying their behavior (e.g., including restricting nighttime activities and 

avoiding shopping malls and parks) to escape becoming victims of crime (Baldassare and Katz, 

1994, 1995, see also Miethe, 1995). There is evidence that recent increases in fear result mostly 

from people’s fear of youth crime, and both media and police reports indicate that much of this 

fear may result specifically from gang violence. As Lewis and Maxfield (1980: 184) note, “Fear 

of crime may be directly affected by concern about local adolescents.” This fear of youthful 

offenders is likely to become even more important as communities that previously considered 

themselves immune from gang violence are forced to face gangs moving beyond the inner city 

and extending into previously untouched neighborhoods (Curry, Ball, and Fox, 1994; Spergel 

and Curry, 1995). 

Although statistics show that some types of crime are increasing (e.g., youth violence), 

overall crime trends suggest we are not experiencing a surge of crime that would explain recent 

Final Report – Aug 99 61 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

steep increases in public fear (Ferraro, 1995; Lewis and Maxfield, 1980; Taylor & Hale, 1986; 

Taylor & Shumaker, 1990; Tyler, 1980). In fact, overall crime levels in Orange County dropped 

14 percent in 1994 and crime rates in California dropped to the lowest level in a decade. The 

number of crimes in all major categories (including homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary 

and automobile theft) decreased during this period (Los Angeles Times, 1995). Crime has 

continued to drop during each year since 1994 (Grad and Hua 1997: A1). In other words, fear of 

crime appears to be based on something other than crime rates. 

This accelerating yet apparently unrealistic fear of crime is an important subject of study 

for two reasons. First, because it can have a number of psychological and behavioral 

consequences for individuals who are fearful (e.g., Liska, Sanchirico, and Reed, 1988; Liska and 

Warner, 1991; Miethe, 1995; Ross, 1993; Taylor and Shumaker, 1990). Second, because public 

opinion is critically important in driving public policy (e.g., Lewis and Maxfield, 1980; Taylor 

and Hale, 1986; Warr, 1994). Recently, fear of crime has resulted in the passage of harsh 

mandatory sentencing policies (so-called ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out’ initiatives) that so far 

have increased prison populations drastically without creating a substantial reduction in crime 

(Blumstein, 1995). This substantial increase in prisoners pulls funds away from other needed 

social services like prevention programs, schools, and child health care (Vila 1997a, 1997b). Yet 

the public demands more incarceration, in part because they are afraid of crime. It doesn’t 

appear possible for state governments to continue to answer public calls for harsher prison 

sentences when there is little evidence that indiscriminate increases in imprisonment cause 

significant decreases in crime (see Greenwood et al., 1996; Greenwood et al., 1994; Spelman, 

1994; Zimring, 1995). Thus it seems particularly important to understand and attempt to 

alleviate factors that contribute to disproportionate public fear of crime. 

Final Report – Aug 99 62 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Since the 1970s, criminologists have made substantial progress toward understanding the 

incongruence between fear levels and actual criminal victimizations. These studies have mostly 

analyzed official data (e.g., reported crime and arrest rates) and correlated overall crime 

indicators with information on resident characteristics (e.g., age, gender, race, income level, prior 

victimization) and reported fear levels, which generally have been measured through public 

opinion surveys (typically random telephone surveys). Although there have been “a bewildering 

variety of questions [employed] to measure fear,” most of these studies have relied on the 

standard, well-known fear of crime survey questions used by the General Social Survey (GSS) 

and Gallup (Warr, 1994: 6-7). Questions asked include, for example, “How safe do you feel or 

would you feel being out alone in your neighborhood at night?”

17 There has been considerable 

debate over the validity and reliability of the GSS and Gallup questions in measuring fear of 

crime (see DuBow et al., 1979; LaGrange and Ferraro, 1987). As Warr (1994: 7) notes, these 

standard questions are better suited for measuring the prevalence rather than the magnitude of 

fear and have the major limitation of not indicating exactly what people “are afraid of.” Further, 

as Warr and Stafford (1983) indicate, the seriousness of the crime and one’s perceived risk of 

being victimized also may be important to understanding how these questions are answered. 

However, we have a relatively good understanding of the prevalence of fear and its demographic 

correlates because the standard questions and trends have been used for decades. 

During the 1970s and 1980s, about one-third to one-half of Americans reported that they 

were afraid of crime. However, fear of crime began to increase during the 1990s (Baldassare and 

Katz, 1994, 1995). Individual characteristics that are important for predicting reported fear of 

 17 This question typically is used in the National Crime Survey (Ferraro, 1995; LaGrange and Ferraro, 1989). 

Although the wording of the GSS question varies, it generally reads: “Is there any area around here—that is, within

a mile—where you would be afraid to walk alone at night (or during the day)?” (Ferraro, 1995; Warr, 1994: 6; Yin,

1985). 

Final Report – Aug 99 63 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

crime include age, gender, race, income level, and victimization. In general, studies have found 

that women and older individuals are more afraid than males and younger people, even though 

women and the elderly face the lowest objective risk of victimization (Baumer, 1978; Ferraro, 

1995; Garofalo and Laub, 1978; Miethe, 1995; Riger, Gordon and Le Bailly, 1978). However 

the findings for age effects are not consistent, some have argued that the elderly are not 

necessarily as fearful as many assume (see Ferraro and LaGrange 1987, 1988; LaGrange et al. 

1992; McCoy et al. 1996). It also is possible that the disproportionate reporting of fear among 

groups that are less likely to be victimized reflects perceptions about ability to bear the 

consequences of victimization. For example, an elderly person who is beaten may be disabled 

for the rest of his or her life while a young man receiving a similar beating may recover in a 

matter of days. 

Minorities (especially African-Americans) are typically more fearful than whites 

(Baumer, 1978; Skogan, 1995; Warr, 1994). People who live in low-income areas also typically 

are thought to be more fearful, although the evidence here is inconclusive (Taylor and 

Covington, 1993; Warr, 1994; Will and McGrath, 1995). The relationship between prior 

victimization and fear is likewise problematic in that those most victimized are not necessarily 

most fearful (Garofalo, 1979; Garofalo and Laub, 1978; Taylor and Hale, 1986; Warr, 1994). 

Recognizing that the demographic characteristics most closely associated with fear do not 

necessarily correspond with likelihood of victimization, studies now typically analyze 

community characteristics that may help explain this discrepancy. In general, urban residents are 

more fearful than people who live in rural areas (Boggs, 1971, Warr, 1994), and people who live 

in larger cities tend to be more fearful than those who live in smaller ones (Clemente and 

Kleinman, 1977). Residents in areas with more racial heterogeneity and higher poverty levels 

Final Report – Aug 99 64 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

also tend to report more fear (Covington and Taylor, 1991; Lizotte and Bordua, 1980; Merry, 

1981; Skogan, 1995; Will and McGrath, 1995)—purportedly because they are more likely to 

have direct experience with crime and with incivilities (Ferraro, 1995). 

Other community characteristics hypothesized to be crucial in explaining fear of crime 

include public disorder and/or community decline. Disorder, as indicated by social (e.g., 

loitering or rowdy youths, drunks, prostitution) and physical incivilities (e.g., litter, vacant 

buildings, abandoned lots, broken windows, graffiti), is often found to lead to and increase fear 

(e.g., Lewis and Maxfield, 1980; Perkins et al., 1992; Taylor, 1991; Taylor and Shumaker, 1990; 

Taylor, Shumaker, and Gottfredson, 1985; Wilson and Kelling, 1982). Another important 

predictor of fear is concern over community decline and deterioration (see Conklin, 1975; 

Garofalo and Laub, 1978). Including community variables has added an important dimension to 

research on fear of crime, suggesting it is influenced not simply by personal characteristics, but 

also by the relationship between personal characteristics, community characteristics, and actual

crime victimization probabilities. 

There currently are four dominant theoretical models that incorporate both individual and 

community correlates of fear of crime: indirect victimization, incivilities, community concern 

(decline) and subcultural diversity/racial heterogeneity (Covington and Taylor, 1991). 

• “Indirect victimization” refers to the idea that people hear about crime through local 

social networks and through the media and consequently experience vicarious 

victimization which makes them fearful (Skogan, 1977; Tyler, 1980). 

• “Incivilities” refers the idea that when community members perceive social and physical 

signs of an “underlying level of disorder” in their immediate surroundings, they feel more 

vulnerable and therefore more fearful (e.g., Covington and Taylor, 1991: 232; see also 

Lewis and Maxfield, 1980; Taylor, 1991). 

Final Report – Aug 99 65 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

• “Community concern” argues that fear of crime is primarily the result of concern over 

community deterioration (Conklin, 1975; Covington and Taylor, 1991; Garofalo and 

Laub, 1978). 

• “Subcultural diversity” argues that individuals who live near people of different cultural 

(or racial) backgrounds are more fearful because they find it difficult to interpret the 

manners and behaviors of people who are different from themselves (Merry, 1981; see 

also Skogan, 1995). 

Covington and Taylor (1991) found support for aspects of all four models but even using 

expanded models, they were unable to explain much of the variance in the fear of crime 

phenomenon. At best, these types of models explain only about 10 percent of the variance 

(Covington and Taylor, 1991; Taylor and Hale, 1986). To date, no study has tested the 

applicability of these models to fear of youth and street gangs. We believe that such a focus is 

particularly important to the study of community characteristics and their relationship to fear of 

crime. As noted earlier, gang membership and violence are believed to be on the rise, and 

communities that have never experienced gang crime now are being forced to confront it. Media 

reports heinous and seemingly random crimes committed by young people such as the murder of 

a 3-year-old girl in Los Angeles whose family members took a wrong turn into a “gang-infested” 

neighborhood, seem likely to exacerbate fear of gangs. 

Fear of Crime and Gangs Survey Methods 

CONDUCTING THE SURVEY

From September 3–28, 1997, we conducted a random digit dial survey of 1,000 Orange 

County residents with a 50-50 split between men and women.18 In addition to the random 

sample, we sampled 100 Hispanic and 100 Vietnamese county residents to allow for smaller 

Final Report – Aug 99 66 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

analyses of fear of crime and gangs in these large ethnic groups. The survey had a total of 1,200 

respondents and took approximately 20 minutes to administer. The random digit dial portion of 

the survey broadly reflects the ethnic distribution of the county: 63 percent white, 18 percent 

Hispanic, 6 percent Asian-American and 9 percent others. 

The survey instrument itself was designed to measure the level of fear in the community 

with regard to gangs and gang crime, investigate the theoretical factors related to fear, and relate 

these perceptions to variations in crime across the county. To measure prevalence of fear, for 

example, we asked if gangs were a problem in the community, if so, when they became a 

problem, and if respondents believed that different types of crime had increased or decreased in 

recent years. We also measured behavioral reactions to fear of gangs, such as avoiding certain 

areas of the community and carrying a weapon for protection (see Appendix B). 

We also hoped to measure theoretical propositions put forth by fear of crime researchers 

about the causes of fear (see above). For example, one section of the survey measured concern 

about community problems such as disorder/incivilities, community decline, and subcultural 

diversity/racial heterogeneity. We also wanted to examine Warr and Stafford’s (1983) 

proposition that fear is at least correlated with one’s perception of the crime’s seriousness and 

the perceived risk of victimization. This required us to examine specific criminal acts rather than 

just generalized perceptions of crime. Therefore, for eight different crimes (six personal and two 

property), we asked respondents to indicate the seriousness, the likelihood that they would be 

victimized by that crime in the next two to three years, and how personally afraid they were of 

that crime. Since the focus of this study is on gang crime, six of the eight crimes were specified 

as gang crimes or were crimes typically associated with gang members. These six crimes were: 

 18 We contracted with Interviewing Services of America in Van Nuys, California to administer the survey. 

Interviews were closely monitored by Dr. Jodi Lane, the lead researcher on this aspect of our project. 

Final Report – Aug 99 67 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

• Having your property damaged by gang graffiti or tagging 

• Having a gang member commit a home invasion robbery against you 

• Being a victim of a drive-by or random gang-related shooting 

• Being physically assaulted by a gang member 

• Being harassed by gang members 

• Being a victim of a carjacking 

The other two crimes in the list were: 

• Having someone break into your home while you are away 

• Being raped or sexually assaulted by a stranger 

The general burglary question was included to allow us to compare fear of gang crimes with fear 

of a crime not necessarily associated with gangs. Rape was included to allow us to control for 

fear of rape in understanding women’s fear of crime in later analyses. 

In addition to measuring fear of crime and gangs, the survey measured respondents’ 

concern about community-level problems which theorists have noted are important to predicting 

fear of crime. The question asked: 

We have a number of questions about your community as you define it. I will 

read you a list of some things that currently might be problems in your community. After 

I read each one, please tell me whether you think it is a big problem, somewhat of a 

problem, a small problem, or no problem in your community.

19

Some of the community problems listed overlap constructs from different theories 

about community effects and therefore can be included as measures of more than one 

theory. The questions and the theoretical constructs they were designed to measure are 

listed in Table 12. 

Final Report – Aug 99 68 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 12. Theoretical constructs and survey questions used to measure them 

THEORETICAL CONSTRUCT COMMUNITY PROBLEM QUESTION(S) 

DISORDER

Social Disorganization: 

• Poverty and economic hardship

• People moving in and out without personally 

becoming attached to the community 

• Racial differences between residents 

Physical Incivilities: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

People or landlords allowing their property to 

become run down 

Abandoned houses or other empty buildings 

Graffiti 

Social Incivilities: 

Too many people living in one residence

Youths hanging out

Gangs 

COMMUNITY DECLINE

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

People or landlords allowing their property to 

become run down 

People moving in and out without personally 

becoming attached to the community 

Abandoned houses or other empty buildings 

Graffiti 

Too many people living in one residence

Youths hanging out

Gangs 

SUBCULTURAL DIVERSITY/ 

RACIAL HETEROGENEITY

• 

• 

• 

• 

Language differences between residents 

Cultural differences between residents 

Racial differences between residents 

Too many people living in one residence20

 19 An earlier question asked respondents to indicate how they defined their community. 20 This question is included as a measurement of this construct because another study of fear in Orange County using 

focus groups with residents of six Santa Ana, California, neighborhoods indicated that residents associated their 

neighborhood crime and gang problems and therefore their fear of them with Hispanic immigrants. Part of the 

Final Report – Aug 99 69 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Analysis of Random Digit Dial Survey Findings 

To ensure that our analysis applies to the county at large, much of what we report here 

deals only with the random digit dial sample of 500 men and 500 women. The research 

questions presented in this section will report analysis and findings from these 1,000 

respondents. Later, we will examine the differences in fear of crime and gangs between the 

subsamples of whites, Hispanics, and Vietnamese residents. 

HOW MUCH FEAR DO RESIDENTS CURRENTLY HAVE ABOUT GANG VIOLENCE? 

As noted above, the survey asked respondents to indicate on a 4-point scale personal 

perceptions about seriousness, risk, and fear regarding eight different crimes.21 Tables 13-15 

provide the percentages of the random digit dial sample respondents who answered in each of the 

four category options for each of the eight crimes. The tables rank order crimes from most to 

least serious, likely to occur, or fear provoking. 

 

problem according to these respondents was that Hispanic immigrants often lived with multiple families in one

household, which often led to more neighborhood disorder (Lane 1998). 21 The order of these crimes was rotated randomly during the survey to control for response effects. 

Final Report – Aug 99 70 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 13. RDD respondents rank the seriousness of eight crimes

CRIMES: n 

NOT 

SERIOUS

(%)

SOMEWHAT

SERIOUS

(%)

SERIOUS

(%)

VERY 

SERIOUS

(%)

MEAN

PROPERTY CRIMES:  Burglary 996 7.9 11.3 33.1 47.6 3.20  Graffiti 998 11.5 20.7 34.7 33.1 2.89 PERSONAL CRIMES:  Rape 994 8.6 3.2 5.9 82.3 3.62 

Drive-By/Random Gang Shooting 998 9.7 3.1 6.8 80.4 3.58 

 Gang-Related Assault 997 9.4 3.8 12.2 74.5 3.52 

Home Invasion Robbery 995 9.2 4.3 15.6 70.9 3.48 

 Carjacking 996 9.0 5.9 18.8 66.3 3.42  Gang-Related Harassment 995 10.9 13.5 34.5 41.2 3.06 

Final Report – Aug 99 71 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 14. RDD respondents indicate the likelihood that they will become a victim of eight crimes 3 years 

CRIMES: n 

NOT 

LIKELY

(%)

SOMEWHAT

LIKELY

(%)

LIKELY

(%)

VERY 

LIKELY

(%)

MEAN

PROPERTY CRIMES:  Burglary 983 37.1 40.2 17.4 5.3 1.91  Graffiti 985 57.6 26.0 9.9 6.5 1.65 PERSONAL CRIMES:  Rape 980 49.2 33.6 12.3 4.9 1.73 

Drive-By/Random Gang Shooting 985 55.7 27.4 12.2 4.7 1.66 

 Gang-Related Assault 979 59.3 26.9 9.9 3.9 1.58 

Home Invasion Robbery 981 61.6 24.2 9.8 4.5 1.57 

 Carjacking 981 63.3 23.6 7.6 5.4 1.55  Gang-Related Harassment 982 69.2 19.0 7.2 4.5 1.47 

Final Report – Aug 99 72 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 15. RDD respondents indicate how personally afraid they are of eight crimes 

CRIMES: n 

NOT 

AFRAID

(%)

SOMEWHAT

AFRAID

(%)

AFRAID

(%)

VERY 

AFRAID

(%)

MEAN

PROPERTY CRIMES:  Burglary 995 29.3 37.3 16.3 17.1 2.21  Graffiti 994 47.9 26.8 14.5 10.9 1.88 PERSONAL CRIMES:  Rape 994 35.5 23.8 13.0 27.7 2.33 

Drive-By/Random Gang Shooting 995 32.5 29.0 13.6 24.9 2.31 

 Gang-Related Assault 994 42.4 16.4 10.6 30.7 2.30 

Home Invasion Robbery 993 37.5 24.1 12.3 26.2 2.27 

 Carjacking 995 36.4 24.5 14.6 24.5 2.27  Gang-Related Harassment 995 41.5 28.4 14.2 15.9 2.04 

Final Report – Aug 99 73 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

COMPARING THE PERCENTAGES

Based upon the percentages presented in the above three tables, there are clear 

differences between respondents’ ratings of the seriousness of these crimes, their perceived risk 

of victimization and their personal fear of them. In general, respondents see personal crimes as 

serious but have a low perceived risk and are only “somewhat afraid.” However, an examination 

of the percentages by type of crime indicates that ratings of seriousness, perceived risk, and fear 

are very different. For example, for the property crimes of tagging/graffiti and burglary, about 

one-third to one-half thought the crimes were very serious, about 5-7 percent felt very likely it 

would happen to them, and 10–20 percent were very afraid of them. For gang-related assault, 

74.5 percent of respondents felt it was “very serious,” but only 4.5 percent felt that it was “very 

likely” to happen to them in the next two to three years and about 26.2 percent of them were 

“very afraid” of gang assault. For the “random” crimes often focused on by the media such as 

drive-by shootings, carjacking, and home invasion robbery there also were clear differences. 

Although a strong majority felt that these crimes were very serious, only about a quarter of 

respondents were “very afraid” of them, and most of them did not think that they were very 

likely to be victimized by these serious violent crimes—even though they were “random” and 

theoretically could happen to anyone. Interestingly, rape was ranked as the most serious crime in 

the list, but was seen as the least likely, and ranked in the middle in terms of fear.22

These data only provide partial support for Warr and Stafford’s (1983) proposition that 

fear is correlated with one’s perception of crime seriousness and perceived risk of victimization. 

For personal crime, the relative rank order for risk, seriousness and fear are the same indicating 

association. Property crime, on the other hand, follows a core couples relationship. Both 

burglary and graffiti are seen in terms of low fear and seriousness, but very likely for 

Final Report – Aug 99 74 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

victimization. A more sophisticated analysis of Warr and Stafford’s (1983) propositions follows 

later. 

FACTORS AFFECTING RESIDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND FEARS REGARDING GANG ACTIVITY

Importance of Demographics 

The foregoing tables indicate differences between people’s perceptions about seriousness, 

risk, and fear of the eight crimes. It also is important to know what factors are most likely to 

predict feelings about these eight crimes. Past research has shown that demographics —

especially age and gender—are important predictors of fear and have emphasized the importance 

of subjective concern about community problems such as disorder and community decline. To 

better understand the relationship between demographics and concern about community 

problems, we conducted regressions predicting seriousness, perceived risk, and fear for each of 

the eight crimes based upon demographic characteristics other than race/ethnicity (Tables 16-18). 

