James Densley

James Densley (born April 13, 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]

James Densley
Born	(1982-04-13)April 13, 1982 Leicester, England
Education	University of Oxford University of Northampton Pace University
Alma mater	St. Antony's College, Oxford
Occupation	Professor
Employer	Metropolitan State University
Known for	Gang Research Criminology Sociology
Awards	2022 Minnesota Book Awards 2017 Points of Light
Website	http://www.jamesdensley.com

Densley is known for his ethnography of gang life in London, England,^[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.

• The Oxford Handbook of Gangs and Society (Oxford University Press, 2024). With David Pyrooz and John Leverso.
• The Conversation on Guns (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023).
• Police, Prosecutors, Courts, and the Constitution (Springer, 2023). With Charles MacLean.
• Contesting County Lines (Bristol University Press, 2023). With Robert McLean and Carlton Brick.
• On Gangs (Temple University Press, 2022). With Scott Decker and David Pyrooz.
• Robbery in the Illegal Drugs Trade (Bristol University Press, 2022). With Robert McLean.
• The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic (Abrams Press, 2021). With Jillian Peterson.
• Scotland's Gang Members (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). With Robert McLean.
• County Lines (Springer, 2019). With Robert McLean and Grace Robinson.
• Minnesota’s Criminal Justice System (Carolina Academic Press, 2016). With Jeff Bumgarner and Susan Hilal.
• How Gangs Work (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Awards

• Minnesota Book Awards (General Nonfiction), 2022^[67]
• Points of Light Award,^[68] 2017
• National Gang Crime Research Center's Frederick Milton Thrasher Award, 2013^{[citation needed]}
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, 2014.^{[citation needed]}

