P. Jeffrey Brantingham, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract: Criminal street gangs are defined both by their willingness to use violence to further their social and economic goals and their tendency to form stable geographic territories. This talk examines the dynamics of gang violence and possible connections to territory formation using spatial Lotka-Volterra competition models. The models are tested using data from thirteen rival street gangs in Hollenbeck, Los Angeles.

P. Jeffrey Brantingham is Associate Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA. He leads the UC Mathematical and Simulation Modeling of Crime Project (UC MaSC), an interdisciplinary team of mathematicians, social scientists and law enforcement. Research from this project has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The New York Times Magazine and Discover Magazine.

Cosponsored by the UCLA Department of Anthropology and the UCLA Human Complex Systems Program.