 22 For this table, both men and women’s assessments of rape are included. 

Final Report – Aug 99 75 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 16. Predicting crime seriousness ranking based upon RDD respondent

demographic characteristics 

SERIOUSNESS23

DEMOGRAPHICS GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

SEX24 .226** 

(.115) 

.133*

(.072)

.275***

(.140)

.241***

(.129)

.082

(.043)

.177** 

(.095) 

.201** 

(.106) 

.199**

(.112)

 AGE -.043 

(-.068) 

-.019

(-.033)

-.033

(-.051)

-.056**

(-.093)

-.055*

(-.091)

-.042* 

(-.070) 

-.037 

(-.060) 

-.039

(-.068)

 INCOME .024 

(.047) 

.034

(.071)

.040

(.078)

.051**

(.106)

.056**

(.114)

.030 

(.061) 

.031 

(.064) 

.039*

(.084)

 EDUCATION -.030 

(-.040) 

-.027

(-.038)

-.051

(-.067)

.069*

(096)

.019

(.026)

.055 

(.077) 

.027 

(.037) 

.047

(.068)

 VICTIM25 .005 

(.002) 

.163

(.074)

.028

(.012)

.019

(.008)

.059

(.026)

.104 

(.047) 

.152 

(.068) 

.073

(.035)

R2 .018 .015 .026 .049 .025 .028 .026 .032

R2 ADJ .012 .009 .020 .043 .020 .022 .020 .026

F 3.104** 2.587* 4.375** 8.592*** 4.332** 4.701*** 4.376** 5.508***

Df 5, 830 5, 829 5, 827 5, 830 5, 829 5, 827 5, 830 5, 827

B (Beta) * p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001; 1000 Respondents, 500 Men, 500 Women

 23 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or

assault by a gang member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gangrelated shooting, RAP = rape. 24 Gender is dummy coded. 1= female, 0 = male. 25 Victimization is dummy coded with 1 equaling some type of personal victimization by crime in the past 2 to 3

years, and 0 equaling no personal victimization in the past 2 to 3 years. 

Final Report – Aug 99 76 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 17. Predicting perceived risk of victimization based upon RDD respondent 

demographic characteristics 

PERCEIVED RISK26

DEMOGRAPHICS GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

SEX27 .066 

(.037) 

.136*

(.080)

-.007

(-.004)

-.019

(-.011)

.041

(.024)

.076 

(.047) 

.092 

(.055) 

.354***

(.222)

 AGE -.058** 

(-.100) 

-.037

(-.067)

-.072***

(-.130)

-.057*

(-.107)

-.022

(-.040)

-.028 

(-.054) 

-.014 

(-.026) 

-.027

(-.052)

 INCOME -.069***

(-.148) 

-.018

(-.041)

-.037*

(-.082)

-.064***

(-.148)

-.030

(-.068)

-.063***

(-.151) 

-.065***

(-.149) 

-.042*

(-.101)

 EDUCATION -.080** 

(-.116) 

-.036

(-.055)

-.101***

(-.153)

-.139***

(-.219)

-.122***

(-.188)

-.085***

(-.137) 

-.116***

(-.181) 

-.101***

(-.165)

 VICTIM28 .296 

(.138) 

.222**

(.110)

.427***

(.209)

.217**

(.109)

.182**

(.091)

.258*** 

(.135) 

.153* 

(.077) 

.160*

(.084)

R2 .093 .033 .118 .138 .067 .092 .096 .120

R2 ADJ .088 .028 .113 .133 .062 .086 .091 .115

F 16.91*** 5.69*** 22.05*** 26.23*** 11.82*** 16.54*** 17.40*** 22.36***

Df 5, 824 5, 821 5, 824 5, 818 5, 819 5, 818 5, 819 5, 819

B (Beta) * p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001; 1000 Respondents, 500 Men, 500 Women

 26 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or

assault by a gang member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gangrelated shooting, RAP = rape. 27 Gender is dummy coded. 1= female, 0 = male. 28 Victimization is dummy coded with 1 equaling some type of personal victimization by crime in the past 2 to 3

years, and 0 equaling no personal victimization in the past 2 to 3 years. 

Final Report – Aug 99 77 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 18. Predicting personal fear based upon RDD respondent demographic 

characteristics 

FEAR29

DEMOGRAPHICS GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

SEX30 .374*** 

(.184) 

.405***

(.196)

.593***

(.274)

.678***

(.282)

.631***

(.271)

.549*** 

(.231) 

.549*** 

(.226) 

1.165***

(.451)

 AGE -.013 

(-.020) 

-.011

(-.017)

-.046

(-.066)

-.010***

(-.128)

-.064*

(-.085)

-.062* 

(-.080) 

-.088** 

(-.113) 

-.130***

(-.156)

 INCOME -.023 

(-.043) 

-.010

(-.019)

-.007

(-.012)

-.001

(-.001)

.018

(.029)

-.006 

(-.010) 

-.019 

(-.030) 

-.009

(-.014)

 EDUCATION -.105** 

(-.135) 

-.083**

(-.105)

-.106**

(-.127)

-.073*

(-.079)

-.075*

(-.084)

-.079* 

(-.087) 

-.107** 

(-.115) 

-.079*

(-.079)

 VICTIM31 -.040 

(-.017) 

.087

(.035)

.037

(.014)

.089

(.031)

.155

(.056)

.148 

(.052) 

-.054 

(.019) 

.042

(.014)

R2 .062 .054 .098 .102 .088 .072 .083 .230

R2 ADJ .056 .049 .092 .096 .083 .067 .078 .225

F 10.87*** 9.52*** 17.93*** 18.76*** 16.05*** 12.91*** 15.06*** 49.43***

Df 5, 828 5, 829 5, 828 5, 828 5, 828 5, 828 5, 828 5, 829

B (Beta) * p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001; 1000 Respondents, 500 Men, 500 Women

Tables 16-18 again support the notion that predictors of fear of crime, as well as 

seriousness and perceived risk, differ depending upon the type of crime. For crime seriousness, 

which is presented in Table 16, gender (being female) is significantly related to ratings for every 

crime except carjacking. Age also is significantly and negatively related to ratings of seriousness 

for gang-related assault, carjacking, and home invasion robbery. Income is significantly and 

 29 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or

assault by a gang member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gangrelated shooting, RAP = rape. 30 Gender is dummy coded. 1= female, 0 = male. 31 Victimization is dummy coded with 1 equaling some type of personal victimization by crime in the past 2 to 3

years, and 0 equaling no personal victimization in the past 2 to 3 years. 

Final Report – Aug 99 78 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

positively related to seriousness ratings for gang-related assault, carjacking, and rape. 

Interestingly, education is significantly and positively related only to ratings of the seriousness of 

gang-related assault. Previous victimization is not significantly related to seriousness ratings for 

any of the crimes. 

Table 17 presents results of regression analyses predicting perceived risk for each of the 

eight crimes based upon respondent’s demographic characteristics. For perceived risk, being 

female is positively and significantly related to rape and burglary. Age is significantly and 

negatively related to perceived risk of graffiti, gang-related harassment, and gang-related assault. 

Income is significantly and negatively related to perceived risk of graffiti, gang-related 

harassment, gang-related assault, home invasion robbery, drive-by shootings, and rape. 

Education is significantly and negatively related to perceived risk of all crimes except burglary. 

And prior victimization is significantly and positively related to perceived risk of burglary, gangrelated harassment and assault, carjacking, home invasion robbery, drive-bys and rape. 

Table 18 presents results of regression analyses predicting fear of crime from

demographic characteristics. Consistent with most of the previous literature, being female is 

significantly and positively related to reported fear of all eight crimes. On the other hand, unlike 

findings from most studies, our analyses indicate that, in Orange County at least, younger (rather 

than older) people are significantly more likely to be afraid of gang-related assault, carjacking, 

home invasion robbery, drive-by shootings, and rape. Education is significantly and negatively 

related to fear of all eight crimes. Interestingly, income and victimization are not significantly 

related to fear of any of the crimes. 

Final Report – Aug 99 79 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

COMPARING EFFECTS OF DEMOGRAPHICS ON SERIOUSNESS, PERCEIVED RISK, AND FEAR

Tables 16–18 show that predictors of seriousness, perceived risk, and fear vary depending 

upon the type of crime. In addition, perceived risk and personal fear clearly are not the same

phenomena. Here, gender (being female)—one of the strongest predictors of fear in previous 

research (Baumer 1978; Ferraro 1995; Garofalo and Laub 1978; Miethe 1995; Riger, Gordon 

and Le Bailly 1978)—again is significantly related to fear of all types of crime included in the 

survey. It also is significantly related to seriousness ratings for all crimes except carjacking. 

However, gender is significantly related to the perceived risk for only two crimes—burglary and 

rape, the two crimes that are not necessarily “gang-related.” 

Age is negatively and significantly related to fear of gang-related assault, carjacking, 

home invasion robbery, drive-by shootings, and rape. Although many studies have found a 

positive relationship between age and fear, our finding is not unique (see Ferraro and LaGrange 

1987, 1988; LaGrange et al. 1992; McCoy et al. 1996). Age also is negatively related to 

perceived risk of graffiti, gang harassment, and gang-related assault. In Orange County, it 

appears younger people are more likely to fear these crimes and to believe they are more likely 

to become victims of them. 

Previous findings that poverty is positively related to fear (Taylor and Covington 1993; 

Warr 1994; Will and McGrath 1995) receive mixed support here. Income is positively and 

significantly related to perceptions of the seriousness of gang-related assault, carjacking, and 

rape, but it is negatively and significantly related to perceived risk of graffiti, gang harassment, 

gang assault, home invasion, drive-bys and rape. However, it is not significantly related to fear 

for any of the crimes. Education shows the same pattern, although it is significantly and 

negatively related to fear of all eight crimes. For seriousness, education is positively and 

significantly related to gang assault, but for perceived risk it is negatively and significantly 

Final Report – Aug 99 80 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

related to graffiti, gang harassment, gang assault, carjacking, home invasion robbery, drive-bys, 

and rape. As some previous research has indicated, personal victimization within the past two to

three years is not a significant predictor of fear of any of the crimes. Nor is it predictive of

seriousness ratings for them. However, it is significantly related to perceived risk of all the 

crimes except burglary.32

Because previous studies have indicated that fear and actual victimization risk based 

upon demographic characteristics do not coincide, fear of crime theorists have emphasized the 

importance of measuring concern about community problems like disorder, community decline, 

and subcultural diversity/racial heterogeneity as important factors in predicting fear. As noted 

previously, our survey was designed to measure all three theories, but a factor analysis indicated 

the presence of two, rather than three, factors. The survey data loaded primarily on a “disorder” 

factor and a “diversity” factor. The failure of community decline to emerge as a coherent factor 

may have occurred because many of the variables indicative of concern about disorder also 

indicate concerns about community decline. The factors that emerged are:33

DISORDER DIVERSITY

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

 

Poverty and economic hardship

People or landlords allowing their property 

to become run down 

Abandoned houses or other empty buildings 

Gunfire 

Graffiti 

Gangs 

Youths hanging out 

Language differences between residents 

Cultural differences between residents 

Racial differences between residents 

People moving in and out without becoming 

attached to the community 

We developed composite variables in order to enter the disorder and diversity constructs 

into regression equations by computing arithmetic averages for each respondent, summing the 

scores for all variables in the factor, and dividing by the number of variables (seven for disorder 

32 The direction of relationships in the multiple regression analysis are consistent with the direction of relationships

for the bivariate correlations. 

Final Report – Aug 99 81 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

and four for diversity). We then computed the same regressions as before with the addition of 

disorder and diversity variables. Tables 19–21 show the results of these the regression analyses. 

Table 19. Predicted perceptions of seriousness based upon demographic, disorder, 

and diversity variables

SERIOUSNESS34

VARIABLES GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

STEP 1

.216** .176** .306*** .280*** .127 .230** .218** .242*** SEX

(.110) (.095) (.158) (.149) (.067) (.122) (.115) (.135)

-.034 -.013 -.005 -.038 -.049* -.033 -.024 -.029 AGE

(-.053) (-.021) (-.007) (-.061) (-.079) (-.053) (-.039) (-.048)

.032 .041* .053* .056** .058** .044* .043* .056** INCOME

(.063) (.085) (.104) (.113) (.117) (.088) (.086) (.119)

-.006 -.010 -.038 .070* .028 .059 .030 .038 EDUCATION

(-.007) (-.014) (-.050) (.094) (.038) (.079) (.040) (.055)

.004 .181* .041 .035 .054 .096 .146 .080 VICTIM

(.002) (.082) (.018) (.016) (.024) (.043) (.064) (.037)

STEP 2

 DISORDER .149* 

(.126) 

.103

(.092)

.150**

(.128)

.067

(.059)

.080

(.070)

.094 

(.082) 

.023 

(.020) 

.070

(.065)

 DIVERSITY -.015 

(-.012) 

-.075

(-.063)

.000

(.000)

.017

(.014)

-.017 -.037 

(-.030) 

.047 

(.038) 

.039

(.705)

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 1 

.016* .021** .030*** .048*** .025** .033*** .029** .038***

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 2 

.013** .005 .015** .004 .004 .004 .003 .008

MODEL R2 .029 .025 .045 .053 .028 .037 .031 .046

MODEL R2 ADJ .020 .016 .036 .044 .019 .028 .022 .037

MODEL F 3.232** 2.764** 5.029 5.960**

*

3.127** 4.117**

* 

3.458** 5.095**

*

MODEL df 7, 749 7, 748 7, 748 7, 749 7, 748 7, 747 7, 749 7, 746

(-.014)

B (Beta) from final model including both steps * p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001 

 33 The alpha for the disorder scale is .9059 and for the diversity scale is .7752. 

Final Report – Aug 99 82 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 20. Predicted perceived risk of victimization based upon demographic, disorder, 

and diversity variables

PERCEIVED RISK35

VARIABLES GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

STEP 1

 SEX .075 

(.043) 

.141*

(.086)

.007

(.004)

-.012

(-.007)

.044

(.027)

.073 

(.048) 

.098 

(.062) 

.347***

(.221)

 AGE -.036 

(-.063) 

-.025

(-.046)

-.039*

(-.072)

-.029

(-.056)

.007

(.012)

-.009 

(-.017) 

.022 

(.041) 

-.009

(-.017)

 INCOME -.054** 

(-.119) 

-.000

(.000)

-.014

(-.034)

-.044**

(-.105)

-.016

(-.037)

-.048** 

(-.119) 

-.052** 

(-.125) 

-.025

(-.061)

 EDUCATION -.068* 

(-.101) 

-.038

(-.058)

-.109***

(-.170)

-.145***

(-.232)

-.116***

(-.181)

-077** 

(-.129) 

-.105***

(-.169) 

-.112***

(-.181)

 VICTIM .194** 

(.094) 

.122

(.062)

.318***

(.162)

.087

(.045)

.109

(.116)

.140* 

(.077) 

.069 

(.036) 

.071

(.038)

STEP 2

 DISORDER .231*** 

(.221) 

.116*

(.116)

.206***

(.208)

.171***

(.179)

.198***

(.200)

.207*** 

(.224) 

.212*** 

(.221) 

.129**

(.136)

 DIVERSITY .038 

(.034) 

.095

(.089)

.072

(.068)

.076

(.074)

.002

(.002)

.006 

(.006) 

.046 

(.045) 

.073

(.071)

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 1 

.092*** .028** .111*** .138*** .066*** .090*** .105*** .123***

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 2 

.055*** .032*** .061*** .050*** .037*** .048*** .059*** .033***

MODEL R2 .147 .061 .172 .188 .103 .138 .163 .157

MODEL R2 ADJ .139 .052 .165 .181 .095 .130 .155 .149

MODEL F 18.33*** 6.85** 22.13*** 24.50*** 12.15*** 16.94*** 20.60*** 19.61***

MODEL df 7, 743 7, 742 7, 742 7, 739 7, 740 7, 740 7, 739 7, 739

B (Beta) from final model including both steps * p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001

 34 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

35 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Final Report – Aug 99 83 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 21. Predicting personal fear based upon demographic, disorder, and diversity 

variables 

FEAR36

VARIABLES GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

STEP 1

 SEX .305*** 

(.153) 

.357***

(.175)

.555***

(.257)

.612***

(.256)

.570***

(.247)

.505*** 

(.214) 

.503*** 

(.208) 

1.098**

*

(.427)

 AGE .006 

(.008) 

-.002

(-.004)

-.036

(-.050)

-.081**

(-.102)

-.046

(-.060)

-.053 

(-.068) 

-.075* 

(-.093) 

-.127***

(-.148)

 INCOME -.006 

(-.011) 

.008

(.014)

.023

(.041)

.015

(.024)

.031

(.050)

.004 

(.006) 

.011 

(.017) 

.003

(.005)

 EDUCATION -097** 

(-.124) 

-.068*

(-.084)

-.110**

(-.130)

-.071

(-.076)

-.084*

(-.092)

-.058 

(-.063) 

-.117** 

(-.123) 

-.078*

(-.077

 VICTIM -061 

(-.025) 

.045

(.018)

-.014

(-.006)

.081

(.028)

.116

(.042)

.109 

(.039) 

-.008 

(-.003) 

.042

(.013)

STEP 2

 DISORDER .196** 

(.162) 

.218***

(.176)

.198**

(.152)

.168*

(.116)

.194**

(.139)

.171* 

(.120) 

.227** 

(.155) 

.115

(074)

 DIVERSITY .027 

(.021) 

-.055

(-.041)

.046

(.033)

.040

(.026)

-.027

(-.018)

-.020 

(-.013) 

-.024 

(-.016) 

.015

(.009)

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 1 

.052*** .044*** .091*** .089*** .079*** .063*** .078*** .123***

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 2 

.029*** .021*** .028*** .017** .015** .012* .019*** .006

MODEL R2 .080 .065 .119 .106 .094 .074 .098 .219

MODEL R2 ADJ .071 .057 .111 .098 .085 .066 .089 .211

MODEL F 9.30*** 7.48*** 14.48*** 12.64*** 11.04*** 8.59*** 11.55*** 29.96***

MODEL df 7, 748 7, 748 7, 747 7, 747 7,748 7, 747 7, 747 7, 749

B (Beta) from final model including both steps * p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001

 36 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Final Report – Aug 99 84 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

COMPARING EFFECTS OF DEMOGRAPHICS AND COMMUNITY PROBLEMS

Tables 19–21, which were generated from equations that included concern about 

community disorder and diversity, again indicate that the significant predictors of perceived 

seriousness, perceived risk and fear vary depending upon the crime. Interestingly, concern about 

diversity is not significantly related to any seriousness ratings, perceived risk, or fear of any of 

the crimes. However, concern about disorder is significantly related in most equations predicting 

risk and fear. For seriousness ratings, concern about community disorder is significantly and 

positively related to graffiti and gang harassment. For perceived risk, belief that disorder is a 

community problem is related to all eight crimes, and for fear of crime, disorder is related to all 

crimes except rape. 

Being female is a significant predictor of perceptions of seriousness for all crimes except 

carjacking—as in the previous equations. For perceived risk, being female is significant only for 

burglary and rape. However, being female is significantly related to fear of all eight crimes. 

Age again is negatively related to only a few crimes. For seriousness, age is significantly 

and negatively related only to carjacking. In the previous equations that did not include concern 

about community problems, age was significantly and negatively related to seriousness ratings 

for gang assault and home invasion robbery. For perceived risk, it was negatively and 

significantly related to gang-related harassment. Now, however, the earlier significant 

relationships between age and perceived risk of graffiti and gang assault drop out. For fear, age 

is negatively and significantly associated with gang-related assault, whereas in the previous 

equations it was negatively and significantly associated with fear of carjacking and home

invasion robbery. 

Income is significantly and positively related to seriousness ratings for all crimes except 

graffiti while, in the previous equations it was significantly related only to gang assault, 

Final Report – Aug 99 85 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

carjacking, and rape. With regard to risk, the inclusion of the composite variables made income

significantly and negatively related to perceived risk of graffiti, gang assault, home invasion 

robbery, and drive-by shootings. However, as before, income is not significantly related to fear 

levels for any of the crimes. 

Education, on the other hand, is significantly and negatively related to fear levels for 

graffiti, burglary, gang harassment, carjacking, drive-by shooting, and rape, whereas it 

previously was significantly related to all eight crimes. As in the previous equations for 

perceived risk, education is significantly and negatively related to all crimes except burglary. 

Again, however, education is positively and significantly related only to the seriousness with 

which respondents rated gang-related assault. 

With the inclusion of the diversity and disorder constructs, victimization became 

positively related to the seriousness rating for burglary and positively related to the perceived 

risk of graffiti, gang-harassment and home invasion robbery when the earlier equations indicated 

it was significantly related to all crimes except graffiti. As before, previous victimization is not 

significantly related to fear of any of the crimes. 