Popular culture

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

References

1. "Mass Shooting Data & Research". The Violence Project. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
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.
4. Baas, Jeroen; Boyack, Kevin; Ioannidis, John P. A. (19 October 2021). "August 2021 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"". 3. Elsevier BV. doi:10.17632/btchxktzyw.3. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
5. Densley, James A. (2013). How gangs work : an ethnography of youth violence. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137271518. OCLC 842155883.
6. 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. 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.
8. Pyrooz, David C.; Densley, James A. (9 December 2015). "Selection into Street Gangs". Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 53 (4): 447–481. doi:10.1177/0022427815619462. ISSN 0022-4278. S2CID 146763436.
9. Densley, James; Peterson, Jillian (1 February 2018). "Group Aggression". Current Opinion in Psychology. 19: 43–48. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.03.031. PMID 29279221.
10. Pyrooz, David C.; Densley, James A. (1 June 2018). "On Public Protest, Violence, and Street Gangs". Society. 55 (3): 229–236. doi:10.1007/s12115-018-0242-1. ISSN 1936-4725. S2CID 149677533.
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. 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.
16. Irwin-Rogers, Keir; Densley, James; Pinkney, Craig (4 January 2018), Gang Violence and Social Media, Routledge, pp. 400–410, ISBN 9781138668188, retrieved 3 August 2018
17. Miller, Alex (16 December 2023). "Can these scientists stop America's next mass shooting?". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
18. "James Densley – BA (Hons) Sociology with American Studies – University of Northampton".
19. Densley, J. (2012). Street gang recruitment: Signaling, screening and selection. Social Problems, 59(3), 301–321. doi: 10.1525/sp.2012.59.3.301.
20. "Associates". www.exlegi.ox.ac.uk.
21. Densley, James A.; Hamill, Heather (1 January 2011). Under the hood: the mechanics of London's street gangs (Thesis). Oxford University, UK.
22. "James Densley | Metro State University". www.metrostate.edu. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
23. "Riots: Cameron statement in full". BBC News. 11 August 2011.
24. Ambrogi, Stefano (12 August 2011). "Riots are a cry for help: ex London gang leader". Reuters.
25. Densley, James; Mason, Nick (1 October 2011). "The London Riots: A Gang Problem?". Policing Today. 17: 14–15 – via ResearchGate.
26. Harding, S. (5 February 2014). "Youth Gangs, Violence and Social Respect. By R. White (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 227 pp. 55.00) * How Gangs Work: An Ethnography of Youth Violence. By J. Densley (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 213 pp. 55.00)". British Journal of Criminology. 54 (2): 368–373. doi:10.1093/bjc/azt078.
27. Densley, James A. (25 September 2015), "Joining the Gang", The Handbook of Gangs, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, pp. 235–256, doi:10.1002/9781118726822.ch13, ISBN 9781118726822
28. Densley, James A. (28 August 2018). "Gang Joining". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.437. ISBN 9780190264079.
29. Johnson, Andrew; Densley, James (18 May 2018). "Rio's New Social Order: How Religion Signals Disengagement from Prison Gangs". Qualitative Sociology. 41 (2): 243–262. doi:10.1007/s11133-018-9379-x. ISSN 0162-0436. S2CID 150247394.
30. Siegel, Larry J. (28 February 2014). Criminology: The Core. Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781285965543 – via Google Books.
31. Densley, James A. (4 April 2012). "It's Gang Life, But Not As We Know It". Crime & Delinquency. 60 (4): 517–546. doi:10.1177/0011128712437912. ISSN 0011-1287. S2CID 145149869.
32. Whittaker, Andrew; Densley, James; Cheston, Len; Tyrell, Tajae; Higgins, Martyn; Felix-Baptiste, Claire; Havard, Tirion (13 March 2019). "Reluctant Gangsters Revisited: The Evolution of Gangs from Postcodes to Profits" (PDF). European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research. 26: 1–22. doi:10.1007/s10610-019-09408-4. ISSN 1572-9869. S2CID 151012724.
33. McLean, Robert (25 January 2017). "An Evolving Gang Model in Contemporary Scotland" (PDF). Deviant Behavior. 39 (3): 309–321. doi:10.1080/01639625.2016.1272969. ISSN 0163-9625. S2CID 151466279.
34. Densley, James; McLean, Robert; Deuchar, Ross; Harding, Simon (2018). "An altered state? Emergent changes to illicit drug markets and distribution networks in scotland" (PDF). International Journal of Drug Policy. 58: 113–120. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.05.011. ISSN 0955-3959. PMID 29908515. S2CID 49305888.
35. 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. Page 533.
36. Robinson, Grace; McLean, Robert; Densley, James (19 October 2018). "Working County Lines: Child Criminal Exploitation and Illicit Drug Dealing in Glasgow and Merseyside" (PDF). International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. 63 (5): 694–711. doi:10.1177/0306624x18806742. ISSN 0306-624X. PMID 30338710. S2CID 53015950.
37. Robinson, Grace; Densley, James; McLean, Robert (2018). "County lines: the dark realities of life for teenage drug runners". The Conversation. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
38. "The Violence Project (@theviolencepro) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
39. "How a Minnesota program could become the new standard in crisis intervention training". Star Tribune. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
40. Collins, Jon. "Minnetonka cops connect with mental health workers to defuse crises". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
41. Peterson, Jillian; Densley, James; Erickson, Gina (30 July 2019). "Evaluation of 'the R-Model' crisis intervention de-escalation training for law enforcement". The Police Journal. 93 (4): 271–289. doi:10.1177/0032258X19864997. ISSN 0032-258X. S2CID 201341154.
42. "Minnesota researchers create mass shooting database". AP News. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
43. Densley, James; Peterson, Jillian. "School shooters usually show these signs of distress long before they open fire, our database shows". The Conversation. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
44. "School shootings didn't start in 1999 at Columbine. Here's why that disaster became a blueprint for other killers and created the 'Columbine generation'". The Washington Post. 18 April 2019.
45. Shockman, Elizabeth. "Minnesota researchers say we're still getting school safety wrong". www.mprnews.org. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
46. Shamus, Kristen Jordan. "America changed: Anxiety simmers as mass shootings loom any time, anywhere". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
47. "Op-Ed: We have studied every mass shooting since 1966. Here's what we've learned about the shooters". Los Angeles Times. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
48. "Mass shootings: Experts say violence is contagious, and 24/7 news cycle doesn't help". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-08-11. ^{[verification needed]}
49. Tribune, Reid Forgrave Star. "Two Minnesota professors have devoted their careers to researching mass shooters". Star Tribune. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
50. Peterson, Jillian; Erickson, Gina; Knapp, Kyle; Densley, James (4 November 2021). "Communication of Intent to Do Harm Preceding Mass Public Shootings in the United States, 1966 to 2019". JAMA Network Open. 4 (11): e2133073. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33073. ISSN 2574-3805. PMC 8569489. PMID 34735012.
51. "Prof. James Densley recognized with UK Prime Minister's Points of Light Award". www.metrostate.edu. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
52. "PsycNET". psycnet.apa.org. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
53. "Growing Against Violence". Points of Light. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
54. "Violence in the Age of Social Media". TEDx. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
55. Densley, James, Peterson, Jillian (16 February 2018). "Why the usual approach to school security isn't working". CNN. Retrieved 21 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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)
57. Peterson, Jillian; Densley, James (9 October 2019). "What School Shooters Have in Common". Education Week. ISSN 0277-4232. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
58. Whittaker, Andrew; Densley, James (15 January 2019). "London's gangs have changed, and it's driving a surge in pitiless violence | Andrew Whittaker and James Densley". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
59. Densley, James; Pyrooz; Decker (10 December 2021). "Op-Ed: The real cultural significance of 'West Side Story'? It spread powerful myths about gangs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
60. Peterson, Jillian; Densley, James (26 January 2023). "Opinion | We Profiled the 'Signs of Crisis' in 50 Years of Mass Shootings. This Is What We Found". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
61. Densley, James; Peterson, Jillian. "What We Know about Mass School Shootings—and Shooters—in the U.S." Scientific American. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
62. "OPINION EXCHANGE | Editorial counterpoint: Preventing mass school shootings? Here's a key first step". Star Tribune. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
63. "The Steps We Can Take to Reduce Mass Shootings in America". Time. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
64. "We can do more to prevent mass workplace shootings like Aurora, Illinois". USA TODAY. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
65. Pyrooz, David; Densley, James (17 September 2017). "To Deal With Antifa, Designate It a Street Gang". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
66. "Opinion | School shootings are increasing — and changing. Easily accessible guns are to blame". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
67. "Minnesota Book Awards Winners & Finalists". The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
68. "Growing Against Violence – Points of Light". Points of Light. 30 August 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
69. Jihadi Apprentice. ISBN 9781950806010.

External links

• https://www.theviolenceproject.org
• https://www.metrostate.edu
• https://www.thersa.org/
• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iS4HAEMAAAAJ&hl=en