James Densley

Last updated

James Densley
Born (1982-04-13) 13 April 1982 (age 42)
Leicester, England
Education University of Oxford
University of Northampton
Pace University
Alma mater St. Antony's College, Oxford
OccupationProfessor
Employer Metropolitan State University
Known forGang Research
Criminology
Sociology
Awards2022 Minnesota Book Awards
2017 Points of Light
Website jamesdensley.com

James Densley (born 13 April 1982) is a British-American sociologist and Professor of Criminal Justice at Metropolitan State University. He is best known as co-founder of The Violence Project [1] and as co-author of the bestselling book, The Violence Project: How To Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic. [2] Densley has also published extensively on street gang issues and has been described as "among the most accomplished rising leaders of modern gang research in criminology." [3] He was one of the top 250 most cited criminologists in the world in 2019. [4]

Contents

Densley is known for his ethnography of gang life in London [5] and his applications of economic signalling theory to gang membership. [6] [7] [8] Densley's research examines group processes in gangs and compares gangs with other violent collectives such as hate groups and terror groups. [9] [10] He once compared the Islamic State to a “street gang on steroids”. [11] Densley writes about the “glocalisation” of gang culture, [12] cyber violence, [13] and the role of rap music and social media in gang violence. [14] [15] [16]

Early life and education

James Densley was born in Leicester, England, the son of a Leicestershire special constable. [17] In 2003, he received his B.A. in sociology with American studies from the University of Northampton. [18] He earned an M.S. in sociology from the University of Oxford in 2004, and then moved to New York City where he enrolled in the NYC Teaching Fellows and taught 7th and 8th grade special education at University Neighborhood Middle School in Manhattan's Lower East Side. [19] In New York, he earned his teacher's license and a master's degree in education from Pace University. In 2007, Densley moved back to England to complete a D.Phil. in sociology from Oxford University's Extra-Legal Governance Institute. [20] Densley studied under mafia scholars Diego Gambetta and Federico Varese, and his work seems to reflect his time with them from his methods, to his theory, and focus on social organizations. [21]

Career

After Densley graduated in 2011 he was hired by Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. He was promoted to full professor in 2019, aged just 37. [22]

The 2011 England riots occurred just weeks after Densley had finished his PhD, a study of gangs in London. After the UK Prime Minister David Cameron blamed the riots on gangs, [23] Densley was one of the first academics to question this logic. [24] [25] Densley's first book, How Gangs Work, grew out of his PhD research and reflects upon the “war on gangs” launched after the 2011 riots. [5] The British Journal of Criminology mentions the book's “critical ethnography and first-class fieldwork”, concluding that “Densley’s work points the way to how gang research should be done in the future.” [26]

In the book and in later research, Densley used signaling theory to make sense of how and why youth join gangs. [27] [28] He found that prospective gang members signal their potential value to the gang by engaging in violent and criminal acts that are beyond the capacity of most people. [6] Densley also used signaling theory to advance a model of disengagement from gangs that allows ex-gang members to communicate their unobservable inner change to others and satisfy community expectations that desistance from crime is real. [7] For Densley, religious conversion in prison was one example of a disengagement signal. [29]

Research

Densley's work explores the rationality of gang behavior. [30] He developed an influential model of gang evolution that explains the relationship between gangs and organized crime. [31] He found that recreation, crime, enterprise, and governance were not static gang activities or distinct gang types, but instead sequential "actualization stages" in the lifecycle of gangs. Densley's evolutionary model was later validated by studies of gangs in London, England, and Glasgow, Scotland. [32] [33]

Densley also studies illicit drug dealing. [34] In 2012, he warned about the county lines model of drug distribution in which drug‐selling gangs from the major urban areas, like London, send vulnerable youth to exploit markets in other towns and areas: “Most youngers are employed by their elders to work what was known colloquially as the ‘drugs line,’ although some are sent out ‘on assignment’ to explore ‘new markets’ in areas where they are unknown to police; notably commuter cities with vibrant nighttime economies”. [35] His later work looked at debt bondage and child exploitation in county lines drug dealing, [36] [37] and how expressive uses of social media by gang members, such as posting rap videos to YouTube, helped advance gang members’ material interests in county lines. [14]

The Violence Project

In 2017, Densley launched The Violence Project with psychologist Jillian Peterson of Hamline University. [38] In their first project, Densley and Peterson partnered with the Minnetonka Police Department to develop a new mental illness crisis intervention training for law enforcement, known as The R-Model. [39] [40] [41]

