Criminology researchers awarded funding by the City of Burnaby to study gang and gun violence

Faculty members of the School of Criminology are undertaking research projects to better understand the factors influencing gang and gun violence in Burnaby.

Three research projects led by professor Jennifer Wong seek to examine activities and outcomes relating to Burnaby RCMP’s Gang Enforcement Team and Youth Section, as well as the school district’s gang prevention and intervention activities.

Wong says that so far, the City of Burnaby has been wonderful to work with and that she’s looking forward to understanding more about how the Burnaby RCMP and the Burnaby school district are currently engaged in gang prevention and intervention.

“I’m excited to help them better understand the impacts of their current strategies and recommend new directions to increase reach and impact.” She said.

The fourth project is a large-scale, multi-year three-part research and public symposium led by associate professor Evan McCuish, which seeks to increase the broad understanding of the risk factors involved for youth who engage with the dangerous criminal behaviours associated with a local gang and gun lifestyle.

“Simon Fraser University and its world-class criminology program are well-positioned to research the effectiveness of gang intervention and prevention activities in our local communities,” said Dugan O’Neil, Vice-president Research and International, Simon Fraser University. “We appreciate the government’s generous support of this work and look forward to engaging with our partners to have a meaningful impact in the community while improving the lives of at-risk youth.”

The development of the four projects was facilitated by the Civic Innovation Lab, a non-profit society co-founded by the City of Burnaby and SFU to centralize, accelerate, and support research and learning collaborations between the two entities. The lab connected the City's Community Safety team with the SFU researchers through an open call for expressions of interest responding to the criteria of Public Safety Canada's Building Safer Communities Fund, which funds these projects.

Assistant professor Zachary Rowan, professor and School director Martin Bouchard, assistant professor Shannon Linning, visiting faculty and alumnus Holly Nguyen, and PhD student Chelsey Lee are co-investigators in these projects.