The decline of homicides in Chicago to the lowest levels in four decades is big news, and it seems sophisticated police work is an undeniable factor in the decline (population attrition also helps). One of the factors cited is an emphasis on breaking down gang hierarchies both on the street and in prisons. So what’s a gang to do when its leaders are off the streets and increasingly isolated incarceration? Form distributed, less-hierarchical networks. The upshot (for the general public) is that loyalty is much harder to enforce.