Similar to previous findings (Lewis and Maxfield 1980; Perkins et al 1992; Taylor 1991; 

Taylor and Shumaker 1990; Taylor, Shumaker and Gottfredson 1985; Wilson and Kelling 1982; 

and Covington and Taylor 1991), the disorder construct is positively associated with almost all 

of the fear items and all of the risk items. However, disorder is not related to seriousness. Also 

contrary to the findings of Merry 1981 and Skogan 1995, the disorder construct is not strongly 

associated with fear, risk or seriousness. The strength of association for the final models, 

including demographic variables, victimization, diversity and disorder constructs are similar to 

the ten percent findings of Covington and Taylor (1991) for fear and risk. Seriousness is much 

Final Report – Aug 99 86 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

less. Average explained variation was 9.8 percent for fear, 13.3 percent for risk and 2.8 percent 

for seriousness. 

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG SERIOUSNESS RANKINGS, PERCEIVED RISK OF VICTIMIZATION, AND 

FEAR

The next step was to test Warr and Stafford’s (1983) idea that fear of a particular crime is 

a function of a person’s perceived risk of the crime and his or her beliefs about the seriousness of 

the crime. We took a different approach to investigating question by using regression equations 

and a structural equation model to examine fear of crime as a function of perceived risk and 

perceived seriousness. 

Tables 22 and 23 present the result of regression analyses examining the extent to which 

fear of crime was explained by perceived risk and by perceived seriousness. We ran two 

regressions for each crime. First, Table 22 illustrates the effects of seriousness and risk ratings

for each crime on fear of that crime after controlling for demographic characteristics. Table 23 

illustrates the effects of seriousness and perceived risk of the crime after controlling for 

demographics as well as respondents’ concerns about community disorder and diversity. 

Final Report – Aug 99 87 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 22. Predicting fear of crime from demographics, perceived seriousness and 

perceived risk. 

FEAR37

GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

STEP 1

 SEX .299*** 

(.148) 

.333***

(.162)

.549***

(.254)

.647***

(.269)

.600***

(.257)

.488*** 

(.205) 

.489***

(.201)

1.016**

*

(.394)

 AGE .011 

(.016) 

.006

(.009)

-.013

(-.019)

-.065*

(-.083)

-.044

(-.058)

-.039 

(-.051) 

-.081**

(-.103)

-.120***

(-.144)

 INCOME -.005 

(-.009) 

-.011

(-.021)

-.004

(-.007)

.010

(.015)

.015

(.024)

.015 

(.024) 

.002

(.003)

.005

(.008)

 EDUCATION -.080** 

(-.103) 

-.054

(-.068)

-.064*

(-.077)

-.029

(-.032)

-.034

(-.038)

-.042 

(-.046) 

-.069

(-.073)

-.046

(-.046)

 VICTIM -.143 

(-.059) 

-.025

(-.010)

-.127

(-.049)

.019

(.007)

.080

(.029)

.024 

(.008) 

-.028

(-.010)

-.030

(-.010)

STEP 2

SERIOUSNESS RANK .206*** 

(.200) 

.164***

(.147)

.132***

(.120)

.124**

(.097)

.187***

(.153)

.118** 

(.093) 

.133**

(.103)

.052

(.036)

RISK PERCEPTION .298*** 

(.264) 

.389***

(.321)

.338***

(.268)

.361***

(.249)

.360***

(.261)

.431*** 

(.292) 

.370***

(.254)

.382***

(.237)

R2 CHANGE STEP 1 .062*** .053*** .096*** .100*** .087*** .069*** .084*** .230***

R2 CHANGE STEP 2 .111*** .130*** .084*** .068*** .095*** .087*** .073*** .052***

MODEL R2 .173 .183 .180 .168 .182 .156 .157 .282

MODEL R2 ADJ .166 .176 .173 .160 .175 .149 .150 .276

F 24.49*** 26.18*** 25.59*** 23.46*** 26.02*** 21.46*** 21.73*** 45.63***

df 7, 821 7, 818 7, 818 7, 815 7, 816 7, 812 7, 816 7, 813

B (Beta) from final model including both steps * p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001 

 37 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or

assault by a gang member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gangrelated shooting, RAP = rape. 

Final Report – Aug 99 88 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 23. Predicting fear of crime from demographics, community concerns, perceived 

seriousness, and perceived risk 

FEAR38

GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

STEP 1

 SEX .231** 

(.116) 

.274*** 

(.134)

.499*** 

(.232)

.572*** 

(.239)

.527*** 

(.229)

.434*** 

(.184) 

.427*** 

(.176) 

.936***

(.364)

 AGE .019 

(.028) 

.007 

(.010)

-.018 

(-.025)

-.060* 

(-.075)

-.036 

(-.047)

-.040 

(-.051) 

-.078** 

(-.097) 

-.125***

(-.146)

 INCOME .007 

(.014) 

-.003 

(-.005)

.017 

(.031)

.021 

(.033)

.022 

(.037)

.016 

(.026) 

.024 

(.038) 

.012

(.017)

 EDUCATION -.082 

(-.105) 

-.043 

(-.053)

-.068* 

(-.081)

-.023 

(-.024)

-.048 

(-.053)

-.033 

(-.036) 

-.085* 

(-.090) 

-.039

(-.038)

 VICTIM -.136 

(-.057) 

-.030 

(-.012)

-.136 

(-.053)

.038 

(.013)

.069 

(.025)

.030 

(.009) 

-.052 

(-.018) 

-.007

(-.002)

STEP 2

DISORDER .102 

(.085) 

.152** 

(.123)

.117* 

(.090)

.095 

(.066)

.111 

(.080)

.060 

(.042) 

.152* 

(.104) 

.064

(.042)

DIVERSITY .029 

(.022) 

-.081 

(-.061)

.027 

(.020)

.021 

(.014)

-.019 

(-.013)

.004 

(.003) 

-.041 

(-.026) 

-.015

(-.009)

STEP 3

SERIOUS RANK .198*** 

(.194) 

.163*** 

(.148)

.123** 

(.110)

.127** 

(.100)

.190*** 

(.156)

.132** 

(.106) 

.151** 

(.118) 

.057

(.040)

RISK PERCEPTION .287*** 

(.250) 

.383*** 

(.309)

.326*** 

(.249)

.382*** 

(.254)

.354*** 

(.251)

.431*** 

(.278) 

.362*** 

(.237) 

.411

(.252)

R2 CHANGE STEP 1 .052*** .043*** .089*** .087*** .078*** .060*** .078*** .214***

R2 CHANGE STEP 2 .032*** .020*** .031*** .019** .016** .012** .021*** .007*

R2 CHANGE STEP 3 .093*** .119*** .066*** .066*** .088*** .077*** .065*** .056***

MODEL R2 .176 .181 .186 .172 .182 .149 .164 .277

MODEL R2 ADJ .166 .171 .176 .162 .172 .139 .154 .268

F 17.61*** 18.20*** 18.74*** 17.00*** 18.16*** 14.32*** 16.04*** 31.19***

Df 9, 741 9, 739 9, 740 9, 736 9, 737 9, 735 9, 736 9, 734

B (Beta) from final model including all steps * p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001 

 38 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Final Report – Aug 99 89 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Comparing the Effects of Seriousness Ratings and Perceived Risk

Tables 22 and 23 again illustrate the importance of treating fear of different crimes 

differently, and they indicate that ratings of seriousness and perceived risk for particular crimes 

are important factors with regard to explaining fear of crime. Table 22 indicates that, after 

controlling for demographic characteristics, perceived risk is a significant predictor of fear for all 

eight crimes. Crime seriousness is a significant predictor for all crimes except rape. Again, 

being female is a significant predictor for all eight crimes. Age is negatively and significantly 

related to fear of gang-related assault, drive-by shooting, and rape. Education is negatively and 

significantly related to fear of graffiti and gang-related harassment. 

Table 23 shows that, for all crimes except rape, seriousness rating and perceived risk of a 

crime are significant predictors of fear even after controlling for concern about community 

disorder and diversity. In fact, seriousness and perceived risk have the greatest impact on fear 

compared to the other variables tested supporting Warr and Stafford (1983). Being female still is 

a significant predictor for fear of all eight crimes and age still is significantly and negatively 

related to fear of gang assault, drive-by shootings, and rape. However, unlike the results 

reported in Table 22, education is negatively and significantly related to fear of drive-bys, but it 

no longer is significantly related to fear of graffiti. Interestingly, in these analyses disorder only 

is significantly related to fear of burglary, gang-harassment, and drive-bys. Concern about 

diversity is unimportant in any of the equations. 

Another approach to understanding the contribution of perceived risk and seriousness 

ratings to fear of crime is to create a latent variable structural equation model for predicting fear 

from seriousness ratings and perceived risk. In concordance with the regression equations and 

Warr and Stafford’s (1983) findings, the model presented in Figure 24 indicates an excellent fit, 

 

Final Report – Aug 99 90 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

shows that both risk and seriousness are positively associated with fear, and that risk has the 

greater impact. 

These results clearly support Warr and Stafford’s (1983) proposition that fear is a 

function of perceived risk and perception of seriousness. This appears to hold generally across 

different types of crimes, even though we found that other variables associated with fear 

apparently vary with different crimes. Also, disorder and diversity appear related to fear and 

risk, but is much less associated with seriousness. These findings are in the context of gang 

crime and future studies of fear should include both different crimes and the distinction between 

fear, risk and seriousness. 

Figure 24. Structural equation model predicting fear of crime and gangs39

Final Report – Aug 99 91 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Impact of Fear of Gang Crime 

To measure the effects of perceived gang violence on residents’ behavior, we examined 

their beliefs about crime, youth violence, and gang violence and asked them to indicate whether 

or not they had taken behavioral precautions to avoid gang-related crime. We first asked them to 

relate their perceptions about levels of crime in their community and then to indicate whether 

they believed each type of crime had increased, decreased, or remained the same during the past 

two to three years. Table 24 illustrates the percentage of respondents in each response category 

for community crime levels and Table 25 presents the percentage of respondents reporting each 

behavioral precaution. 

Table 24 indicates that most respondents believed there was either none or a small 

amount of each type of crime in their community. The majority of respondents believed that 

crime, youth violence, and gang violence had stayed the same in the previous two to three years. 

In general, people believed there was more property crime than violent crime. 

Table 25 shows that the most frequent behavioral precaution was avoiding certain areas 

of Orange County, with over half of the respondents reporting this behavior. The next most 

frequent behavior was arranging to go out with someone else to avoid being out alone (38.9 

percent of respondents). About a third of respondents indicated that they avoided certain areas of 

their own neighborhood. Interestingly, about 10 percent indicated that they had bought or 

secured a gun to protect themselves or said that they carried a weapon when they went out. 

 39 The model presented in Figure 24 is simplified and errors are not shown. In addition, for all latent variables, the 

errors for the following variables were allowed to correlate (graffiti and burglary, graffiti and gang harassment, 

burglary and gang harassment, assault and gang harassment, and assault and car jacking). 

Final Report – Aug 99 92 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 24. Perceptions of current community crime levels and crime changes in the last two to three ye

HOW MUCH COMMUNITY CRIME N NONE (%) SMALL 

AMOUNT (%) 

MODERATE 

AMOUNT (%) 

A LOT 

(%)

MEAN 

 PROPERTY CRIME 989 18.3 44.7 27.3 9.7 2.28  PROPERTY CRIME BY GANGS 975 40.8 36.0 15.1 8.1 1.90  VIOLENT CRIME BY GANGS 984 42.6 34.2 14.9 8.2 1.89  VIOLENT CRIME 985 42.2 40.0 12.8 5.0 1.81 

CHANGE IN LAST 2-3 YEARS: N DECREASED (%) STAYED THE 

SAME (%)

INCREASED

(%)

MEAN 

 YOUTH VIOLENCE 910 15.7 52.7 31.5 2.16  GANG VIOLENCE 887 19.2 51.3 29.5 2.10  CRIME 933 23.8 49.3 26.9 2.03 

40 Please note: Valid percentages are used in this table. Types of crime are listed in descending order with the most likely listed at the t

table. For the amount of community crime, respondents were asked to answer on a Likert scale (1 = none through 4 = a lot). For the cto three years, decreased = 1, stayed the same = 2, and increased = 3. 

Final Report – Aug 99 93 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 25. Gang crime avoidance behaviors41

BEHAVIOR % SAYING YES

AVOIDED CERTAIN AREAS OF ORANGE COUNTY 60.3 

ARRANGED TO GO OUT WITH SOMEONE SO YOU WOULD 

NOT BE ALONE

38.9 

AVOIDED CERTAIN AREAS OF YOUR OWN COMMUNITY 33.6 

BOUGHT OR SECURED A GUN 10.0 

CARRIED A GUN OR OTHER WEAPON WHEN YOU WENT OUT 9.8 

Comparing Perceptions of Gang Crime with Reported Levels 

The previous sections of this chapter reported respondents’ beliefs about crime levels in 

their community and assessed the ability of theoretically important factors to predict fear about 

gang-related crime. Our results indicated that perceived community problems and perceived risk 

of victimization were important factors for predicting fear of crime. 

Another approach to understanding fear is to compare “objective” risk of victimization as 

indicated by local crime levels to reported levels of fear in local areas. Because there were only 

1,000 survey respondents, the five judicial districts in Orange County were the smallest 

geographical areas at which the data are generalizeable to the population as a whole. 

In the analyses that follow we present gang-related incidents as reported by local law 

enforcement agencies to the Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS) database during the years 

1996 and 1997. Figure 25 illustrates the percentage breakdown of all police-reported gangrelated incidents occurring in each of the five judicial districts. The Central region reported the 

most gang-related incidents—44 percent of all those reported. The North region was second 

with 33 percent of all reported incidents, followed by the West region with 16 percent. Harbor 

 41 Please note: Valid percentages are used in this table. Behaviors are listed in descending order with the most likely 

behavior at the top of the table. 

Final Report – Aug 99 94 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

and Southern regions reported the smallest proportion of gang incidents, 4 percent and 3 percent 

respectively.

Figure 26 presents a map of the county’s judicial districts with the “hot spots” of gangrelated incidents for 1996 and 1997. The largest hot spot is located in the Central region with 

other hot spots in the North and West regions. We examined average perceptions of crime 

across the different districts for all crimes. Our analyses indicated that, on average, people in the 

Central and Northern districts perceived the designated crimes as being significantly more 

common than did those in other districts. This corresponds with the general distribution of gangrelated crime as reported by the police. Residents living in the Central district were significantly 

more likely to think there was more gang-related violent and property crime in their community 

than individuals living in other districts. Respondents living in the Central district also were 

significantly more likely to believe that they were more at risk of victimization by gang-related 

assault, harassment, and random or drive-by shootings by gang members. However, the districts 

were not significantly different in terms of seriousness ratings or personal fear. This is surprising 

given the variation in crime across districts. Our findings were consistent with previous studies 

(see Warr 1994), we found that objective likelihood of victimization (i.e., statistical risk) is not 

necessarily a primary correlate of personal fear. 

Final Report – Aug 99 95 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure 25. Percentage of reported gang-related incidents by judicial district

Harbor 4%

North 33%

South 3%

West 16%

Central 44%

Figure 26. Gang incident hot spots for Orange County judicial districts 

Final Report – Aug 99 96 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Ethnicity as a Predictor of Perceived Seriousness, Risk, and Fear of 

Gang Crime 

Because we expected the random digit dial data set (1,000 respondents; 500 men and 500 

women) to contain small numbers of the two largest ethnic groups in Orange County—Hispanics 

and Vietnamese—we oversampled 100 residents from each of these two ethnic groups. The final 

complete data set of 1,200 respondents contained 628 whites, 280 Hispanics, and 104 

Vietnamese. Because few members of other ethnic or racial groups were selected in by random

sampling, we conducted the ethnic analyses on this subset of 1,012 white, Hispanic, and 

Vietnamese respondents. We compared the means among the three groups and conducted Tukey 

HSD post-hoc comparisons to determine if there were significant differences among the groups 

in terms of seriousness ratings, perceived risk of victimization and personal fear.42 Tables 26–28 

report the means and significant comparisons for seriousness, risk, and fear for each of the eight 

crimes. 

Table 26 presents the mean seriousness ratings for each ethnic group and the significant 

Tukey HSD comparisons. On average, whites were significantly more likely to rate gang-related 

assault, carjacking, home invasion robbery, drive-by shootings, and rape as more serious than 

were Hispanics. Whites also were significantly more likely than Vietnamese to rate gang-related 

assault as more serious. However, Vietnamese were more likely to rate home invasion robbery 

and rape as more serious than were Hispanics. These responses are consistent with police reports 

that Asian gang members are more likely to engage in home invasion crimes and they 

disproportionately target their own ethnic community. 

 42 We also conducted LSD post-hoc comparisons which overall were comparable to the more conservative Tukey

HSD comparisons, although the LSD indicated a few more significant comparisons. 

Final Report – Aug 99 97 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

 

Table 26. Tukey HSD comparisons of ethnic differences in seriousness ratings for eight 

crimes 

SERIOUSNESS43

GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

WHITES (N) 626 625 624 626 624 625 626 624

HISPANICS (N) 280 279 279 279 280 279 279 279

VIETNAMESE (N) 100 102 103 103 104 104 103 102

WHITES (MEAN) 2.86 3.20 3.07 3.61 3.50 3.55 3.67 3.71

HISPANICS (MEAN) 2.84 3.08 3.06 3.15 3.20 3.18 3.26 3.30

VIETNAMESE (MEAN) 2.91 3.13 3.28 3.37 3.27 3.62 3.47 3.63

F .187 1.46 2.24 23.21*** 10.84*** 16.95*** 18.19*** 20.76***

Df 2, 1003 2, 1003 2, 1003 2, 1005 2, 1005 2, 1005 2, 1005 2, 1002

SIGNIF. CONTRASTS:

TUKEY HSD W>H***

W>V*

W>H*** W>H*** 

V>H*** 

W>H*** W>H***

V>H**

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

Table 27 presents the mean perceived risk scores for the eight crimes and reports 

significant Tukey HSD comparisons among the three groups. In contrast to the previous table, 

Hispanics and Vietnamese were significantly more likely to perceives themselves to be at risk 

than whites for all eight crimes. Vietnamese were significantly more likely to feel at risk than 

Hispanics for six of the crimes—burglary, gang-related harassment, carjacking, home-invasion 

robbery, drive-by shootings, and rape. 

 43 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Range from 1 = not serious, not likely, or not afraid to 4 = very serious, very likely or very afraid. 

Final Report – Aug 99 98 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 27. Tukey HSD comparisons of ethnic differences in perceived risk of 

victimization for eight crimes 

PERCEIVED RISK44

GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

WHITES (N) 622 622 623 619 622 620 622 622

HISPANICS (N) 274 271 272 272 270 269 269 269

VIETNAMESE (N) 92 94 91 94 94 89 93 93

WHITES (MEAN) 1.54 1.84 1.55 1.43 1.59 1.46 1.44 1.38

HISPANICS (MEAN) 2.15 2.20 2.10 2.11 2.16 2.03 2.03 1.92

VIETNAMESE (MEAN) 2.26 2.65 2.35 2.32 2.60 2.69 2.57 2.30

F 55.48*** 42.77*** 58.81*** 88.61*** 80.83*** 109.79*** 97.57*** 73.38***

Df 2, 985 2, 984 2, 983 2, 982 2, 983 2, 975 2, 981 2, 981

SIGNIF. CONTRASTS:

TUKEY HSD 

H>W*** 

V>W*** 

H>W***

V>W***

V>H***

H>W***

V>W***

V>H*

H>W***

V>W***

H>W***

V>W***

V>H***

H>W*** 

V>W*** 

V>H*** 

H>W***

V>W***

V>H***

H>W***

V>W***

V>H**

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

Table 28 presents the mean scores and significant comparisons among the three groups 

for personal fear of these crimes. As with perceived risk, Hispanics and Vietnamese were 

significantly more likely than whites to fear all eight crimes. Vietnamese respondents reported 

significantly higher levels of fear for all eight crimes than Hispanics. Vietnamese reported being 

more afraid than Hispanics who reported being more afraid than whites. This is consistent with 

other studies finding increased fear among minorities (see Warr, 1994). However, most of these 

studies focused on African Americans. 

 44 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Range from 1 = not serious, not likely, or not afraid to 4 = very serious, very likely or very afraid. 

