In 2014 Colombia recorded 12,636 homicides, with an average of 26.49 per 100,000 inhabitants. More than half the cases (7,613) occurred in the group age 20 to 39 (INMLCF, 2014; 2015). In Cali, the third largest city in Colombia, there were 1,605 homicides, this being 12.7% of all violent deaths in the country, at the rate of 68.45% per 100,000 (Seguridad, Paz and Justicia, 2015). The rate went down to 64.27 homicides per 100,000 in 2015. Nonetheless, it remained above the national rate, thus continuing to be one of the most murderous cities in Colombia. Which factor or combination of factors has been causing this exaggerated homicide rate? It is difficult to come to a specific conclusion as inherent complexity of this phenomenon makes it tricky to clearly identify factors causing this violence. The point of departure of this paper on juvenile gangs is essentially about geographic location and proximity as a factor in gang conflict while taking into account the importance of the gangs` interactions with other organizing criminal groups in the context of inequality and poverty on a daily basis.
Starting with the geographic location of juvenile gangs in Aguablanca Comunas 13, 14, 15, 21, understood to be places of high gang concentration, we have tried to find out if there is a correlation between the physical location of their neighbourhood and the homicides occurring in that place, in 2014. Empirical analysis leads to a corroboration of hypothesis a higher density of gangs generates greater violence and, thus, a greater number of homicides not only at the places where they are located but also at the neighbouring areas.
Although Aguablanca is the most ganged-up sector of the city, the distribution of the homicides is not even and uniform. Within the district, one can observe zones or barrios with greater levels of homicides which are not the most gang-infested parts but, rather, the immediately neighbouring parts.
Despite the population density factor not having been exhaustively examined, it is a key element in studying urban violence. In reality, many of the security measures implementing by the local authorities are informed by the importance of symbiotic relation between ‘place’ and ‘violence’.
The spatial proximity of the groups is a fundamental element in generating violence because of the points of hostility that spring out of the application of territorial control (Papachristos, Hureau & Braga (2013)).
In Cali’s case, not only can we identify a proximity between juvenile gangs but, also, a heavy concentration in certain areas of the city. Therefore, one of the aims of this paper is to be able to research the question as to whether the concentration of these groups has been causing higher homicide rates, not only among the gang youths but, also third party non-gang involved people in the gangs’ barrios but also in neighbouring districts.
This geographical perspective on gangs and homicides might concur with and complement the analysis of other variables, fully documented, that influence the city’s growth in homicidal violence. Much of this is tightly connected to the socio-economic stress and poverty that greatly increase the vulnerability of youth who live with impecunity, unemployment, low levels of education, unequal pay (Case & Katz, 1991; Freeman, 1991; 1999). However, these factors do not provide a total explanation. Not all the residents of the marginalized barrios are violent. What might be argued is that certain structural conditions can give rise to criminal sub-cultures and alternative normative systems, in which homicidal violence is often the first tool employed when confronting a problem. Either the presence of criminal gangs or of organized crime, as another additional factor, that empowers and ‘tools up’ the Street gang members (Castillo, 2015) in furtherance of their criminal activities.
For these reasons, this work will be centred on the special analysis of homicidal criminality as an additional element that must be taken into account in order to contribute to the explanation, in the form of a case study, indicating that with greater gang conflict, there is not only a greater incidence of homicide in the home barrio but, also, in the neighbouring ones
With the use of geographic information systems (SIG), a concrete exercise in analysis and characterization of geo-spacial homicide data will be undertaken. Also, there will be the placement and location of eighty gangs in four ‘comunas’ in the Aguablanca district in 2014. By use of ArcGis software and its tools, such as the Thiessen polygons, it will be possible to envisage the gangs’ operating ambit; and, the Moran index, which calculates the spatial correlation between the homicides and the geographical location of the gangs.