NETWORK SCIENCE AND GUN VIOLENCE
Papachristos’ main body of research uses the growing field of network science to unravel the way gun violence spreads within and between populations and to determine who’s at risk for violent victimization. A pilot project funded by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is currently looking at how a network approach can be used to study the the role of social networks on the diffusion of violence in Chicago and Boston. Papachristos was most recently awarded the NSF Early CAREER award to expand this research.

STREET GANGS
Papachristos has been working with gangs and gang members for more than 15 years.  In the 1990s, before returning to graduate school, Papachristos worked as a gang outreach worker with several community groups in Chicago.  His research focuses on the group processes involved in gang behaviors, especially how the interactions among and between gangs and gang members create enduring social networks. Papachristos is currently completing a manuscript entitled, Street Corner, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of a Corporate Street Gang (under contract with Oxford University Press).