Final Report – Aug 99 99 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 28. Tukey HSD comparisons of ethnic differences in fear for eight crimes 

FEAR45

GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

WHITES (N) 624 625 624 625 625 624 624 625

HISPANICS (N) 278 278 279 276 278 278 278 279

VIETNAMESE (N) 99 101 101 100 100 102 101 100

WHITES (MEAN) 1.74 2.09 1.91 2.14 2.19 2.12 2.20 2.15

HISPANICS (MEAN) 2.25 2.50 2.40 2.64 2.52 2.57 2.64 2.67

VIETNAMESE (MEAN) 2.58 2.92 3.06 3.23 3.07 3.30 3.31 3.24

F 43.66*** 37.45*** 60.68*** 46.70*** 29.74*** 54.09*** 44.79*** 42.14***

Df 2, 998 2, 1001 2, 1001 2, 998 2, 1000 2, 1001 2, 1000 2, 1001

SIGNIF. CONTRASTS:

TUKEY HSD 

L>W*** 

V>W*** 

V>L** 

L>W***

V>W***

V>L**

L>W***

V>W***

V>L***

L>W***

V>W***

V>L***

L>W***

V>W***

V>L***

L>W*** 

V>W*** 

V>L*** 

L>W***

V>W***

V>L***

L>W***

V>W***

V>L***

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN PERCEIVED SERIOUSNESS, RISK, 

AND FEAR

The above tables indicate that Hispanics and Vietnamese felt more at risk than did 

whites, and that Vietnamese were more fearful than Hispanics who were more fearful than 

whites. After seeing these results, the next obvious question is “Is it about where they live?” 

Unfortunately, our sample was not large enough to compare city of residence. However, as a 

simple test of this question, we dummy-coded each ethnicity and region and ran regressions 

predicting seriousness, perceived risk, and personal fear. Tables 29–31 provide the results of the 

regressions which excluded whites and the Southern region (which is predominantly white). Our 

analyses indicate that, ethnicity generally is more significant in explaining perceptions of 

 45 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Range from 1 = not serious, not likely, or not afraid to 4 = very serious, very likely or very afraid. 

Final Report – Aug 99 100 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

seriousness, risk, and fear of gang crime that region of residence. This indicates that in Orange 

County ethnicity contributes to perceptions about gang crime independent of place of residence. 

Table 29. Predicting seriousness ratings of eight crimes based upon ethnicity and 

region of residence 

SERIOUSNESS46

GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

STEP 1

HISPANIC -.038 

(-.017) 

-.101 

(.049) 

-.027 

(-.013)

-.457***

(-.215)

-.308***

(-.147)

-.367***

(-.175) 

-.414***

(-.196) 

-.417***

(-.206)

VIETNAMESE -.087 

(-.025) 

-.125 

(-.039) 

.159 

(.048)

-.292** 

(-.090)

-.291** 

(-.091)

.048 

(.015) 

-.273* 

(-.084) 

-.117

(-.037)

STEP 2

CENTRAL

REGION

.104 

(.043) 

-.046 

(-.020) 

.170 

(.072)

.095 

(.041)

.109 

(.048)

.033 

(.015) 

.112 

(.049) 

.048

(.022)

HARBOR 

REGION

.022 

(.007) 

-.124 

(-.044) 

.048 

(.016)

.159 

(.055)

.061 

(.021)

.028 

(.010) 

.070 

(.024) 

.039

(.014)

NORTH 

REGION

-.079 

(-.036) 

-.141 

(-.068) 

-.032 

(-.015)

-.076 

(-.036)

-.057 

(-.028)

-.126 

(-.061) 

-.048 

(-.023) 

-.062

(-.031)

WEST 

REGION

.175 

(.070) 

-.041 

(-.017) 

.160 

(.066)

.061 

(.026)

.086 

(.036)

.041 

(.017) 

.120 

(.050) 

.087

(.038)

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 1 .000 .003 .004 .047*** .023*** .033*** .037*** .041***

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 2 .009 .003 .008 .007 .005 .006 .005 .004

MODEL R2 .009 .007 .011 .054 .028 .039 .042 .045

MODEL R2

ADJ

.003 .001 .005 .048 .022 .033 .036 .039

MODEL F 1.465 1.104 1.857 9.190*** 4.584*** 6.473*** 7.097*** 7.494***

MODEL df 6, 961 6, 961 6, 961 6, 963 6, 963 6, 963 6, 963 6, 960

 46 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Final Report – Aug 99 101 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 30. Predicting perceived risk of victimization of eight crimes based upon ethnicity

and county region of residence 

PERCEIVED RISK47

GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

STEP 1

HISPANIC .536*** 

(.247) 

.289*** 

(.141) 

.468*** 

(.228)

.617*** 

(.306)

.497*** 

(.242)

.498 

(.243) 

.540*** 

(.259) 

.488***

(.243)

VIETNAMESE .650*** 

(.190) 

.760*** 

(.240) 

.734*** 

(.228)

.793*** 

(.254)

.946*** 

(.295)

1.15*** 

(.358) 

1.043*** 

(.322) 

.872***

(.280)

STEP 2

CENTRAL

REGION

.211* 

(.089) 

.300** 

(.134) 

.285** 

(.127)

.141 

(.064)

.149 

(.067)

.272** 

(.123) 

.165 

(.073) 

.209*

(.096)

HARBOR 

REGION

-.139 

(-.048) 

.001 

(.000) 

-.092 

(-.034)

-.109 

(-.040)

-.118 

(-.043)

.017 

(.006) 

-.152 

(-.054) 

.061

(.023)

NORTH 

REGION

.090 

(.041) 

.105 

(.052) 

-.050 

(-.024)

.068 

(.034)

.055 

(.027)

.139 

(.068) 

.054 

(.026) 

.057

(.028)

WEST 

REGION

.006 

(.003) 

.067 

(.029) 

-.050 

(-.022)

.047 

(.021)

.024 

(.010)

.120 

(.052) 

.108 

(.046) 

.117

(.052)

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 1 .096*** .078*** .100*** .144*** .133*** .176*** .158*** .124***

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 2 .011* .013* .021*** .006 .007 .010* .010* .006

MODEL R2 .107 .091 .122 .150 .140 .186 .168 .130

MODEL R2

ADJ

.101 .085 .116 .145 .134 .181 .162 .125

MODEL F 18.89*** 15.70*** 21.85*** 27.84*** 25.52*** 35.71*** 31.63*** 23.55***

MODEL df 6, 945 6, 945 6, 945 6, 943 6, 942 6, 938 6, 942 6, 942

 47 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Final Report – Aug 99 102 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Table 31. Predicting fear of eight crimes based upon ethnicity and county region of 

residence 

FEAR48

GRF BRG HAR ASS CRJ HNV DBY RAP

STEP 1

HISPANIC .487*** 

(.209) 

.406*** 

(.175) 

.518*** 

(.209)

.496*** 

(.182)

.283** 

(.110)

.462*** 

(.174) 

.384*** 

(.142) 

.521***

(.182)

VIETNAMESE .735*** 

(.204) 

.737*** 

(.207) 

1.100*** 

(.289)

1.053*** 

(.251)

.770*** 

(.194)

1.135*** 

(.280) 

1.031*** 

(.248) 

1.050***

(.237)

STEP 2

CENTRAL

REGION

.108 

(.043) 

.110 

(.044) 

.197 

(.073)

.122 

(.041)

.119 

(.043)

.074 

(.025) 

.138 

(.047) 

.111

(.035)

HARBOR 

REGION

-.047 

(-.015) 

-.038 

(-.012) 

.009 

(.003)

-.124 

(-.034)

-.294* 

(-.085)

-.108 

(-.030) 

-.156 

(-.043) 

-.052

(-.013)

NORTH 

REGION

.009 

(.004) 

-.070 

(-.030) 

.022 

(.009)

-.097 

(-.036)

-.033 

(-.013)

-.083 

(-031) 

.008 

(.003) 

-.092

(-.032)

WEST 

REGION

-.072 

(-.027) 

-.020 

(-.007) 

-.037 

(-.013)

-.137 

(-.045)

-.056 

(-.019)

-.036 

(-.012) 

-.131 

(-.043) 

-.144

(-.045)

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 1 .074*** .062*** .103*** .082*** .048*** .092*** .072*** .073***

R2 CHANGE 

STEP 2 .003 .004 .005 .006 .010 .003 .007 .005

MODEL R2 .077 .066 .108 .088 .058 .094 .079 .078

MODEL R2

ADJ

.071 .060 .103 .082 .052 .089 .073 .072

MODEL F 13.29*** 11.29*** 19.39*** 15.37  9.84** * 16.67*** 13.69*** 13.51***

MODEL df 6, 956 6, 959 6, 959 6, 956 6, 958 6, 959 6, 958 6, 959

 48 GRF = graffiti or tagging, BRG = burglary, HAR = harassment by gang members, ASS = physical attack or assault by a gang 

member, CRJ = carjacking, HNV = home invasion robbery, DBY = drive-by or random gang-related shooting, RAP = rape. 

Final Report – Aug 99 103 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

INTERPRETATION OF ETHNIC AND GEOGRAPHIC ISSUES

After controlling for ethnicity, none of the regions were significantly different from the 

Southern region with regard to seriousness ratings for any of the eight crimes. However, 

ethnicity still is important. Hispanics still are significantly less likely than whites to rate gangrelated assault, carjacking, home invasion robbery, drive-by shootings and rape as serious. And 

Vietnamese are significantly less likely to rate gang-related assault, carjacking, and drive-bys as 

serious. 

With regard to perceived risk, residents of the Central region feel significantly more at 

risk for all crimes except gang-related assault and carjacking than do those in the Southern 

region, even after controlling for ethnicity. However, Hispanics still report perceiving

themselves to be significantly more at risk than whites for all crimes except home invasion 

robbery. Vietnamese feel significantly more at risk than whites for all eight crimes. 

Table 31 again shows that Hispanics and Vietnamese are significantly more fearful of

becoming victims of all eight crimes than whites, even after controlling for region of residence—

which does not appear to be a significant predictor. 

Conclusions 

One of the strongest findings is support for researchers who argue for measuring fear of 

particular crimes rather than fear of crime in general (see Warr 1994). All of the analyses 

indicate that significant predictors of seriousness ratings, perceived risk, and fear are different for 

different types of crime. In addition, this study shows that perceived risk and perceived fear are

different and emphasizes the importance for researchers in this area of being conscience of what 

really is being measured (see Ferraro 1995). Further, as Warr and Stafford (1983) predicted, 

perceived crime seriousness and perceived victimization of crime are important for 

Final Report – Aug 99 104 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

understanding the extent to which people fear the crimes we examined. However, unlike Warr 

and Stafford (1983), we found that the relationship between fear and risk was direct and additive, 

rather than the result of interaction effects. 

With regard to demographics, this study supports previous research regarding gender—

women report being more afraid of all eight crimes measured here. This was true even after we 

controlled for concern about diversity and disorder. With regard to perceived risk, however, 

being female is significantly related only to burglary and rape. Although women are more 

afraid, they don’t necessarily feel more at risk—at least for the gang-related crimes included 

here. Women also are more likely to rate crimes, except carjacking, as more serious than do 

men. 

Unlike many previous studies (e.g., Clemente and Kleiman 1976; Ortega and Myles 

1987; Warr 1994), we find that age is negatively related to ratings of seriousness for gang-related 

assault, carjacking, and home invasion robbery. And it is negatively related to perceived risk of 

graffiti, gang-related harassment, and gang-related assault. With regard to fear, age is again 

negatively related to fear of gang-related assault, carjacking, home invasion robbery, drive-by 

shootings, and rape (see Ferraro and LaGrange 1988; Ferraro 1995; LaGrange and Ferraro 1987). 

Findings about income and education are interesting. Although lower income and 

education are significantly related to perceived risk for most of the crimes, income is not 

significantly related to fear of any of the crimes. Prior victimization is related to perceived risk 

of future victimization, but not significantly related to fear of any of the crimes. 

With regard to ethnicity, whites generally are more likely to rate crimes as serious. But 

in terms of risk and fear, Vietnamese feel more at risk and more fearful than Hispanics who feel 

significantly more at risk and more fearful than whites. These perceptions are not necessarily 

Final Report – Aug 99 105 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

related to region of residence. In fact, when fear across regions was analyzed, we found that the 

districts were not significantly different, even though gang-related crime varied a great deal from

area to area. An analysis of smaller geographical areas might shed more light on the importance 

of actual environmental characteristics in predicting perceived risk and fear. 

Interestingly, concern about community diversity was not significantly related to 

seriousness ratings, perceived risk, or fear of any of the crimes. It may be that residents in such a 

diverse region did not feel threatened by ethnic diversity per se or that disorder frightened them

more than diversity. It also is possible that people felt it was socially unacceptable to admit that 

racial, cultural, or language differences were a problem in their eyes—especially to a universitysponsored research survey. As with previous studies, concern about community disorder was a 

significant predictor of perceived risk and fear for almost all of the crimes, although for gangrelated harassment it only was related to perceived seriousness (see Covington and Taylor 1991; 

Lewis and Maxfield 1980; Taylor 1991). Future research on this data set will examine these 

issues further. 

Final Report – Aug 99 106 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

OBJECTIVE 3: GITS VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY EVALUATION

Our goal in this part of the research was to determine how completely, accurately and

reliably Orange County law enforcement agencies measure illegal gang activity. Because GITS 

was intended to provide information upon which strategic decisions could be based, special 

attention also was given to the overall quality of the data being collected. Dr. Katie J.B. Parsons 

was the team leader for this portion of the research. 

Validity of Gang Incident Measures 

Several issues associated with validity were addressed here. Since GITS definitions of 

the terms “gang” and “gang-related” followed California law, their reasonableness (i.e., face 

validity) did not appear to be a serious concern, even though the criteria are different from those 

used in some jurisdictions. For example, Chicago uses a more strict “gang-motivated” criteria to 

measure gang incidents. The California definitions, while more broad, still capture all of the 

gang-motivated crime as well as other crimes committed by gang members. After considerable 

deliberation, we have come to favor the California definition for gang data collection purposes 

because it encompasses more information and offers the flexibility of extracting a narrower subset at a later date. We also were concerned with measurement validity—whether incidents 

reported by police agencies as gang-related actually fit GITS criteria and whether the GITS 

system itself met the objectives originally set by OCCSA and the participating law enforcement 

agencies.

We identified four groups responsible for collecting information on gang-related activity 

in Orange County. The behavior of these groups, officers, reviewers, data coders, and records 

departments/bureaus were assessed via direct observation, tests, and interviews. 

Final Report – Aug 99 107 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

As Figure 1 (see p. 7) illustrated, all gang incident cases are processed in four stages: 

• In the identification stage an officer responds to an incident or crime. What the officer 

sees and what he/she chooses to put in the incident report narrative aids in the initial 

identification of a gang-related incident. 

• In the review stage, someone verifies whether previously identified incidents in fact were 

gang-related and reviews unidentified incidents for possible gang relatedness. 

• Data coding is the last stage that takes place within a police agency. This is where a GITS 

form is completed based upon information contained in an offense/incident report. 

• Actual data entry takes place at the University at California, Irvine in the Focused 

Research Group’s office. 

We assessed reliability and validity at all of these stages. 

Several potential threats were identified at the identification, review, and data coding 

stages. We examined internal procedures, gang indicators, and definitions with special care 

because of their potential ability to bias results. The primary threats to data coding validity and 

reliability that we considered were training and consistency. 

After a careful review of each of the 22 participating law enforcement agency’s reporting 

procedures, we identified three different reporting models that described the ways in which gang 

incidents were being identified, reviewed, verified, and recorded. We labeled them the General 

Supervisor model, the Gang Unit model, and the Reviewer model. Our goal was to identify any 

differences between the models with regard to the likelihood of either incorrectly identifying a 

non-gang incident as gang related or failing to identify a gang-related incident when officers’ 

field incident reports were reviewed. The position of the person responsible for the review stage 

within the organization (e.g., watch commander, gang unit supervisor, records clerk) is the 

biggest difference between these models. The review stage is critical because it is where cases 

Final Report – Aug 99 108 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

are certified for reporting into GITS. GITS depends heavily upon reviewers’ abilities to 

accurately identify gang-related incidents. 

In all of the models, an original crime report may remain in the patrol division or be 

routed to many different units or divisions within a department. In these models it is vital that 

the reviewer correctly identify an incident as gang-related so that it gets routed to the proper 

place for a GITS form to be completed. Strengths shared by all models included initial 

identification by patrol officers who often are highly qualified to identify an incident as gangrelated because of frequent contact with gang members and first-hand experience with the 

incident. A second strength was that all models included some sort of review step that attempted 

to verify the officer’s initial evaluation and check for missed cases. 

Weaknesses shared by all three models include substantial between-officer variation in 

identifying incidents as gang-related or non-gang-related, report distribution and routing 

problems within departments, inadequate training of data coders, and tardy submission of GITS 

report forms. 

GENERAL SUPERVISOR MODEL

In the General Supervisor model, a general supervisor or watch commander reviews all 

crime reports for gang-related activity. In addition to his/her regular duties, the general 

supervisor looks for cases that fit gang-related criteria and then either completes a GITS datareport or forwards the report to someone else who completes the form. The person responsible 

for review in the General Supervisor model has law enforcement training, but generally no 

specific gang training. The main strength of the General Supervisor model is that the reviewer is 

the power loop to request reports and require completion and accuracy by subordinates. The 

weaknesses of this model revolve around distributional and procedural problems. General 

Final Report – Aug 99 109 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

supervisors have other priorities and sometimes fail to accurately follow definitions and 

reporting directions. As with other models, reports often are directed out of the loop by being 

assigned to other departments before they have been reviewed for gang relatedness. 

GANG UNIT MODEL

In the Gang Unit model, a supervisor from the gang unit reviews all crime reports to 

determine if any of the incidents are gang-related and then someone in the gang unit completes a 

GITS data report form. In this model, a supervisor with law enforcement training who also is a 

gang expert is responsible for review. The strength of this model is that the gang unit supervisor

has up-to-date knowledge about local and regional gangs. Weaknesses of the Gang Unit model 

are that the gang supervisor may not receive all reports to review and the gang unit may have 

more pressing matters than reviewing cases and completing GITS forms. 

REVIEWER MODEL

In the Reviewer model, an outside reviewer examines all crime reports for indicators of 

gang-related activity and completes a GITS form. The reviewer usually is a member of the 

department’s support staff, a clerk, or a cadet. The main strength of this model is that the 

reviewers tend to do a complete and thorough job. Although the reviewer may not have any 

specific training, after working with GITS for a time he/she becomes quite consistent and 

accurate in review procedures. The reviewer also is the same person who completes the GITS 

forms. Distributional problems do not affect this model because the review takes place at a 

nexus where all reports usually are collected—in the records section. The greatest weaknesses of 

the model are that the reviewers are completely out of the power loop, they often have many 

other responsibilities, and they have little if any law enforcement training and no specific gang 

training. 

Final Report – Aug 99 110 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Of the three models, the Gang Unit model often provides the greatest validity. 

Unfortunately, GITS responsibilities often are a low priority for gang unit supervisors—

something that tends to interfere with the reliability of GITS reporting and the timeliness with 

which they are submitted. We found that an experienced reviewer who is attached to a gang unit 

or involved in gang duties for a prolonged period of time, is more reliable and, if trained 

properly, can make equally valid assessments regarding report classification. Therefore, in spite 

of its inherent weaknesses, more and more agencies are adopting the reviewer model 

VALIDITY ASSESSMENT METHODS

It was especially important to know if personnel in each of the agencies involved 

understood and applied the administrative definitions of key concepts associated with this 

project.49 We also were concerned that internal procedures and directives that affect when an 

officer should identify an incident as gang-related might threaten valid identification by officers. 

If the administrative definitions were not applied uniformly across jurisdictional boundaries, data 

from different agencies would not be compatible. 

How accurately and completely crime reports were completed affected a reviewer’s 

ability to complete his or her responsibilities. In some agencies, a reviewer was responsible for 

identification as well as review. Reviewers included supervisors, cadets, senior volunteers, or 

interns; different departments designate people for this responsibility in different ways. The 

validity of a reviewer's decisions also may be limited due to internal procedures, gang indicators 

reported by police, and definitions. The reviewer must depend on crime reports and narratives to 

 49 Gang crime was defined in Orange County using a gang-related model. The criteria are 1) Those crimes 

wherein the suspect(s) is identified as a gang member, or admit(s) to membership in a gang; 2) Those 

crimes wherein a person becomes a victim due to his gang association; 3) When a reliable informant 

identifies an incident as gang activity; 4) When an informant of previously untested reliability identifies an

incident as gang activity, and it is corroborated by other independent information; and 5) When there are

strong indications that an incident is gang related, but it does not fit the above criteria, it may be considered 

gang activity. (For example: if suspects display gang hand signs, or the incident fits the profile of gang

Final Report – Aug 99 111 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

correctly identify gang-related incidents. Thus, it was imperative to know if reviewers were 

relying on officers to check a "gang-related" box on incident reports or if they were taking the 

time to read incident report narratives to obtain clues regarding gang-relatedness.50 

We used several research strategies in order to assess the extent to which these threats 

(internal procedures, gang indicators, and definitions) affected GITS reporting: participant 

observation, review of a large sample of police reports, and experiments with data coders. 