With funding from the National Institute of Justice, Densley and Peterson next built a database of all public mass shooters since 1966 coded according to 150 life history variables. [42] Their research on mass shooters included in-depth analysis of K-12 school shootings [43] and how the Columbine High School massacre became a blueprint for future massacres. [44] Densley and Peterson are critical of active shooter drills in schools for traumatizing young children and normalizing school violence. [45] [46]

In a 2019 op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that went viral, [47] The Violence Project presented a new, hopeful, framework to understand mass shootings. Based on interviews with mass shooters and people who knew them, Peterson and Densley found mass shooters had four things in common: (1) early childhood trauma; (2) an identifiable crisis point with suicidal ideation; (3) validation for their grievance, having studied past shootings to find social proof of concept; and (4) the means to carry out an attack. This conceptual framework highlights the complexity of the pathway to a mass shooting, including how each one can be “socially contagious”, [48] but also creates a plan to prevent the next shooting.

Each one of the four themes can be addressed at the individual, institutional, and societal levels. For example, by regulating access to firearms (opportunity), slowing contagion (social proof), training in crisis intervention and suicide prevention (crisis), and strengthening the social safety net (trauma), a mass shooting can be averted. Densley and Peterson elaborate on this framework in their book, The Violence Project: How To Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, [2] which "identifies 34 potential solutions" to the "uniquely American problem" of mass shootings. [49] Their research shows mass shooters tend to communicate or "leak" intent to do harm, often as a cry for help, which means mass shootings are preventable if people learn how to respond to the warning signs. [50]

Growing Against Violence

Densley is a co-founder of Growing Against Violence, a London-based charity that since 2008 has delivered violence prevention programming to nearly 200,000 children and young people in hundreds of schools. [51] Densley wrote and piloted the original curriculum and later conducted an evaluation of the program. [52] In 2017, Densley was awarded the Prime Minister's Points of Light award for his “outstanding” volunteerism. [53]

Selected publications

Densley is a TEDx speaker [54] and has written for CNN, [55] [56] Education Week, [57] The Guardian, [58] Los Angeles Times, [59] New York Times, [60] Scientific American, [61] StarTribune, [62] Time magazine, [63] USA Today, [64] The Wall Street Journal, [65] The Washington Post, [66] and other media on a range of public issues, including gangs and gang responses, gun violence, knife crime, drug sales, school shootings, policing, and violent extremism. His work has featured on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and he has appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports, BBC News, CBS This Morning, CNN Newsroom, Deadline: White House, Don Lemon Tonight, Dr. Phil, Face the Nation, Inside Edition, Morning Joe, The New Yorker Radio Hour, NBC Nightly News, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and other major news shows.

Awards

The character of Jamie Patterson in the spy novel, Jihadi Apprentice by David Bruns and J.R. Olson is based on James Densley. [69]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organized crime</span> Groupings of highly centralized criminal enterprises

Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, rebel forces, and separatists, are politically motivated. Many criminal organizations rely on fear or terror to achieve their goals or aims as well as to maintain control within the organization and may adopt tactics commonly used by authoritarian regimes to maintain power. Some forms of organized crime simply exist to cater towards demand of illegal goods in a state or to facilitate trade of goods and services that may have been banned by a state. Sometimes, criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts protection money from shopkeepers. Street gangs may often be deemed organized crime groups or, under stricter definitions of organized crime, may become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization can also be referred to as an outfit, a gang, crime family, mafia, mob, (crime) ring, or syndicate; the network, subculture, and community of criminals involved in organized crime may be referred to as the underworld or gangland. Sociologists sometimes specifically distinguish a "mafia" as a type of organized crime group that specializes in the supply of extra-legal protection and quasi-law enforcement. Academic studies of the original "Mafia", the Italian Mafia, as well as its American counterpart, generated an economic study of organized crime groups and exerted great influence on studies of the Russian mafia, the Chinese triads, the Hong Kong triads, and the Japanese yakuza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gang</span> Associative criminal group

A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior, with such behavior often constituting a form of organized crime.

In the United States, the relationship between race and crime has been a topic of public controversy and scholarly debate for more than a century. Crime rates vary significantly between racial groups; however, academic research indicates that the over-representation of some racial minorities in the criminal justice system can in part be explained by socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, exposure to poor neighborhoods, poor access to public and early education, and exposure to harmful chemicals and pollution. Racial housing segregation has also been linked to racial disparities in crime rates, as black Americans have historically and to the present been prevented from moving into prosperous low-crime areas through actions of the government and private actors. Various explanations within criminology have been proposed for racial disparities in crime rates, including conflict theory, strain theory, general strain theory, social disorganization theory, macrostructural opportunity theory, social control theory, and subcultural theory.

