Neighborhood violence and social marginalization are inextricably connected.
Gangs typically form in the most socially marginalized communities. The maps below show how exactly gangs and social marginalization correlate. Notice how gangs and social marginalization cluster through much of Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Fullerton, but notice also that the small gang neighborhoods in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Orange, San Juan Capistrano, and La Habra all correlate exactly to neighborhoods with poor social progress indicators, a measure of social marginalization.
Targeting communities with aggressive policing and incarceration contributes to social marginalization. Ultimately, this leads to more violence, not less. We need solutions to neighborhood violence that don't contribute to the underlying causes.
