James Densley

James Densley (born April 13, 1982) is a British-American sociologist and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Metropolitan State University. Densley has published extensively on street gang issues and has been described as "among the most accomplished rising leaders of modern gang research in criminology."^[1] Densley is best known for his ethnography of gang life in London, England,^[2] and his applications of economic signalling theory to gang membership.^[3][4][5] Densley’s research examines group processes in gangs and compares gangs with other violent collectives such as hate groups and terror groups.^[6][7] He once compared the Islamic State to a “street gang on steroids.”^[8] Densley also writes about the “glocalisation” of gang culture,^[9] and the role of rap music and social media in gang violence.^[10][11][12]

Densley is a regular contributor to the MinnPost nonprofit news site^[13] and a media commentator on police use of force^[14][15] and law enforcement education and training.^[16][17] His essays for CNN, The Conversation, The Herald, StarTribune, The Sun, and The Wall Street Journal have examined a range of public issues, such as drug sales,^[18] gun violence,^[19] school safety,^[20] violent extremism,^[21] and gang databases.^[22]

Education and early career

Densley received his B.A. in sociology with American studies from the University of Northampton in 2003.^[23] He earned a 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.^[24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26] Densley graduated in 2011 and was hired by Metropolitan State University that same year.

Research

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,^[27] Densley was one of the first academics to question this logic.^[28][29] 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.^[30] 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.”^[31]

In the book and in later research, Densley used signaling theory to make sense of how and why youth join gangs.^[32][33] 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.^[34] 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.^[35] For Densley, religious conversion in prison was one example of a disengagement signal.^[36]

Densley’s work explores the rationality of gang behavior.^[37] He developed an influential model of gang evolution that explains the relationship between gangs and organized crime.^[38] 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.^[39][40]

Densley also studies illicit drug dealing.^[41] 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”.^[42] His later work looked at 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 drug dealing.^[43]

The Violence Project

In 2017, Densley launched The Violence Project with psychologist Jillian Peterson of Hamline University.^[44] The Violence Project focuses on reducing "cyber violence,"^[45] gun violence, and police violence.^[46] Densley and Peterson built a database of all public mass shooters since 1966 coded according to 50 different variables.^[47] They also partnered with the Minnetonka Police Department to develop a new mental illness crisis intervention training.^[48][49]

Selected publications

• Densley, J., McLean, R., Deuchar, R. & Harding, S. (2018). An altered state? Emergent changes to illicit drug markets and distribution networks in Scotland. International Journal of Drug Policy, 58, 113–120. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.05.011.
• Densley, J. & Pyrooz, D. (2018). A signaling perspective on disengagement from gangs. Justice Quarterly. doi: 10.1080/07418825.2017.1357743.
• Storrod, M. & Densley, J. (2017). ‘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.
• Bumgarner, J., Hilal, S., & Densley, J. (2016). Minnesota’s criminal justice system. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
• Pyrooz, D. & Densley, J. (2016). Selection into street gangs: Signaling theory, gang membership, and criminal offending. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(4), 447–481. doi: 10.1177/0022427815619462.
• Densley, J. (2014). It’s gang life, but not as we know it: The evolution of gang business. Crime & Delinquency, 60(4), 517–546. doi: 10.1177/0011128712437912.
• Densley, J. (2013). How gangs work: An ethnography of youth violence. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Densley, J. (2012). Street gang recruitment: Signaling, screening and selection. Social Problems, 59(3), 301–321. doi: 10.1525/sp.2012.59.3.301.
• Densley, J. (2012). The organisation of London’s street gangs. Global Crime, 13(1), 42–64. doi: 10.1080/17440572.2011.632497.

Awards

• Points of Light Award^[50] 2017
• National Gang Crime Research Center's Frederick Milton Thrasher Award 2013

References

External links

• http://www.exlegi.ox.ac.uk/about-us/associates.html
• https://www.thersa.org/
• https://www.hamline.edu/center-justice-law/
• http://www.theviolenceproject.org/
• https://greentownproject.blog/