Gang-related organised crime in the United Kingdom is concentrated around the cities of London, Manchester and Liverpool and regionally across the West Midlands region, south coast and northern England, according to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. With regard to street gangs the cities identified as having the most serious gang problems, which accounted for 65% of firearm homicides in England and Wales, were London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. Glasgow in Scotland also has a historical gang culture with the city having as many teenage gangs as London, which had six times the population, in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun violence in the United States</span> Phenomenon of gun violence in the United States

Gun violence is a term of political, economic and sociological interest referring to the tens of thousands of annual firearms-related deaths and injuries occurring in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun violence</span> Method of violence

Gun-related violence is violence against a person committed with the use of a firearm to inflict a gunshot wound. Gun violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide and assault with a deadly weapon. Depending on the jurisdiction, suicide or attempted suicide may also be considered a crime. Non-criminal violence includes accidental or unintentional injury and death. Also generally included in gun violence statistics are military or para-military activities.

Crime has been committed by immigrants, and people have sought to study the relationship between immigration and crime. This has controversially long been a subject of debate, and recently systematic empirical evidence on this issue has been brought to light that has encouraged political discourse on the matter.

Jody Miller is a feminist criminology professor at the School of Criminal Justice at the Rutgers University (Newark). Her education includes: B.S. in journalism from Ohio University, 1989 ; M.A. in sociology from Ohio University, 1990; M.A. in women's studies at Ohio State University, 1991; and her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Southern California in 1996. She specializes in feminist theory and qualitative research methods. Her research focuses on gender, crime and victimization, in the context of urban communities, the commercial sex industry, sex tourism, and youth gangs. Miller has also been elected as the vice president of the American Society of Criminology for 2015, the executive counselor of the American Society of Criminology for 2009–2011, as well as received the University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Service in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass shooting</span> Firearm violence incident

A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers kill or injure multiple individuals simultaneously using a firearm. There is no widely accepted definition, and different organizations tracking such incidents use different criteria. Mass shootings are often characterized by the indiscriminate targeting of victims in a non-combat setting, and thus the term generally excludes gang violence, shootouts and warfare. Mass shootings may be done for personal or psychological reasons, but have also been used as a terrorist tactic. The perpetrator of an ongoing mass shooting may be referred to as an active shooter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminology</span> Study of crime and criminal actions/behavior

Criminology is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behavioural and social sciences, which draws primarily upon the research of sociologists, political scientists, economists, legal sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, psychiatrists, social workers, biologists, social anthropologists, scholars of law and jurisprudence, as well as the processes that define administration of justice and the criminal justice system.

The Ferguson effect is an increase in violent crime rates in a community caused by reduced proactive policing due to the community's distrust and hostility towards police. The Ferguson effect was first proposed after police saw an increase in violence following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The term was coined by Doyle Sam Dotson III, the chief of the St. Louis police, to account for an increased murder rate in some U.S. cities following the Ferguson unrest. Whether the Ferguson effect really exists is subject of discussions with many published studies reporting contradicting findings concerning whether there is a change in crime rates, number of 911 calls, homicides, and proactive policing. Furthermore, the effect and influence of the portrayal of police brutality in the media is also contested.

Anthony Allan Braga is an American criminologist and the Jerry Lee Professor of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. Braga is also the Director of the Crime and Justice Policy Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. He previously held faculty and senior research positions at Harvard University, Northeastern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California at Berkeley. Braga is a member of the federal monitor team overseeing the reforms to New York City Police Department (NYPD) policies, training, supervision, auditing, and handling of complaints and discipline regarding stops and frisks and trespass enforcement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass shootings in the United States</span> Incidents involving multiple victims of firearm violence

Mass shootings are incidents involving multiple victims of firearm related violence. Definitions vary, with no single, broadly accepted definition. One definition is an act of public firearm violence—excluding gang killings, domestic violence, or terrorist acts sponsored by an organization—in which a shooter kills at least four victims.