Observations Regarding Use of Definitional Criteria 

Project staff conducted more than 50 ride-alongs with gang unit and patrol officers in 

order to assess how officers distinguished an incident as gang-related and identify the reporting 

criteria they actually applied. Ride-alongs began with semi-structured interviews with officers 

that allowed us to assess the extent of definitional inconsistencies between officers and agencies 

across the county. Similar interviews were conducted with supervisors and others responsible 

for review tasks. 

FIELD OBSERVATIONS OF HOW POLICE APPLY KEY DEFINITIONS

Field observations and discussions with police, supervisors, and chiefs, indicate that there 

is some problem with the strict application of the gang-related versus gang-motivated definitions 

of gang incidents. While the GSSC officially adopted a gang-related definition in the beginning 

of GITS, it is clear that some officers and jurisdictions apply more restrictive criteria for 

classifying some types of incidents. In addition, discussions with chiefs of police, district 

attorney personnel, and police officers indicate that gang-involved crime and gang-motivated 

 

incidents, such as drive-by shootings or home invasion robberies.) 50Police field incident reports usually are completed by patrol officers. The reports contain data fields for 

specific information such as the name, address, and description of suspects and victims, the location of the 

incident, and the offense being reported. They also contain a narrative section where officers describe the 

incident in story format. 

Final Report – Aug 99 112 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

crime often were used interchangeably depending upon type of crime. This became apparent 

after the report form was expanded to use penal codes rather than the original 21 crime

categories. For example, many officers and departments objected to including domestic violence 

and sexual assault crimes in the database because these crimes are not traditionally thought of as 

gang motivated. Thus, few domestic violence and sexual assault crimes are included in the 

database. However, robberies by known or suspected gang members are routinely entered with 

no examination as to whether they were motivated by gang interests. While training sessions 

routinely stressed the gang-related definition, evidence suggests it was more consistently applied 

to the original 21 categories and to crimes traditionally thought to be associated with gang 

behavior. 

Field observations in which staff rode along with officers also indicate that there are 

reporting differences across jurisdictions, particularly in terms of reporting less serious gangrelated crimes such as tagging and vandalism. We found that jurisdictions with serious levels of 

violent gang criminal activity tended to be more lax in reporting less serious gang incidents. 

Jurisdictions with less of a gang problem tended to be more diligent in reporting lesser property 

crimes. However, as was discussed previously, more serious violent crimes were more likely to 

be consistently reported across jurisdictions. 

Based on field observations and evidence from the database, we conclude that an incident 

tracking database based on police reports will provide more reliable data if it employs a ganginvolved rather than gang-motivated definition. At the police report stage in the criminal justice 

system there often is not enough information to adequately judge motivations in an incident. 

Indeed, in many cases, motivation often will not be finally determined until a jury returns a 

Final Report – Aug 99 113 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

verdict. Judgment as to how to determine motivation is extremely subjective and would be 

difficult, if not impossible, to standardize across officers and police departments. 

After reviewing the data, we found little evidence to support the criticism that the police 

are drastically over-estimating the amount of gang-related crime. From 1994 through 1997 the 

number of gang incidents has remained relatively consistent—at around 3,500 incidents per year 

for the original 21 trackable offenses. This is a relatively small number for an area that includes 

2.7 million people and only a fraction of the UCR crime for these categories. However, for the 

reasons given above, the data on serious violent gang crime appears to be more reliable than 

those for less serious crimes. 

Based upon these interviews, we found that records departments were common 

chokepoints where gang-related cases got "lost" (i.e., were not circulated to correct personnel or 

departments for completion of a GITS coding sheet) (see Souryal, 1981). In particular, cases 

sometimes got lost due to what Weston (1978) called "horizontal communication barriers" 

where, for example, gang units failed to receive a robbery report because robbery detectives were 

assigned the report first and a copy was not forwarded. The “grapevine” was an informal 

method that existed for overcoming this problem, but the quality and amount of information 

passed along in this manner varied greatly. 

There appeared to be only slight differences in how officers and reviewers across the 

county defined gang and gang-related crime. The formal countywide definition of gang and 

gang-related crime was followed quite closely. Without exception, gang unit officers could 

recite the official definition of gang-related word-for-word. Posters with the definition were 

found in report writing rooms, break rooms, and briefing rooms in each agency. However, we 

did not assess the extent to which the posters were noticed or read by patrol officers. Several 

Final Report – Aug 99 114 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

gang unit officers expressed the opinion that patrol officers probably understood the nuances of 

gang-related vs. gang-motivated definitions less well than experts like themselves. 

This perception was troubling because our analysis of internal procedures indicated that 

agency review procedures often were not followed and an officer's preliminary classification of 

an incident sometimes tended to have a larger effect on reviewers than was supposed to be the 

case. Especially in the larger agencies, where thousands of cases a day needed to be reviewed 

for gang-related activity, review often was minimal. Review often was limited to cases marked 

by police officers as possibly being gang-related or cases requested by reviewers. Some

individuals with review responsibilities were unaware of GITS or their role in collecting gang 

data for their agencies. Limited or missed review could result in missed cases—and perhaps 

mis-classified cases as well. However, based upon the results of the data validation effort which 

is described later on, it appears that the number of missed cases involving violent and weaponsrelated incidents was quite modest. However, there well may be more missed cases involving 

property-related offenses. We found no evidence of over-estimation of gang-related incidents. 

HOW INCIDENTS WERE CLASSIFIED

We also used the ride-alongs and interviews with patrol and gang unit officers and 

reviewers to identify the extent to which internal procedures, definitions, and training affect the 

internal consistency with which these individuals classify incidents as gang-related. Gang 

officers were asked to explain the criteria they used to determine if an individual is a gang 

member (e.g., dress, tattoos, age, ethnicity [see Piliavin and Briar, 1964; Quinney, 1970; Smith 

and Visher, 1981]). Common descriptors of gang members that were related by officers and 

reviewers during interviews and ride-alongs included shaved heads, baggy jeans, tennis shoes, 

and tattoos. More important than what they wore, however, was how they wore it. Attitude, 

Final Report – Aug 99 115 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

stance, and walk all were important supporting indicators used by officers. All gang officers 

who described the appearance of gang members were careful to warn that these attributes do not 

make an individual a gang member, but they give officers a reason to stop, observe more closely, 

and ask questions. Officers seemed well aware that these types of clothing are quite popular 

among young people and that juveniles who are not involved in gangs often wear "gang attire." 

We also interviewed supervisors and reviewers to determine what indicators they 

employed when screening and reviewing incident reports before they are forwarded for coding 

onto the GITS form. These semi-structured interviews aided in determining whether supervisors 

and reviewers in different agencies were applying similar criteria to determine if an incident was 

gang-related. We found that those responsible for review depended on quick glances at crime 

reports to classify an incident as gang-related. Classification of an incident as gang-related often 

required the presence of more than one indicator. Supervisors and reviewers looked for such 

things as the location of the crime (e.g., did it take place in a known gang area?) and clothing 

descriptions. The name of the suspect and victim also were considered good indicators of gangrelated incidents. If gang unit officers were performing the review, they often could quickly 

recognize the names of gang members. Other reviewers ran names in a crime report through the 

Gang Reporting Evaluation and Tracking (GREAT) database operated by the Orange County 

District Attorney's office which lists the names and affiliations of known gang members to 

determine if anyone involved in an incident was a known gang member. The modus operandi of 

a particular crime also could serve as an indicator. For example, drive-by shootings and home

invasion robberies often were attributed to gangs. In some departments, suspect description was 

vital (e.g., did the victim describe the suspect as a “cholo” or gang member type”?). Some

reviewers also took the time to read the narratives and look for gang indicators such as the 

Final Report – Aug 99 116 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

question "Where are you from?" which often is asked of strangers by gang members, or an 

admission of gang membership to interviewing officers. 

We found that both officers and reviewers were quite consistent in the criteria they 

applied to classify incidents as gang-related throughout the county and across reporting models. 

This consistency may be due to the extensive training that officers receive from the Orange 

County Gang Investigators' Association and from gang seminars conducted by the District 

Attorney’s office. 

Validation of Data Collected 

PRIOR DATA VALIDATION ATTEMPTS BY OUTSIDE CONSULTANT

Before we became involved in the project, a consultant supervised a “validation” check 

of GITS data for the first six months of 1994. Although the process was more of a verification 

than a validation exercise, we include a brief description here to provide a baseline against which 

to compare later data quality. Four areas were addressed in the verification: data acquisition, 

aggregation, analysis, and reporting. Agencies were asked to verify that GITS data reflected the 

original tracking form submitted for data entry, original field incident reports submitted by patrol

officers, and that the incident followed gang-related criteria. No agency was asked to verify 

more than 30 incidents. The error rate reported was approximately 16 percent. Although we do 

not know with certainty which type of problem contributed most to the errors, our interviews 

suggest that a majority of the problems were with data entry. 

The data never were validated in the sense of determining if the police were measuring 

what they thought they were measuring or if GITS data were an accurate or true measure of the 

gang problem known to police. Only cases already determined to be gang-related were verified; 

cases that had not been identified as gang-related were not rechecked. 

Final Report – Aug 99 117 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

VALIDATION OF 1994 AND 1995 DATA

In order to improve the validity of GITS data and the reliability with which they were 

reported, we took steps to validate 1994 and 1995 data by examining a random sample of all 

police reports in participating agencies for the last six months of 1994. After a careful review of 

each agency's procedures, validation strategies were developed for each department. In all 

departments we focused on four crime categories for which the most incidents had been reported 

up to 1995: shootings, robberies, assaults, and weapon law violations. Depending upon the size 

of the agency, the extent of reported gang problems, and the apparent reliability of agency 

tracking procedures, each agency was required to either review all gang-related cases, review a 

random sample of all reports within the four crime categories (not just gang-related reports), 

count all gang-related cases, or a combination of two or more of these activities. The validation 

was completed in early 1996. Project staff performed the validation activities with help from

each agency. 

When we took over the data collection, the data had not been cleaned or analyzed in six 

to eight months. The validation described above was performed by project staff with help from

each agency. For 1994, 8,295 cases were reviewed and only 283 gang-related cases were found 

that needed to be added to GITS—at worst, an error rate of 3 percent. For 1995, 4,302 cases 

were reviewed and only 216 were added—at worst, an error rate of 5 percent. 

Final Report – Aug 99 118 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Data Coding Reliability Tests 

Reviewers referred gang-related incident reports to data coders within each agency who 

were responsible for completing GITS reports and forwarding them to the research team. As one 

can see from the original and revised GITS report forms (Appendices A and B, respectively), the 

coders were required to extract a substantial amount of information from the original incident 

report and exercise a good deal of judgment to decide about such things as crime category, 

victim/offender relationship, and what motivated the incident. 

We used paper experiments to test data coder reliability. Experiments were administered 

in February 1996, October 1996, and October 1997. Since our goal was to both identify 

problems and to rectify them in order to strengthen the system, following each experiment we 

advised the data coders about problems and conducted training sessions to help rectify them. 

In our experiments, we required data coders to review hypothetical narratives that were 

based on actual crime reports and fill out GITS report forms. Each experiment consisted of three 

narratives, one of which was retained in slightly modified form for all three experiments. The 

retained narrative was used to test the reliability of raters across time. The other narratives 

varied with each iteration of the experiment and were designed to test for inter-rater reliability, 

both within and between departments. 

We found that coders from the same department often had a difficult time remaining 

consistent from one experiment to the next. Much of this appears to be due to substantial turnover among data coders. Not surprisingly, more experienced coders were much more reliable 

and departments with at least one experienced coder tended to be more reliable because new 

coders were trained by experienced coders. The importance attached to the GITS project by a 

department also appeared to affect coder reliability; where GITS and gangs were a high priority, 

Final Report – Aug 99 119 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

coder reliability was high and coders tended to be retained for longer periods. When GITS was a 

lower priority, coder reliability suffered. A substantial number of experimental GITS forms 

were rejected because they contained one or more errors—on average, 34 percent across the 

three experiments. A similar proportion of the coders made one or more errors in interpreting 

the narratives. However, most of these errors involved rather trivial distinctions in areas of the 

form dealing with detailed arrest and victim information. With regard to substantive recording 

issues likely to impact policy such as specifying the proper crime, time of day, and location, we 

found strong reliability across coders, departments, and time. 

Improving GITS Data Collection 

Our experiences with the collection of gang incident data from many different law 

enforcement agencies in a large metropolitan region emphasize the importance of coder and 

reviewer training—and regular retraining targeted at specific problems. Another key problem

we encountered was the need to increase the involvement of line officers and gang units in the 

data collection endeavor. If people in these positions were more committed to GITS, it seems 

likely that undercounting would be diminished—perhaps substantially. Line officers and gang 

units need to be informed about GITS, their responsibilities in the project, and how it can benefit 

them. These groups also need to be provided with feedback from the project, something that 

some chiefs elect not to do. GITS often depends on those with the least amount of personal 

involvement and interest in the project to perform critical tasks. To be effective, review must be 

made a priority in every department. In our view, it even would be preferable to narrow the 

scope of reviews, say to just violent crime, rather than lose cases to cursory review. 

Alternatively, agencies could place better trained volunteers or interns in review positions 

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instead of watch supervisors. Finally, GITS data forms could be improved further in order to 

address problems with the arrest and victim sections, as well as to clarify the issue of whether the 

gang code in the victim category should refer to the affiliation of the offender or the victim—

something many coders continue to find confusing. Every effort should be made to make the 

forms as clear, simple, and efficient to complete as possible. 

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OBJECTIVE 4: GITS PROGRAM EVALUATION

Our objective in this part of the research was to determine how well GITS met the goals 

set by law enforcement executives and community leaders during the planning, development, 

and implementation stages. Dr. Katie J.B. Parsons was the team leader for this portion of the 

research.

The final question we evaluated was how well the Gang Incident Tracking System

(GITS) fulfilled the original goals of the Orange County Gang Strategy Steering Committee 

(GSSC). Evaluation of existing programs such as this is particularly difficult because evaluators 

must act more like detectives than social researchers, trying to unearth and make sense out of the 

original reasons for the program (Rossi and Freeman, 1993: 106). As was explained previously, 

many different agencies are involved in the GSSC. These agencies include different branches of 

the criminal justice system in Orange County (law enforcement agencies, the District Attorney’s 

Office, and the Probation Department), as well as federal law enforcement representatives, and 

local school superintendents. It seemed likely to us that many of these agencies may have had 

different agendas in planning and approving a multi-jurisdictional gang tracking system. 

Understanding how the goals of these agencies were transformed into the goals for the database 

is an essential first step toward evaluating how well GITS performs. Understanding whose goals 

and whose agenda the committee viewed as most important also is important. As one of the 

founders of the system explained, “Keep in mind the whole context of this being a compromise 

all the way around... all of [the agencies involved] have different priorities. In one respect I 

think it is rather remarkable that they all agreed to do something together” (personal interview, 

July 6, 1995). 

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Project researcher Dr. Katie J.B. Parsons used snowball-sampling techniques to identify 

public officials who were involved in the initial stages of GITS development, and then 

interviewed them to obtain historical information and documents. These public officials were 

interviewed about their expectations for GITS, the goals they believed GITS would accomplish, 

and why they believed a gang tracking system was necessary. Interviews were taped and 

transcribed for later analysis, although interviewees had the opportunity to refrain from being 

taped for the entire interview or for specific questions that they felt uncomfortable answering on 

tape. Only one interviewee asked to be off-record for some responses. Notes also were taken 

both as backup in case the tape recorder failed and to provide context for untranscribable 

portions of the interview. Dr. Parsons made field notes on perceptions or feelings about 

interviews immediately after they were completed. Other archival materials, including planning 

documents, research memos, and meeting notes, also were catalogued, inventoried, and analyzed 

to identify program goals and objectives. This was done to track the evolution of goals and 

decisions about what GITS was and what it was to accomplish. Thus we examined both the 

formal goals established for GITS and the goals held by individual participants early in the 

development process. 

In addition to evaluating how well GITS met the goals set for it, we also critiqued the 

quality of the goals themselves. GITS has attracted much attention during the past two years and 

a number of jurisdictions have inquired about replicating the system. Thus, we felt that it was 

particularly important to clarify and strengthen foundational issues such as goal statements. 

Nakamura and Smallwood (1980) write that goals must be clear and specific because vague 

goals allow for misinterpretation and manipulation. Goals should provide clear written 

statements of objectives and include detailed descriptions of how they are to be accomplished. A 

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program's goals also should be technically and logically consistent. After discussing our 

findings, the planning evaluation concludes with a discussion of the extent to which GITS' goals 

and objectives were met. We also provide recommendations for modifying the goals in the 

future. 

Findings 

In the process of gathering information for this section, we interviewed 19 police chiefs,51

a research consultant who worked on the project prior to our involvement, the GSSC coordinator, 

and the District Attorney. 

Although the previous consultant was instrumental in gathering background information, 

the planning process began almost a year before she was brought onto the project. Initially, local 

police chiefs who had worked in Los Angeles and were familiar with that county's attempts to 

track gang crime were volunteered/recruited by GSSC to be involved in the planning process. 

The original planning committee included these chiefs and other chiefs interested in research, 

gang experts, and representatives from the Sheriff's and District Attorney's Offices. This 

committee made several limited attempts to discuss the proposed project with Los Angeles city 

and county as well as other area agencies that were attempting to tackle similar problems in order 

to ascertain what those agencies were doing and what kinds of information they were collecting. 

GITS’ goals and objectives reflect strategic and administrative criminal justice interests because 

the committee members were high-level administrators. Another reason for focusing on strategic 

rather than tactical information was that line personnel already had access to the Gang Reporting 

Evaluation and Tracking (GREAT, later CALGANGS) system, an investigative database 

 51 Interviews included 19 chiefs of police. There are 22 chief positions in Orange County. Several of chiefs have

been replaced since the initial interviews took place. No attempt was made to interview new chiefs, because their 

knowledge of GITS was limited. 

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containing information about known gang members. Other participants of the GSSC accepted 

these goals and objectives, but were offered no other alternatives beyond discussion and final 

approval. 

Interviews with the participants show that the main goal was a comprehensive 

countywide gang crime database that would help make better management decisions about gang 

issues. Management decisions included such things as personnel deployment, resource 

management, and other long-term policy decisions. Many of the interviewees suggested that 

GITS was intended to provide a snapshot of the shape, size, nature, and scope of the gang 

problem in Orange County that could be used to guide management decisions. As one chief 

stated: 

I think one of the reasons the OCCSA became so involved in wanting to track 

gang activity was that we weren't sure what was happening around us or why 

gangs were doing what they were doing. We couldn't respond to our community 

leaders and residents. We were guessing a lot until we got involved with GITS 

and other gang initiatives that looked at what was happening and why it was 

negatively impacting our communities, we recognized that we needed more 

information to make better decisions. (chief interview, February, 18, 1997) 

Written statements concerning the overall goal of GITS were found in archival materials. 

The only formal written program description states that GITS is to function as a management 

tool to facilitate strategic planning and resource allocation (Smith, 1994). Regional GSSC 

meeting notes suggest that “the purpose of the program [was] to develop a quality database from

which we can develop management decisions (Hartl, 1993).” Minutes from the GSSC call GITS 

a “snapshot” statistical profile taken on a monthly basis for management information purposes—

not a system for continuous record keeping and reporting (Hartl, 1994a). In August 1994, the 

GSSC updated the overall county gang strategy policy to include “findings compiled and 

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analyzed for purposes of providing management information to law enforcement officials to 

combat gang violence and gang activity” (Hartl, 1994b). 

This goal specifically describes the intended uses of GITS and whom it was designed to 

serve. It also clearly indicates that the purpose of the database is to provide strategic intelligence 

for law enforcement managers so they can make better decisions. The GSSC also discussed how 

and whether this system could be used by individual gang units for investigative purposes. For 

example, investigators and middle-managers might have used GITS data to decide where to 

focus gang unit patrols and which gangs to focus on (GSSC interview, March 1, 1996). 

However, because the timeliness of data submission varied substantially from agency to agency 

(many are months late submitting reports), members of the GSSC considered the utility of the 

database to be limited with regard to tactical decisions requiring up-to-date information. 