Cuckooing is a form of action, termed by the police, in which the home of a vulnerable person is taken over by a criminal in order to use it to deal, store or take drugs, facilitate sex work, as a place for them to live, or to financially abuse the tenant. The practice is associated with county lines drug trafficking. It is also known to occur as part of mate crime, the act of befriending a person with the intent of exploiting them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County lines drug trafficking</span> Trafficking of drugs into British rural areas, often involving child slavery

In the United Kingdom, the county lines drug supply model is the practice of trafficking drugs into rural areas and smaller towns, away from major cities. Criminal gangs recruit and exploit vulnerable children, sometimes including children in pupil referral units and those who have been excluded from school, and exploit them to deal drugs. Some young people are recruited via debt bondage, whereby they enter county lines to pay off drug debts. Many of these activities are forms of modern slavery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public criminology</span> Academic tendency within criminology

Public criminology is an approach to criminology that disseminates criminological research beyond academia to broader audiences, such as criminal justice practitioners and the general public. Public criminology is closely tied with “public sociology”, and draws on a long line of intellectuals engaging in public interventions related to crime and justice. Some forms of public criminology are conducted through methods such as classroom education, academic conferences, public lectures, “news-making criminology”, government hearings, newspapers, radio and television broadcasting and press releases. Advocates of public criminology argue that the energies of criminologists should be directed towards "conducting and disseminating research on crime, law, and deviance in dialogue with affected communities." Public criminologists focus on reshaping the image of the criminal and work with communities to find answers to pressing questions. Proponents of public criminology see it as potentially narrowing "the yawning gap between public perceptions and the best available scientific evidence on issues of public concern", a problem they see as especially pertinent to matters of crime and punishment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefano Bloch</span> American author

Stefano Bloch is an American author and professor of cultural geography and critical criminology at the University of Arizona who focuses on graffiti, prisons, the policing of public space, and gang activity.

Aaron Stark is an American mental health advocate who is best known for planning but not following through with a mass shooting in 1996.

Jillian Peterson is an American scholar in criminology and criminal Justice who works as the Director of the Forensic Psychology Program at Hamline University, located in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her academic background includes a master's degree in social Ecology and a doctorate in psychology and Social Behavior, both earned from the University of California, Irvine.

James E. Hawdon is an American sociologist, academic, and author. He is a professor of Sociology and a Director for the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at Virginia Tech.

References

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  2. 1 2 Peterson, Jillian; Densley, James (7 September 2021). The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic. Abrams Press. ISBN   978-1419752957.
  3. Piquero, Alex R. (10 May 2018). "Linking Race-Based Perceptions of Gangs to Criminals and Athletes". Society. 55 (3): 237–242. doi:10.1007/s12115-018-0244-z. ISSN   0147-2011. S2CID   150286013.
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  5. 1 2 Densley, James A. (2013). How gangs work : an ethnography of youth violence. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   9781137271518. OCLC   842155883.
  6. 1 2 Densley, James A. (1 August 2012). "Street Gang Recruitment: Signaling, Screening, and Selection". Social Problems. 59 (3): 301–321. doi:10.1525/sp.2012.59.3.301. ISSN   0037-7791.
  7. 1 2 Densley, James A.; Pyrooz, David C. (2 August 2017). "A Signaling Perspective on Disengagement from Gangs". Justice Quarterly. 36: 31–58. doi:10.1080/07418825.2017.1357743. ISSN   0741-8825. S2CID   148914158.
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  11. Densley, James (7 October 2014). "ISIS: The street gang on steroids". CNN.
  12. Van Hellemont, Elke; Densley, James A (7 March 2018). "Gang glocalization: How the global mediascape creates and shapes local gang realities" (PDF). Crime, Media, Culture. 15: 169–189. doi:10.1177/1741659018760107. ISSN   1741-6590. S2CID   148637493.
  13. Peterson, Jillian; Densley, James (2017). "Cyber violence: What do we know and where do we go from here?". Aggression and Violent Behavior. 34: 193–200. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2017.01.012. ISSN   1359-1789. S2CID   151762431.
  14. 1 2 Storrod, Michelle L.; Densley, James A. (28 November 2016). "'Going viral' and 'Going country': the expressive and instrumental activities of street gangs on social media". Journal of Youth Studies. 20 (6): 677–696. doi:10.1080/13676261.2016.1260694. ISSN   1367-6261. S2CID   151516320.
  15. Lauger, Timothy R.; Densley, James A. (19 June 2017). "Broadcasting Badness: Violence, Identity, and Performance in the Online Gang Rap Scene". Justice Quarterly. 35 (5): 816–84. doi:10.1080/07418825.2017.1341542. ISSN   0741-8825. S2CID   149250807.
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  56. Densley, James, Peterson, Jillian (23 August 2017). "How social media sends extremism into overdrive". CNN. Retrieved 21 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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