GITS appears to provide the information needed to make strategic planning and resource 

allocation decisions. With regard to strategic utility, one chief called GITS “historically 

interesting” (chief interview, March 5, 1997). Usually the information contained in GITS is two 

to three months old. Routine reports currently are produced annually but individual agencies do 

make more frequent requests for data that concern their jurisdictions. The types of management 

decisions that this database is designed to help with are strategic planning, resource allocation, 

staffing issues, and deployment. Strategic planning requires the type, time, and place of gang 

incidents. GITS provides those types of information. Resource allocation deals mainly with 

“identifying the operational work needs for the department, providing information for manpower 

allocation and deployment” (Chang, Simms, Makres, and Bodnar, 1979: 107). The type of 

information needed to make these decisions also includes the type, time, place of occurrence, and 

possibly arrest data. The GITS program provides these kinds of information as well. 

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In early 1993, the OCCSA accepted the following series of objectives for a multi-agency 

gang research project: 

• Establish a centralized database into which all of Orange County law enforcement 

agencies would report gang-related crime. 

• Accurately identify the extent of gang-related crime in Orange County by identifying 

gangs that operate within the county, their membership, and the crime related to their 

activities. 

• Establish baseline data on gang activity against which to compare future trends in gangrelated crime. 

• Determine regional variation in gang-related crime patterns. 

Originally these objectives were taken from several documents and articulated by a consultant to 

the GSSC based upon minutes from several of the committee’s meetings (personal interview, 

July 7, 1995). Other objectives that have been located in the files included a research proposal 

which stated that: “The purpose of this procedure is to establish a uniform method of reporting 

gang related crimes to a central statistical database in order to provide a clear profile of the gang 

crime problem to Orange County law enforcement agencies” (Smith, 1993). 

As most often happens in real world planning, formal goals for GITS were established 

well after the development process began. This can be less than optimal because, without clearly 

articulated goals to guide the development process, it is easy for a project to diverge from its 

original purpose. As the following discussion indicates, however, there is no evidence of 

substantial problems with GITS goals. 

Goal Analysis 

We examined each of the formal objectives singularly and then as a group, looking for 

both technical and logical inconsistencies. 

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GOAL 1: ESTABLISH GITS 

The first goal was to “Establish a centralized database into which all of Orange County 

law enforcement agencies would report gang-related crime.” Although this objective was 

achieved and the Gang Incident Tracking System was established, the goal neglected to address 

an important issue—maintenance of the database. Another minor inconsistency was that not all 

county law enforcement agencies contribute to GITS because some agencies seldom handle gang 

incidents (e.g., Marshals Office, Probation Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation).52 

A better restatement of this objective would be: “Establish and maintain a centralized database 

into which all of Orange County policing agencies will report gang-related crime.” 

GOAL 2: EXTENT OF GANG CRIME

The second objective of GITS was to “accurately identify the extent of gang-related 

crime in Orange County by identifying gangs that operate within the county, their membership, 

and the crime related to their activities.” GITS, as it ultimately was established, tracks only 

crime related to gangs and the activities of gang members. This goal is unnecessarily diffuse 

because it also focuses on identifying gangs and gang members, a function that is redundant with 

the GREAT and (more recently) CALGANGS systems. Ideally, this objective also should state 

how the extent of gang crime is to be measured. Our recommendation for a restatement: 

“Identify the extent of gang-related crime in Orange County by tracking gang incidents activities 

through official police offense/incident reports.” 

 52 These agencies are part of the GSSC but their functions and interactions with gang crime limit their ability to

participate. Although they deal with gangs, they rarely handle new gang incidents, focusing most of their 

attention on following up previous incidents, providing security during court appearances, or offering

investigative assistance. Thus, these agencies' data generally are not comparable to police data. The Probation

Department is somewhat of an exception; it contributes data that are maintained by GITS in a separate database. 

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GOAL 3: ESTABLISH A BASELINE FOR TREND COMPARISON

The third objective was to “Establish baseline data on gang activity against which to 

compare future trends in gang-related crime.” Had this goal been more specific regarding the 

types of trends to be tracked, it would have been easier to develop reporting forms. It also seems 

likely that the forms would have tracked fewer types of information—something that would have 

tended to improve reporting accuracy. Still, the database unarguably has been useful for trend 

analysis. The research consultant conducted a preliminary analysis of gang crime trends shortly 

after GITS began collecting data. More recently, we have conducted elaborate statistical and 

geographic analyses using the data. As the previous sections of this report demonstrate, GITS 

data enable identification of local and regional trends with regard to the nature and distribution 

of gang incidents across space and time. Overall, we think that this objective is acceptable as 

written but other agencies may want to consider limiting the scope of their collection efforts 

more narrowly in order to economize and, perhaps, improve reliability.

GOAL 4: REGIONAL VARIATION IN GANG ACTIVITIES

The last goal required that GITS “determine regional variation in gang-related crime 

patterns.” Gang-related crime patterns refer to groups of gang offenses which share common 

attributes or characteristics (e.g., geographic location, gang identifiers, or crime measures [see 

Chang, Simms, Makres, and Bodnar, 1979]). GITS produces countywide year-to-year 

information on crime patterns, juvenile and adult arrests, victim/offender relationship, and 

weapon involvement. However, the phrase “regional variation” has proven to be a source of 

substantial contention among the chiefs of police—and between the chiefs and project 

researchers. Some interpret “regional” to mean city-by-city analysis, others consider groups of 

cities or sections of the county as appropriate units of analysis within the region. 

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If any single issue manages to dissolve the astounding level of cooperation between the 

jurisdictions involved in GITS, it will be the question of how data are to be reported. Members 

of OCCSA who are most concerned about this issue fear that publication of maps or other data 

that make it possible to compare levels of gang incidents within different jurisdictions could have 

grave political, economic, and research implications. Politically and economically, some of the 

chiefs are concerned that their cities will be improperly or unfairly compared to neighboring 

jurisdictions with lower reported rates of gang incidents. Such a comparison, they fear, could 

have dire consequences for tourism, real estate values, and retail businesses in their cities. They 

also cite a concern that such comparisons would tend to penalize chiefs whose departments were 

meticulous in reporting gang incidents while casting a favorable light on those that underreported. 

Some chiefs, even several with substantial amounts of gang crime, have countered that 

the only appropriate strategy is to be open about the extent of the problem and try to use every 

analytical tool available to understand the causes of gang problems and evaluate which strategies 

under their control are most effective and efficient. As researchers, of course, we favor this latter 

stance. But we are bound by the Memorandum of Understanding (Appendix C) to only release 

analyses which would permit comparison of jurisdictions after their review by OCCSA. 

The lack of specificity that plagues this goal has been problematic. However, it is 

important to recognize that the GITS project may never have been implemented if it had been 

articulated more clearly. We recommend that other jurisdictions implementing similar crossjurisdictional programs do their best to develop a compromise acceptable to all participants early 

in the planning process in order to avoid the problems encountered in Orange County. 

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Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

GITS Benefits, Expected and Unexpected 

As was expected, GITS data are being used by law enforcement to deploy personnel, 

allocate resources, and evaluate gang prevention, intervention, and suppression activities. For 

example, GITS has been utilized by the Orange County District Attorney in the “1997 Annual 

Report Gang Unit & Tri-Agency Resource Gang Enforcement Teams (TARGET)” (Capizzi, 

1997). GITS also provides a measure of gang activity in targeted neighborhoods and enables one 

to monitor the level of activity to see if other types of intensive supervision and prosecution have 

any effect on gang crime. Sub-regional analyses also are being used by a group of smaller cities 

to examine gang crime in their section of the county and help them coordinate both strategic 

activities and joint grant applications. 

Additional benefits which accrued from GITS but were not foreseen during the formal

planning process were its utility for grant-getting and public education. The GITS project helped 

attract grant funds that supported a number of anti-gang programs in several cities. “It [GITS] 

has brought us a tremendous amount of money to work on problems in a very real way” (chief 

interview, January 29, 1997). Even though GITS was designed to provide a countywide 

perspective, the data allows city-level analysis. Several chiefs of police have taken advantage of 

the rich data collected by GITS to bolster grant applications to private foundations, state, and 

federal agencies. They also have used reports generated using GITS data to educate city councils 

and citizen groups. One chief said that the data show that the problem isn’t as large as he 

thought and that the tracking of gang crime shows him that there is hope to relieve some of 

negative effects gangs have in his city (chief interview, January 29, 1997). 

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Structure of Interagency Cooperation

There are at least two different ways to structure an interagency cooperative effort to 

create a shared database like the Gang Incident Tracking System. One approach is from the top 

down, based on a cooperative agreement between the heads of the various law enforcement 

agencies involved. The other is from the bottom down, based on cooperative sharing of data 

from those in the law enforcement agencies that are actually managing and analyzing the data, 

usually the crime analysts in the law enforcement agencies are involved. For ease of discussion 

we will call the first the Chief Model, the latter the Analyst Model. Both have strengths as well 

as weaknesses. GITS represents an example of the Chief Model, while the Regional Crime 

Analysis System in the Baltimore area is an example of the Analyst Model. 

GITS was created by the Gang Strategy Steering Committee of the Orange County 

Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association (OCCSA). OCCSA had already established a history of 

interagency cooperative effort between the law enforcement agencies. It also provided a forum

for the heads of the different law enforcement agencies to meet with each other regularly to 

discuss issues of shared interest. GITS was created as a strategic tool to measure the level of 

gang crime in the county and to plot its variation over time. OCCSA declared GITS as a priority 

for the organization ensuring the cooperation of all the members. It is highly unlikely that all of 

the law enforcement agencies would have independently agreed to cooperate and create a shared 

database absent the support of OCCSA. Because OCCSA was behind the project, there was the 

potential of peer pressure to ensure cooperation of chiefs who might not have been cooperative 

otherwise. Since there is wide variation in the records management systems among the twentytwo departments and different reporting forms, GITS had to rely on the willingness of all 

departments to fill out a separate standardized reporting form for gang incidents. Only police 

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chiefs had the power to require all departments to fill out and submit an additional reporting 

form. In addition, OCCSA could speak on behalf of all law enforcement in the county, giving it 

a much stronger bargaining position to lobby for external funding from the Department of Justice 

and to enlist the aid of the University of California Irvine to provide researchers to evaluate the 

database. Because OCCSA adopted a strategy of using UCI to collect and analyze the data, it 

gave the database an additional claim to validity as well as allowing a level of analysis beyond 

the limits of individual departments. This was particularly import in the application of

geographic information system technology. At the beginning of the project none of the 

departments had this advanced capability. Even today there is wide variation among the 

departments in their ability of handling GIS analysis. 

However, the GITS example has demonstrated some drawbacks for the Chief Model of 

interagency cooperation. The original goal was to create a strategic tool to provide a countywide 

summary of gang crime. Because different chiefs have different management styles and 

philosophies concerning access to data, the ability to use the database on a more tactical level has 

been limited. Not all chiefs have been willing to give tactical personnel direct access to the data. 

Because of incompatible record management systems GITS relies on a separate reporting form

requiring additional effort on behalf of the departments. Different departments place different 

priorities in keeping their part of the database up to date, so timely use of the data is limited. So 

far this has limited the reporting ability of the database to twice a year. Since each department 

maintains control over the use of their data, sharing of the data across departments requires 

permission of the respective chiefs that can cause delays, and in some cases has limited analysis. 

Because those that collect the data, officers on the street, don’t have direct access to the database,

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their perception of the utility of gathering the data is limited which potentially can effect the 

validity of the data. 

At the Second Annual Crime Mapping Research Conference sponsored by NIJ’s Crime 

Mapping Research Center during December 10-12, 1998, the Regional Crime Analysis System

for the Baltimore Washington area made a presentation of their interagency efforts to share crime 

mapping data. The origin of this effort was with crime analysts in contiguous jurisdictions trying 

to improve their ability to recognize and respond to evolving crime patterns. This cooperative 

effort involves less than ten departments where the analysts send each other updated geocoded 

crime data formatted according to standards specified by an oversight committee. While it 

operates with permission of the chiefs of the participating agencies it is designed and operated by 

the analyst. This gives them access to very current data and they have been successful in tactical 

tracking of criminals operating across jurisdictions. Its origins in tactical concerns may limit its 

strategic value. Not all agencies in the geographic area can participate because not all have the 

analytical ability to provide data or analyze it according to format required by the oversight 

committee. The ability of smaller departments without GIS capability, to participate is limited. 

Because there is not an existing cooperative area-wide organization of chiefs to back the efforts, 

their ability to secure outside funding and support has been limited. Finally, the analysis is all in 

house, so the advantages of outside analysis such as credibility and expertise, which can be 

useful for strategic and publicity purposes, have not been realized. 

Both types of interagency cooperation have advantages as well as drawbacks. It may 

well be possible to combine the strengths of both in more of a hybrid approach. It is clear that 

how the interagency cooperative effort is structured and evolves has clear implications for the 

utility and flexibility of the efforts.

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SUMMARY

The Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS) project clearly demonstrates the 

usefulness—and the necessity—of multi-jurisdictional efforts to understand, prevent, intervene 

with, and suppress street gang activities. Just as clearly, we think, it demonstrates the value of 

partnerships between criminal justice practitioners and university researchers. Below we provide 

a brief summary of key findings from this research and discuss a number of particularly 

interesting opportunities for future collaborative research. 

Discussion of Findings 

One of the most heartening surprises associated with this project is that several dozen law 

enforcement and community agencies can collaborate successfully with one another and with a 

team of university researchers. The Orange County Chiefs and Sheriff’s Association and the 

county Gang Strategy Steering Committee provide an excellent model for regions struggling 

with the reality that crime often is multi-jurisdictional in nature. The findings reported here 

provide evidence of the utility of this type of cooperative endeavor for practitioners. They also 

reveal opportunities for fruitful scholarly research. In particular, we would draw attention to the 

following points: 

• Development and refinement of the GITS database has enabled law enforcement agencies 

and public officials to identify the nature and extent of gang crime in the county. It also 

provides them with a useful tool for evaluating gang prevention, intervention, and 

suppression programs. Moreover, the fact that the data are being collected and analyzed 

by the university independent of direct law enforcement control helps increase public 

confidence that policy-makers’ assessments about gang-related crime are reasonable and 

accurate. This, we think, is likely to help bring more balance to public perceptions of a 

problem that often is exaggerated. 

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• Applying powerful tools such as geographic information systems (GIS) technology and 

multivariate statistical analysis has increased the utility of GITS data substantially. 

Examples of this utility include: 

• Preparation of crime maps that make complex statistical and GIS analyses accessible to 

criminal justice practitioners, elected officials, and the public. 

• Establishment of a baseline against which to compare future changes in gang activity. 

• The ability to identify spatial and temporal patterns of criminal offending in order to target 

resources more carefully (e.g., our temporal analyses indicate that ‘midnight basketball’ 

programs that recently were in vogue are inappropriate in Orange County—and perhaps 

other regions as well). 

• Theoretically, the development of geographic and statistical models that can predict more 

than 70 percent of the variation in violent gang incidents at the census tract level is very 

interesting. From a practical standpoint, this means that it should be possible to make 

much more valid evaluations of gang control programs. 

• Geocoded data also have made it possible to compare people’s perceptions and fears about 

gangs and gang crime with the prevalence of gang incidents in their communities. 

Fear of crime corrodes the social fabric of our communities. The damage fear of crime 

causes tends to be less dramatic, immediate, and obvious than the tragic deaths, injuries, 

and property loss on which we usually focus. But the cumulative loss of quality of life, 

community efficacy, and public resources associated with people who are afraid to talk to 

strangers, help one another, or venture outside their own neighborhoods also is a tragedy 

that needs to be understood much more fully. 

• 

• Our analyses emphasize the importance of measuring fear of crime in a very specific 

manner. Predictors of seriousness ratings, perceived risk, and fear all are different for 

different types of crime. 

• It also is important to pay more attention to the impact of fear of different types of crime 

on minority groups—especially groups such as Hispanics and Asians which often are 

ignored by this line of research. We found that, although whites were likely to rate the 

seriousness of street crimes higher, Vietnamese and Hispanics perceive themselves to be 

significantly more at risk and more fearful than whites (even when controlling for place of 

residence). 

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• In a region like Orange County with high levels of ethnic diversity, it also was interesting 

to find no significant relationship between community diversity and perceived risk or fear 

of crime among respondents to our survey. 

Minority activists and others have voiced substantial concern about whether the increase 

in gang activity in areas like Orange County reflects biases within the criminal justice 

system rather than reality. 

• 

• Based on a substantial number of ride-alongs, interviews, field observation, and 

evaluation of official records, we found that law enforcement agencies tend to underreport gang incidents reported to GITS. 

• We also found that the concerted effort to train officers about legal criteria in California 

for defining who is a gang member appeared to pay off. Contrary to activists’ claims, we 

found no evidence that officers were classifying young people as gang members merely 

because of their mode of dress, ethnicity, or place of residence when they reported gang

incidents for use in the countywide database. 

• On a similar note, we also found that the data being collected by GITS appeared to present 

a reasonably unbiased and complete picture of gang incidents handled by the police. And 

we have identified ways that other jurisdictions interested in adopting or adapting the 

GITS system may do so while avoiding some of the implementation difficulties that 

plagued OCCSA’s early efforts. 

• GITS has been successful in meeting the goals set for it by law enforcement managers: 

• Annual announcements by OCCSA regarding countywide trends in gang crime enable the 

public to judge progress regarding gang-related issues. 

• GITS data are being used by many chiefs to deploy personnel, allocate resources, and 

evaluate gang prevention, intervention, and suppression activities. 

• GITS output also has been used by a number of chiefs to help educate local residents and 

leaders and strengthen requests for additional resources from granting agencies. 

• Finally, GITS reports have helped practitioners keep gang problems in perspective; gang 

incidents represent a relatively small—if especially troublesome—portion of the overall 

crime problem faced by most jurisdictions. 

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Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Future Research Opportunities 

GITS represents a unique multi-jurisdictional effort to systematically measure the extent 

of gang crime across jurisdictional boundaries over time. This project now has collected a 

continuous database for gang activity countywide since 1994. If the database can be continued 

for another two to three years, it should be possible to explore its utility for various tactical uses. 

It also would be very useful to study the ramifications of using “gang-motivated” versus “ganginvolved” definitions of gang crime for incident based databases. We recommend that future 

research with this database should focus on endeavors such as: 

• Increase the detail of analysis regarding causes and correlates of gang crime from the level of

a community to the neighborhood-level (i.e., from the census tract to the census block). 

• Extend explanatory analyses which now are quite good at predicting levels of violent gang 

crime in a very different direction: Identify “cold spots” for crime where levels are much 

lower than predicted, and then determine what makes some neighborhoods more resilient or 

resistant to this type of crime. 

• Determining the impact of daytime and nighttime curfews on juvenile gang crime. 

• Empirically identify potential foci for civil abatement proceedings by using GITS and GIS 

technology to identify community hot spots and their characteristics. 

• Explore the implications of using gang-involved versus gang-motivated definitions of gang 

crime. 

If the GITS database continues to collect data, it will be possible to pursue both crosssectional and longitudinal research strategies to address these sorts of research questions. At 

present, the database contains more than four years of data on gang-involved crime as well as 

information concerning victim, drug, alcohol and motivational factors. We believe this endeavor 

has the potential to provide the most thorough and comprehensive study to date on local attempts 

to measure and track gang activity for an extended set of jurisdictions. Results from future 

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Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

studies would continue to provide guidance to Orange County law enforcement agencies. They 

also would provide information on the effectiveness of different strategies for controlling gang 

crime and provide a model for other jurisdictions to follow. 

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Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

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INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY DR. KATIE J.B. PARSONS 

Personal Interviews 

 July 6, 1995

 July 7, 1995

GSSC Interviews: 

 March 1, 1996 

Chief Interviews: 

January 20, 1997 

January 29, 1997 

February, 18, 1997

 March 5, 1997 

Final Report – Aug 99 152 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

APPENDIX A: GITS DATA CODING FORMS

OCCSA’s Gang Strategy Steering Committee created the original GITS data form shown 

in Figure A1. This form had several key elements: 

• Data collected were acquired from police reports and each incident in the database could be 

traced back to its original police report if further information or validation was needed. 

• Geographical location data were collected for each incident, but in a manner that severely 

limited their utility for spatial analysis. 

• Twenty-one crime categories were listed, many of which track offenses enumerated in 

California's Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention (STEP) Act (CPC §186.22). This 

limited the ability of the database to measure the amount of gang crime and made 

comparisons with other measures of crime such as the Uniform Crime Reports difficult. 

• Information about characteristics of crime incidents such as weapons use and motivating or 

precipitating factors also were collected, as were drug and alcohol information. 

• Victim information was collected but non-mutually exclusive categories led to data coding 

unreliability. 

Location 

Due to technological limitations, incident location originally was coded using Thomas 

BrothersTM map page and grid coordinates. Originally, the Sheriff’s Department was designated 

to administer the GITS database. Because the Sheriff’s Department used an out-dated mainframe computer for most information storage and retrieval, data could only be collected in 

numeric fields. This required the use of one-half mile square map grid locations instead of exact 

address. This restricted geographical information in the database to a very coarse scale. It also 

introduced coder unreliability because the map data usually were not available in the police 

report requiring that each address be looked up and recorded on the GITS data form. 

Final Report – Aug 99 153 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

FIGURE A1. ORIGINAL RIGINAL GITS CODING FORM

Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Final Report – Aug 99 154 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Database Crime Categories 

Limiting the database to the 21 crime categories reflected the interests of the GSSC and 

its concerns about monitoring only serious gang crime, as reflected in the Street Terrorism

Enforcement and Protection (STEP) Act. This introduced several problems. First, any particular 

gang incident can involve several different crimes. For example, a single incident can include 

kidnapping, rape, robbery and homicide. The GSSC followed the hierarchical reporting rule 

commonly used by other crime databases such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform

Crime Reports (UCR), and recorded only the most serious crime occurring in an incident. This 

meant that GITS data reflected the number of gang incidents as characterized by the most serious

crime in the incident, rather than an actual count of the number of gang-involved crimes. 

This categorization scheme also created coder and compatibility problems. Because only 

21 crime categories were being tracked, coders had to determine which category the crimes listed 

in a police report (usually as California penal code sections or municipal and other codes) fell 

into, increasing the chance for error. In addition, because the crime list did not include theftrelated crimes, comparability of GITS data with other reports such as the FBI's UCR Part One 

property crime statistics was limited. 

Evaluating Reporting Reliability 

After reviewing the old form and the structure of the database, a number of changes were 

made. First, during the validation of the 1994 and 1995 data, all previously-reported incidents 

were reviewed and address data was added. During this review process law enforcement 

agencies also were asked to carefully review police reports involving shootings, robberies, 

assaults and weapon law violations for gang involvement in order to obtain a complete census of 

Final Report – Aug 99 155 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

the most serious crime reports from which a random sample of reports could be drawn. The 

review done was based on how the individual agencies reviewed gang cases, their record of 

reporting to GITS during 1995, and the completeness of the data collected. For 1994, 8,295 

reports were reviewed and 283 gang-related cases were added to GITS for an error rate of 3 

percent. For 1995, 4,302 reports were reviewed and 216 cases were added for an error rate of 5 

percent. 

Revised Data Form 

The GITS data form was revised and adopted for use in 1996. The new form corrected a 

number of the problems noted previously with the original data form. As Figure A2 shows, the 

new form specifically asks for street address, the exact criminal code violations as they appear on 

the police reports, and provision is made for up to four crimes per incident. This not only reduces 

coder error by making the crime categories consistent with the penal codes used in police reports, 

but it also allows tracking of up to four separate crimes per incident. Once the system began 

tracking all gang incidents instead of only the 21 listed in the original form, the number of gang 

incidents reported in 1996 increased. For that year there were 3,384 incidents for the original 

twenty on e crime categories, compared to a total of 4,500 incidents for all gang crime, an 

increase of 33 percent. Looking at multiple counts in 1996 enabled us to collect information 

about a total of 6,134 gang-involved crimes; the old form would only have tracked 55 percent of 

these crimes. Although the new form provides a much more complete picture of the extent of 

gang crime in Orange County, the OCCSA had made the public commitment of using 1994 as 

the base year by which to judge the effectiveness of law enforcement efforts against gang crime. 

Consequently, all countywide reports and public releases of the data had to be compatible 

with the original form which was used in 1994. The data presented in the rest of this report are 

Final Report – Aug 99 156 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

restricted to analysis of the original trackable 21 crimes using the most serious crime in an 

incident to characterize that incident.

The new form also clarifies a number of issues with which our analysis revealed coders 

were having difficulties. It tracks whether the victim was a gang or non-gang member and 

whether their victimization was intentional or unintentional. In order to improve coder 

reliability, the form is now divided into sections with instructions that each section needs to have 

a response. (Coders previously had been inconsistent in their responses to lack of applicability 

or information for certain items.) In order to improve coder reliability, we also included 

standardized instructions on the back of each form (see Figure A3) and revised training 

materials.

Final Report – Aug 99 157 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure A2. Revised GITS Coding Form

Final Report – Aug 99 158 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Figure A3. Revised GITS Coding Form Instructions 

Prior to starting this form be sure all initial crime reports of a single incident are together. Remember that regardless of the number of crime 

reports there will be a single data sheet filed. For more complete set of instructions and definitions, see the booklet describing the Gang Incident 

Tracking System.

All information in Section I must be completed. In all other sections, information must be as complete as possible. ‘Yes,’ ‘No.’ or ‘No

Information’ decisions must be marked. Further information is required if a ‘Yes’ choice is made. Fill in all boxed information. If a choice 

cannot be made due to incomplete information or it cannot be determined from the information in the crime report, check the ‘No Information’ or 

‘Undetermined’ box.

SECTION 1:

Date of incident: This should be the date of incident as indicated on the initial crime report. Date should be recorded month/date/year. 

(Use numerical code for month. For example, incident occurred on October 6, 1995, record as 10/6/95. Approximate date will suffice if actual 

date of occurrence is not known. Please use the code APR for approximate date. If it is known that incident occurred between two (Use dates,

please use the midpoint.) 

Hour: This should be the hour of the incident recorded on the initial crime report. Hour should be recorded in military time.

(Approximate time will be suffice if actual hour of occurrence is not known. Please use the code APR for approximate hour. If it cannot be 

determined what time the incident occurred, record the hour 0000.) 

Department Case Number: This should be assigned by your department at the time of the incident. Number should appear on the 

crime report.

Gang GREAT Code: If gang membership is unknown or identified, refer to the District Attorney’s gang GREAT code list. Select and 

record appropriate code number. If gang membership is unknown, record code 999. If there is not a gang GREAT code for the identified gang,

call Patty Suarez at 935-7037 to receive a GREAT code. (These same instructions for gang GREAT codes apply to Section 8.) 

Address of incident: This should be the address listed on the initial crime report as the place of occurrence. The address should be

recorded as completely as possible, i.e., numerical, street, and city, (Cross streets will be acceptable if numerical address is unavailable.) (The 

Sheriff’s Department will also include Thomas Brother’s Grid locations.) 

SECTION 2:

Record the crime(s) or penal code number(s) listed on the crime report. If multiple crime reports were involved, list each crime or

penal code number from the crime reports. Count one corresponds to the most serious crime connection to the incident. For further information, 

please see the booklet.

SECTION 3:

Were any arrests made in connection with the incident? Please check either ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ 

If arrests were made, enter the total number of adults or juveniles arrested per criminal offense in the appropriate box.

SECTION 4:

Were any of the following factors involved in the gang incident? Please check all that apply. If none apply, check the factor ‘Other’ 

and specify which factor is involved. If it cannot be determined from the information on the face sheet, please check the ‘Undetermined’ 

category. 

SECTION 5:

Were drugs involved in the gang incident? Please check ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ or ‘No information’ for both ‘Possession for sale’ and 

‘Personal Possession.’ See booklet for definitions of factors involved. 

SECTION 6:

Were drugs and/or alcohol used prior or during the incident? Please check ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ or ‘No information’ for both ‘Drugs’ and 

‘Alcohol.’ If it was known that one of the offenders had taken something, but it cannot be determined which substance was taken, please check 

the ‘insufficient information to determine the substance used’ box.

SECTION 7:

Were any weapons used in the incident? Please check ‘Yes,’ ‘No,’ or ‘No Information.’ If the weapon used and/or recovered is not 

listed, check ‘Other Weapon’ and specify what weapon was used and/or recovered.

In the ‘INVOLVED’ column, check all appropriate weapon categories. In the ‘RECOVERED’ column, check which weapons were

recovered at the incident. If weapons were not used in the incident, but a weapon was recovered, please mark the type of weapon that was 

recovered at the incident.

SECTION 8:

Were there any victims as a result of the gang incident? Please check ‘Yes,’ ‘No,’ or ‘No Information.’ In some incidents you will be 

able to complete both ‘CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON’ and ‘CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY’ boxes.

Crimes Against the Persons: Record the number of victims per category. If more than one gang member is a victim, please record all applicable 

codes for victims who are classified as gang members. (Remember if the victim is a known gang member but the gang is unidentified use the 

code 999. If the gang does not appear on the GREAT code list call patty Suarez at 935-7037 to receive a GREAT code.) 

Crimes Against Property: Select all that apply. See booklet for explanation of the different types of victims.

If any questions arise while completing the data coding sheet, please contact the UCI Focused Research Group on Orange County Street Gangs at 

(949) 824-6170. (You can fax questions to (949) 824-2707.)Appendix B 

Phone Number I.D. NO.___ ___ ___ ___ 

 1 2 3 4

Final Report – Aug 99 159 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Appendix B: UCI FEAR OF CRIME AND GANGS SURVEY 

(ENGLISH, SPANISH AND VIETNAMESE VERSIONS) 

1000 ORANGE COUNTY ADULT RESIDENTS + 100 VIETNAMESE + 100 LATINO/ SEPTEMBER 3-28, 1997 

HELLO, MY NAME IS ______, AND I AM CALLING ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,

IRVINE. WE ARE CONDUCTING A PUBLIC OPINION SURVEY IN ORANGE COUNTY REGARDING

COMMUNITY ISSUES. WE ARE VERY INTERESTED IN YOUR OPINIONS ABOUT THE QUALITY OF

LIFE IN ORANGE COUNTY. YOUR HOUSEHOLD HAS BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED TO BE IN THIS

STUDY. THIS IS NOT A SALES CALL AND YOUR ANSWERS WILL BE KEPT IN STRICT CONFIDENCE. 

YOU CAN STOP AT ANY TIME. THIS SURVEY WILL TAKE APPROXIMATELY _____ MINUTES, WILL

YOU ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS?

(IF NO) IS THERE ANOTHER TIME THAT WOULD BE CONVENIENT FOR ME TO CALL YOU

BACK?

Record number _______________ and call back time: day ________ time___________

(IF YES) 

A. ARE YOU AN ORANGE COUNTY RESIDENT?

Yes (skip to B)

No (terminate) 

B. ARE YOU 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER?

Yes (skip to 1)

No (ask C)

C. IS THERE ANYONE HOME WHO IS 18 OR OLDER?

Yes (ask to speak to person, go through introduction) 

No (terminate) 

1. FIRST, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY, DO YOU THINK OF IT AS?

YOUR OWN BLOCK 5-1 

A FEW BLOCKS AROUND YOUR HOUSE -2 

YOUR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT -3 

A SECTION OF YOUR CITY -4 

YOUR ENTIRE CITY -5 

YOUR REGION OF THE COUNTY -6 

THE COUNTY -7

(other) specify _______________ -8

(dont know/refused) -9 

2-13. WE HAVE A NUMBER OF QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY AS YOU DEFINE IT. I 

WILL READ YOU A LIST OF SOME THINGS THAT CURRENTLY MIGHT BE PROBLEMS IN

YOUR COMMUNITY. AFTER I READ EACH ONE, PLEASE TELL ME WHETHER YOU THINK IT 

IS A BIG PROBLEM, SOMEWHAT OF A PROBLEM, A SMALL PROBLEM, OR NO PROBLEM IN 

YOUR COMMUNITY. 

(ROTATE 2-12, NOT 13)

BIG PROBLEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -1 

SOMEWHAT OF A PROBLEM . . . . . -2 

A SMALL PROBLEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . -3

NO PROBLEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -4 

dont know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . -8 

refuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -9

Final Report – Aug 99 160 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

 BIG SOM SML NOT DK RF 

2. POVERTY AND ECONOMIC HARDSHIP. . . . 6- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

3. PEOPLE OR LANDLORDS ALLOWING 

THEIR PROPERTY TO BECOME RUN DOWN 7- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

4. PEOPLE MOVING IN AND OUT WITHOUT

PERSONALLY BECOMING ATTACHED TO

THE COMMUNITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

5. LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 

RESIDENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

6. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 

BETWEEN RESIDENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

7. ABANDONED HOUSES OR OTHER 

EMPTY BUILDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

8. GRAFFITI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

9. TOO MANY PEOPLE LIVING IN ONE 

RESIDENCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

10. GUNFIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

11. YOUTHS HANGING OUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

12. RACIAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 

RESIDENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

13. GANGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

(IF ANSWER 1-3, SKIP TO 14) 

(IF ANSWER 4,8,9, SKIP TO 15) 

14. HAVE GANGS BECOME A PROBLEM IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, IN THE LAST DECADE, 

DURING THE LAST FEW DECADES, OR HAVE THEY ALWAYS BEEN A PROBLEM IN YOUR 

COMMUNITY?

last few years (1-3) 18-1

last decade (4-9 years) -2 

last few decades (10-20 years) -3 

always a problem -4 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

15-18. FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF CRIME, DO YOU FEEL THAT YOUR COMMUNITY

HAS A LOT, A MODERATE AMOUNT, A SMALL AMOUNT, OR NONE.

 (ROTATE) 

LOT MOD SML NO DK RF 

15. PROPERTY CRIME, LIKE BURGLARY

AND THEFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19- 1 2 3 4 8 9

Final Report – Aug 99 161 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

16. VIOLENT CRIME, LIKE ASSAULT AND 

MURDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20- 1 2 3 4 8 9 

17. PROPERTY CRIME BY GANGS . . . . . . . . . . 21- 1 2 3 4 8 9

18. VIOLENT CRIME BY GANGS . . . . . . . . . . . . 22- 1 2 3 4 8 9

19. OVERALL, WOULD YOU SAY THAT CRIME IN YOUR COMMUNITY HAS INCREASED, REMAINED

THE SAME, OR DECREASED IN THE LAST TWO TO THREE YEARS?

increased 23-1

stayed the same -2 

decreased -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

20. HOW ABOUT YOUTH VIOLENCE IN YOUR COMMUNITY? IS THIS A PROBLEM YOU SEE AS

HAVING INCREASED, REMAINED THE SAME, OR DECREASED IN THE LAST TWO TO THREE 

YEARS?

increased 24-1

stayed the same -2 

decreased -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

21. HOW ABOUT GANG VIOLENCE? HAS IT INCREASED, REMAINED THE SAME, OR DECREASED IN

THE LAST TWO TO THREE YEARS?

increased 25-1

stayed the same -2 

decreased -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

22-30. PEOPLE USUALLY THINK OF SOME CRIMES AS MORE SERIOUS THAN OTHERS. I AM

INTERESTED IN HOW SERIOUS YOU THINK CERTAIN TYPES OF CRIMES ARE. PLEASE RATE THE 

SERIOUSNESS OF THE FOLLOWING CRIMES, WHERE 1 MEANS NOT SERIOUS, 2 MEANS SOMEWHAT 

SERIOUS, 3 MEANS SERIOUS, AND 4 MEANS VERY SERIOUS. 

(ROTATE)

NOT SERIOUS . . . . . . . . . . -1 (NS)

SOMEWHAT SERIOUS . . . -2 (SS)

SERIOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -3 (S) 

VERY SERIOUS . . . . . . . . . -4 (VS)

dont know . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . -8 (DK) 

refused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -9 (RF)

NS SS S VS DK RF 

22. HAVING YOUR PROPERTY DAMAGED

BY GANG GRAFFITI OR TAGGING . . . . . . -26 1 2 3 4 8 9

23. HAVING SOMEONE BREAK INTO YOUR 

HOME WHILE YOU ARE AWAY . . . . . . . . -27 1 2 3 4 8 9

Final Report – Aug 99 162 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

24. HAVING A GANG MEMBER COMMIT A 

HOME INVASION ROBBERY AGAINST 

YOU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -28 1 2 3 4 8 9 

25. BEING RAPED OR SEXUALLY 

ASSAULTED BY A STRANGER. . . . . . . . . . . -29 1 2 3 4 8 9

26. BEING A VICTIM OF A DRIVE-BY

OR RANDOM GANG-RELATED 

SHOOTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -30 1 2 3 4 8 9 

27. BEING PHYSICALLY ATTACKED OR 

ASSAULTED BY A GANG MEMBER. . . . . . . -31 1 2 3 4 8 9

28. BEING HARRASSED BY GANG MEMBERS -32 1 2 3 4 8 9

29. BEING A VICTIM OF A CARJACKING. . . . . . -33 1 2 3 4 8 9

30-37 NOW THAT YOU HAVE RATED THE SERIOUSNESS OF THESE CRIMES, I WOULD LIKE YOU

TO TELL ME HOW LIKELY YOU THINK IT IS THAT YOU WILL BECOME A VICTIM OF THOSE 

CRIMES IN THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS. IS IT NOT LIKELY, SOMEWHAT LIKELY,

LIKELY, OR VERY LIKELY THAT YOU WILL . . . 

(ROTATE) 

 

NOT LIKELY . . . . . . . . . . -1 (NL)

SOMEWHAT LIKELY. . . -2 (SL)

LIKELY . . . . . . . . . . . . . -3 (L)

VERY LIKELY . . . . . . . . . -4 (VL)

dont know . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . -8 (DK) 

refused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -9 (RF)

 NL SL L VL DK RF 

30. HAVE YOUR PROPERTY DAMAGED 

BY GANG GRAFFITI OR TAGGING . . . . . . -34 1 2 3 4 8 9

31. HAVE SOMEONE BREAK INTO YOUR 

HOME WHILE YOU ARE AWAY . . . . . . . . -35 1 2 3 4 8 9

32. HAVE A GANG MEMBER COMMIT A 

HOME INVASION ROBBERY AGAINST 

YOU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -36 1 2 3 4 8 9 

33. BE RAPED OR SEXUALLY 

ASSAULTED BY A STRANGER. . . . . . . . . . . -37 1 2 3 4 8 9 

34. BE A VICTIM OF A DRIVE-BY 

OR RANDOM GANG-RELATED 

SHOOTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -38 1 2 3 4 8 9 

35. BE PHYSICALLY ATTACKED OR 

ASSAULTED BY A GANG MEMBER . . . . . -39 1 2 3 4 8 9

36. BE HARRASSED BY GANG MEMBERS. . . -40 1 2 3 4 8 9

Final Report – Aug 99 163 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

37. BE A VICTIM OF A CARJACKING. . . . . . . . -41 1 2 3 4 8 9

38-45. I HAVE ONE MORE QUESTION I WILL ASK YOU REGARDING THESE PARTICULAR CRIMES. I 

JUST ASKED YOU TO RANK THE SERIOUSNESS AND THE LIKELIHOOD THAT YOU WILL BECOME A 

VICTIM OF THESE CRIMES. NOW I WILL ASK YOU THE ABOUT THE SAME CRIMES, BUT I WOULD

LIKE TO KNOW HOW PERSONALLY AFRAID YOU ARE OF EACH OF THEM. FOR EACH OF THE 

FOLLOWING CRIMES, PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU ARE NOT AFRAID, SOMEWHAT AFRAID, AFRAID, 

OR VERY AFRAID.

(ROTATE)

NOT AFRAID . . . . . . . . . . -1 (NA) 

SOMEWHAT AFRAID . . . -2 (SA)

AFRAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -3 (A) 

VERY AFRAID . . . . . . . . . -4 (VA) 

dont know . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . -8 (DK) 

refused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -9 (RF)

NA SA A VA DK RF 

38. HAVING YOUR PROPERTY DAMAGED

BY GANG GRAFFITI OR TAGGING . . . . . . -42 1 2 3 4 8 9

39. HAVING SOMEONE BREAK INTO YOUR 

HOME WHILE YOU ARE AWAY . . . . . . . . -43 1 2 3 4 8 9

40. HAVING A GANG MEMBER COMMIT A 

HOME INVASION ROBBERY AGAINST 

YOU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -44 1 2 3 4 8 9 

41. BEING RAPED OR SEXUALLY 

ASSAULTED BY A STRANGER. . . . . . . . . . . -45 1 2 3 4 8 9 

42. BEING A VICTIM OF A DRIVE-BY

OR RANDOM GANG-RELATED 

SHOOTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -46 1 2 3 4 8 9 

43. BEING PHYSICALLY ATTACKED OR 

ASSAULTED BY A GANG MEMBER . . . . . -47 1 2 3 4 8 9

44. BEING HARRASSED BY GANG MEMBERS. -48 1 2 3 4 8 9

45. BEING A VICTIM OF A CARJACKING. . . . . -49 1 2 3 4 8 9 

46-50. TO AVOID GANG CRIME IN PARTICULAR, HAVE YOU IN THE PAST YEAR, 

(ROTATE)

YES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -1 

NO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -2

(dont know) . . . . . . . -8 (DK)

(refuse) . . . . . . . . . . . . -9 (RF)

YES NO DK RF 

Final Report – Aug 99 164 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

46. BOUGHT OR SECURED A GUN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 50- 1 2 8 9

47. CARRIED A GUN OR OTHER WEAPON WHEN 

YOU WENT OUT 51- 1 2 8 9

48. ARRANGED TO GO OUT WITH SOMEONE SO YOU

WOULD NOTBE ALONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52- 1 2 8 9

49. AVOIDED CERTAIN AREAS OF ORANGE COUNTY . . . . . 53- 1 2 8 9 

50. AVOIDED CERTAIN AREAS OF YOUR OWN COMMUNITY..54- 1 2 8 9 

51. DO YOU KNOW THE NAMES OF ANY GANGS OR GANG MEMBERS IN YOUR COMMUNITY?

Yes 55-1

No -2 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

52. ARE THERE AREAS RIGHT AROUND WHERE YOU LIVE--THAT IS, WITHIN A FEW BLOCKS--

WHERE YOU ARE AFRAID TO WALK ALONE?

Yes (SKIP TO Q. 53) 56-1

No (SKIP TO Q. 54) -2 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

53. ARE YOU AFRAID THERE BECAUSE OF GANG-RELATED CONCERNS?

Yes 57-1

No -2 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

54. IN THE PAST TWO TO THREE YEARS, DO YOU FEEL MORE SAFE, NOT AS SAFE, OR ABOUT 

THE SAME IN YOUR COMMUNITY?

Safer 58-1

Not as safe -2 

About the same -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

55A. IN GENERAL, ARE YOU MORE, LESS, OR EQUALLY AFRAID FOR OTHER PEOPLE LIVING IN

YOUR HOME AS YOU ARE FOR YOURSELF?

MORE AFRAID (SKIP TO 55B) 59-1

LESS AFRAID (SKIP TO 56) -2

EQUALLY AFRAID (SKIP TO 56) -3

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

Final Report – Aug 99 165 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

55B: ARE YOU MORE AFRAID FOR YOUR YOUR PARENTS, YOUR SPOUSE, YOUR CHILDREN, OR

OTHER PEOPLE UNDER 18 WHO ARE LIVING IN YOUR HOME? (CODE, DONT READ)

parents 60-1

spouse -2 

children -3 

other under 18 -4 

(other) -5 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

56. ON ANOTHER TOPIC, AT WHAT AGE WOULD YOU CONSIDER SOMEONE NO LONGER A 

YOUTH? (CODE, DONT READ)

 

 (61-62) 

under 16 . . . -01 

16 -02 

17 -03 

18 -04 

19 -05 

20 -06 

21 -07 

22 -08 

23 -09 

24 -10 

25 -11 

over 25 -12 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

57. DO YOU THINK GANG MEMBERS ARE MOSTLY UNDER 18, ARE MOSTLY 18 AND OLDER, OR 

DO YOU THINK THEY ARE ABOUT HALF AND HALF?

Mostly under 18 63-1

Mostly 18 and older -2 

half and half -3 

(Dont know) -8 

(Refused) -9 

58. NOW I WILL ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY IN GENERAL. HOW

WOULDYOU DESCRIBE THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN YOUR COMMUNITY IN TERMS OF SUCH

THINGS AS INCOME, EDUCATION, AND LIFESTYLE? WOULD YOU SAY THEY ARE: 

VERY MUCH LIKE YOU 64-1

SOMEWHAT LIKE YOU, OR -2 

NOT AT ALL LIKE YOU -3

(dont know) -8 

Final Report – Aug 99 166 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

(refused) -9 

59. HOW MUCH DO YOU FEEL YOU BELONG TO YOUR COMMUNITY? WOULD YOU SAY A LOT

(I FEEL VERY MUCH A PART OF IT), A LITTLE (SOMETIMES I FEEL A PART OF IT), OR NOT

AT ALL (ITS JUST A PLACE TO LIVE)?

A lot 65-1

a little, or -2 

not at all -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

60. IF YOU HAD A PROBLEM, COULD YOU RELY ON YOUR NEIGHBORS FOR HELP? (CODE,

DONT READ)

yes 66-1

no -2 

(not sure/dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

 

61. OVERALL, IN THE PAST TWO TO THREE YEARS, WOULD YOU SAY YOUR COMMUNITY HAS 

BECOME A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE, HAS GOTTEN WORSE, OR IS ABOUT THE SAME AS IT USED TO

BE?

Better 67-1

Worse -2 

About the same -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

62. ON ANOTHER TOPIC, WHAT ARE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT SOURCES OF INFORMATION

ABOUT CRIME? (RECORD UP TO THREE ANSWERS, CODE, DONT READ)

(68-69) 

62a: television -01 

newspapers -02 

radio -03 

co-workers -04 

friends -05 

neighbors -06 

children -07 

other family members -08 

personal experience -09 

other -10 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

(70-71) 

62b: television -01 

newspapers -02 

radio -03 

co-workers -04 

friends -05 

neighbors -06 

Final Report – Aug 99 167 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

children -07 

other family members -08 

personal experience -09 

other -10 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

 

(72-73) 

62c: television -01 

newspapers -02 

radio -03 

co-workers -04 

friends -05 

neighbors -06 

children -07 

other family members -08 

personal experience -09 

other -10 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

63. ARE YOU A REGULAR VIEWER OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS THAT DEAL WITH CRIME OR

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES, SUCH AS COPS, REAL STORIES OF THE HIGHWAY PATROL, 

JUSTICE FILES, OR AMERICAS MOST WANTED? (CODE, DONT READ) 

yes 74-1

no -2 

(dont know) -3 

(refused) -9 

64. ON ANOTHER ISSUE, HAVE YOU SEEN OR HEARD ABOUT THE ORANGE COUNTY PROGRAM

DRUG USE IS LIFE ABUSE?

yes (SKIP TO Q. 65) 75-1

no (SKIP TO Q. 67) -2 

(dont know) -3 

(refused) -9 

65. WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN OR HEARD THE SLOGAN DRUG USE IS LIFE ABUSE? (DONT READ,

JUST CODE) (record up to 3 answers)

(76-77) 

65a. bumper stickers -01 

logo in advertising -02 

childrens school -03 

books, pamphlets -04 

newspaper articles, newspaper ads -05 

buses -06 

bus shelters -07 

Final Report – Aug 99 168 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

electronic message board -08 

other -09 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

(78-79) 

65b. bumper stickers -01 

logo in advertising -02 

childrens school -03 

books, pamphlets -04 

newspaper articles, newspaper ads -05 

buses -06 

bus shelters -07 

electronic message board -08 

other -09 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

(80-81) 

65c bumper stickers -01 

logo in advertising -02 

childrens school -03 

books, pamphlets -04 

newspaper articles, newspaper ads -05 

buses -06 

bus shelters -07 

electronic message board -08 

other -09 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

66. OVERALL, HOW FAVORABLE AN IMPRESSION DO YOU HAVE OF THE ORGANIZATION AND 

THE PROGRAMS INCLUDED IN DRUG USE IS LIFE ABUSE?

VERY FAVORABLE 82-1

SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE -2 

SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE -3 

VERY UNFAVORABLE -4 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

67-72. TO WHAT DEGREE DO YOU THINK THAT THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS ARE CAUSED BY

DRUG ABUSE--ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 WITH 1 BEING NOT AT ALL AND 5 BEING A LOT?

(ROTATE) 

NOT LOT DK RF 

67. CHILD ABUSE. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. -83 1 2 3 4 5 8 9

68. PROPERTY CRIMES, LIKE BURGLARY 

Final Report – Aug 99 169 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

AND THEFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -84 1 2 3 4 5 8 9

69. VIOLENT CRIMES, LIKE ASSAULT AND

MURDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -85 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 

70. VIOLENT CRIMES THAT ARE COMMITTED 

BY YOUTHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -86 1 2 3 4 5 8 9

71. GANG CRIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -87 1 2 3 4 5 8 9

72. POOR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN

SCHOOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -88 1 2 3 4 5 8 9

NOW WE WILL ASK YOU A FEW PERSONAL QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. THESE

QUESTIONS HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW DIFFERENT PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY FEEL ABOUT 

THE QUESTIONS WE HAVE ASKED YOU. YOU WILL NOT BE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIED AS HAVING

GIVEN THIS INFORMATION.

73. WHAT WAS THE LAST GRADE OF SCHOOL YOU COMPLETED? (CODE, DONT READ)

grade 0-4 89-1

grade 5-8 -2 

grade 9-11, some high school -3 

grade 12, high school graduate -4 

grade 13-15, some college -5

grade 16, college graduate -6 

graduate work -7 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

74. ARE YOU CURRENTLY EMPLOYED FULL-TIME, PART-TIME, OR ARE YOU NOT EMPLOYED?

full-time 90-1

part-time -2 

not employed (SKIP TO Q. 76) -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

75. IN YOUR JOB, HOW MUCH CONTACT WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE WITH MINORITIES? 

WOULD YOU SAY, A LOT, A MODERATE AMOUNT, A SMALL AMOUNT OR NONE? 

 

a lot 91-1

a moderate amount -2 

a small amount -3 

none -4 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

76. WHAT IS YOUR APPROXIMATE TOTAL HOUSEHOLD YEARLY INCOME? IS IT: 

(92-93) 

LESS THAN $15,000 -01 

BETWEEN $15,000 AND $24,999 -02

BETWEEN $25,000 AND $34,999 -03

BETWEEN $35,000 AND $49,999 -04

BETWEEN $50,000 AND $74,999 -05

BETWEEN $75,000 AND $100,000 -06

Final Report – Aug 99 170 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

MORE THAN $100,000 -07

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

77. ARE YOU MALE OR FEMALE?

male 94-1

female -2 

(refused) -9 

78. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR RACE AND ETHNICITY? (CODE, DONT READ) 

White/caucasion 95-1

Latino/Hispanic (e.g., Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, Central and South American) -2 

African-American/black -3 

Asian-American/Pacific Islander (e.g., Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian, Vietnamese) -4

American Indian/Native American -5 

Biracial/mixed -6 

other -7 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

79. ARE YOU BETWEEN THE AGES OF: 

18 to 20 (96-97)-01

21 to 24 -02 

25 to 34 -03 

35 to 44 -04 

45 to 54 -05 

55 to 64 -06 

65-74, or -07 

75 or older -08 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

80. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT MARITAL STATUS? (CODE, DONT READ) 

married 98-1

widowed -2 

divorced -3 

separated -4 

never married -5 

cohabiting/living with partner -6

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

81. HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVE IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD? (CODE, DONT READ)

(99-100)

1 -01 

2 -02 

3 -03 

4 -04 

5 -05 

6 -06 

Final Report – Aug 99 171 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

7 -07 

8 -08 

9 -09 

10 -10 

more than 10 -11 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

82. HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVING WITH YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 18?

2 -02 

(101-102)

0 -00 

1 -01 

3 -03 

4 -04 

5 -05 

6 -06 

7 -07 

8 -08 

9 -09 

10 -10 

more than 10 -11 

(dont know) -98 

(refused) -99 

83. DO YOU OWN OR RENT YOUR RESIDENCE?

own 103-1

rent -2 

other -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

84. HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN ORANGE COUNTY?______________

(RECORD EXACT ANSWER) 

85. HAVE YOU PERSONALLY BEEN A VICTIM OF A CRIME IN THE PAST TWO TO THREE

YEARS?

yes (SKIP TO Q. 86) 104-1

no (SKIP TO Q. 88) -2 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

86. WAS THIS A VIOLENT CRIME OR A PROPERTY CRIME?

violent 105-1

property -2 

both -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

Final Report – Aug 99 172 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

87. DO YOU THINK THIS WAS A GANG-RELATED CRIME?

yes 106-1

no -2 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

88. HAS ANYONE ELSE IN YOUR FAMILY BEEN A VICTIM OF A CRIME IN THE PAST TWO TO

THREE YEARS?

yes (SKIP TO Q. 89) 107-1

no (SKIP TO Q. 91) -2 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

89. WAS THIS A VIOLENT CRIME OR A PROPERTY CRIME?

violent 108-1

property -2 

both -3 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

90. DO YOU THINK THIS WAS A GANG-RELATED CRIME?

yes 109-1

no -2 

(dont know) -8 

(refused) -9 

91. FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY, MAY I HAVE THE CLOSEST CROSS STREETS TO YOUR

HOME?

________________________________ AND ________________________________

92. WHAT CITY DO YOU LIVE IN?

Final Report – Aug 99 173 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

APPENDIX C. DISSEMINATION OF PROJECT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES

Publications 

Vila, Bryan and James W. Meeker (1997) “A Regional Gang Incident Tracking System.” Journal of Gang

Research 4:3:23-36. 

Meeker, James W. and Bryan Vila. (proposed) Understanding Street Gang Crime. 

Doctoral Dissertations 

Thomas E. Fossati, Thomas E. 1998. The Social Ecology Of Violent Gang Crime: A Sociospatial 

Ratiocination. University of California, Irvine. 

Lane, Jodi. 1998. Crime and Gangs in an Urban Sphere: Constructing the Threat and Fearing the 

Future. University of California, Irvine. 

Parsons, Katie J.B. 1998. The Gang Incident Tracking System: Orange County, California's Collective 

Effort to Track Gang-Related Incidents. University of California, Irvine. 

Conference Presentations 

November 1998: Research team members are scheduled to make five different presentations related to 

project research at the American Society of Criminology annual meeting. 

March 1998: “Relationships Between Concentrations of Gang Incidents, Social and Demographic 

Factors, and Reported Fear of Gang Crime.” James W. Meeker, Bryan Vila, and Douglas Wiebe, 

Academy of Criminal Justices Sciences Annual Conference. 

February 1998: “Fear of Gangs in Orange County, California.” Jodi Lane, James W. Meeker, and Bryan 

Vila, Western Society of Criminology.

December 1997: GITS presentation to National Community Oriented Policing Conference, James W. 

Meeker. 

Final Report – Aug 99 174 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

November 1997: “Using a GIS-Based Gang Incident Tracking System to Evaluate Intervention and 

Violence Reduction Programs.” Bryan Vila and James W. Meeker, American Society of 

Criminology Annual Conference. 

November 1997: “Relationships between Concentration of Gang Incidents, Social and Demographic 

Factors, and Reported Fear of Gang Crime.” Thomas E. Fossati, James W. Meeker, Bryan Vila. 

November 1997: “GIS-Based Mapping of Gang Incidents in Orange County, California.” James W. 

Meeker and Bryan Vila, American Society of Criminology Annual Conference. 

November 1997: “The Gang Incident Tracking System: A Geospatial Analysis of Gang Crime.” Thomas 

E. Fossati, American Society of Criminology Annual Conference. 

November 1997: “If We Don’t Deal with This, We are Going to Have Another LA Problem: The Social 

Construction of Gang Problems by Law Enforcement and Community Leaders.” Jodi Lane, 

American Society of Criminology Conference. 

November 1997: “Target Type Approaches to Street Gangs: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Effects of 

Joint Prosecutor, Police, and Probation Teams. American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting.” 

Douglas Wiebe and James W. Meeker. 

July 1997: “A Triangular Approach to Evaluating the Effectiveness of Regional Street Gang Prevention, 

Intervention, and Suppression Programs.” Bryan Vila and James W. Meeker, U.S. Department of 

Justice-sponsored Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation. 

March 1997: “Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Gang Crimes.” James W. Meeker, Bryan Vila and 

Douglas Wiebe, Academy of Criminal Justices Sciences Annual Conference. 

March 1997: “The Hourly Distribution of Incidents in Orange County Gang Incident Tracking System

Data.” Douglas Wiebe. Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting 

March 1997: “Don’t You Go [Out] There: The Effects of Social Disorganization Variables on Fear of 

Crime and Gangs.” Jodi Lane, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference. 

November 1996: “Gang Typologies and Criminal Activities.” James W. Meeker and Bryan Vila, 

American Society of Criminology Annual Conference. 

November 1996: “Subcultural Diversity and the Fear of Crime and Gangs.” Jodi Lane, American Society

of Criminology Conference. 

November 1996: “Temporal and Spatial Analysis of Gang Incidents at the Census Block Level.” Thomas 

E. Fossati, American Society of Criminology Conference. 

Final Report – Aug 99 175 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

June 1996: “Orange County, California’s Regional Gang Incident Tracking System.” Bryan Vila, 

National Youth Gang Symposium, Dallas, Texas. 

May 1996: “Gang Research in Orange County, California.” All Staff, National Institute of Justice & 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Gangs Cluster Conference. 

March 1996: “The Orange County Gang Incident Tracking System.” Bryan Vila, Academy of Criminal 

Justice Sciences Annual Conference. 

March 1996: “An Approach to Understanding Fear of Gangs as a Function of Community

Characteristics.” Jodi Lane, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Conference. 

March 1996: “Spatial Analysis of Gang Crime.” Thomas E. Fossati, Academy of Criminal Justice 

Sciences Annual Conference. 

November 1995: “Regional Variation in Gang-Related Crime Patterns: A Preliminary Analysis of Orange 

County’s Gang Incident Tracking System.” Bryan Vila and James W. Meeker. American Society of 

Criminology Annual Conference. 

Public Presentations 

December 1998: “Gang Turf & Political Turf: Mapping Gang Incidents Across 30 Municipal 

Boundaries.” Bryan Vila. National Crime Mapping Conference. 

November 1998: “Opportunities and Difficulties Associated with Regional Gang Incident Mapping.” 

James W. Meeker. National Community Oriented Policing Conference. 

April 1998: Presentation regarding GITS to San Jose, Calif. Task Force on Gangs, James W. Meeker. 

April 1998: Presentation on Orange County Street Gangs and GITS to OJJDP, James W. Meeker and 

Bryan Vila. 

October 1997: “Mapping and Understanding Gang Incidents.” Thomas E. Fossati, University of 

Wyoming. 

August 1997: “GITS and GIS: Usefulness of Tracking Gang Incidents with Geographic Information 

Software.” Thomas E. Fossati, Orange County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association. 

May 1997: Presentation to annual meeting of Orange County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association, Bryan 

Vila and James W. Meeker. 

April 1997: Television interview on OCN re Orange County gangs and GITS, James W. Meeker. 

Final Report – Aug 99 176 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

April 1997: “Logistics of Creating Orange County’s Fear of Gangs Survey.” Jodi Lane, the Anti-Gang 

Initiative Second Cluster Conference, Office of Community Oriented Policing, U.S. Department of 

Justice. 

January 1997: “UCIFRG’S Approach to Measuring Fear of Gangs.” All Staff, National Youth Gang 

Center Data Collection Focus Group. 

September 1996: “Gang Incident Tracking System (GITS).” James W. Meeker, Thomas E. Fossati, Jodi 

Lane, Katie J.B. Parsons, Orange County Crime Analysts’ Association. 

September 1996: “Using GIS and Geographic Modeling to Track Gang Incidents Throughout the 

County.” Thomas E. Fossati, to Orange Coast Regional Career Criminal Apprehension Program. 

Training Workshop on GIS Capabilities in Law Enforcement. 

September 1996: Presentation to COPS Intensive Case Study Workshop under Anti-Gang Initiative, 

James W. Meeker. 

June 1996: Presentation to Pacific Mutual Foundation Board of Directors, James W. Meeker and Bryan 

Vila. 

June 1996: “Policy Issues Associated with Cross-Jurisdictional Measurement of Gang Incidents.” James 

W. Meeker and Bryan Vila, FBI Southwest Command College Law Enforcement Executive 

Development Series. 

April 1996: “Measuring Gang Activity in Orange County.” Bryan Vila, UCI Social Ecology Associates 

lecture series.

February 1996: Presentation to the California Wellness Foundation. Bryan Vila. 

Reports Prepared for Local Government Agencies 

1996–1998: Annual reports to Orange County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association on gang incident trends 

(three were prepared). 

1996–1998: Individual reports to each of the county’s 22 law enforcement agencies on gang incident 

trends (three were prepared). 

1997: Special report regarding analysis of gang incidents involving drug use or possession 

1997: Gang territories maps for City of Westminster 

1997–1998: Gang “hot spot” maps countywide and for selected cities 

Final Report – Aug 99 177 
Gang Activity in Orange County, California 

Final Report – Aug 99 178 

Reports Prepared for Federal Agencies 

Wiebe, Douglas, James W. Meeker, & Bryan Vila. (1998, under review). OJJDP Fact Sheet: Hourly 

trends of juvenile and adult arrest incidents in 1994-1996. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile 

Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 

Wiebe, Douglas. (1997). Hourly Juvenile and Adult Arrest Incidents in 1994 and 1995. Irvine, CA: 

University of California. In Sickmund, Melissa, Snyder, Howard N., & Poe-Yamagata, Eileen. 

Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile 

Justice and Delinquency Prevention.