The Primacy of Decision-Action as an Influence Strategy of Violent Gang Leaders

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between decisions, actions, and orders as facets of influence, both over criminal events and group members, for 37 leaders of sexually violent gangs. The degree to which decisions, actions, and orders were employed during the offense (quantitative variation), as well as the combinations of these elements (qualitative variation), was examined to evaluate the range of different influence strategies. Two main combinations, or influence strategies, emerged: (a) decision and action and (b) decision and order, suggesting two predominant pathways that emerge with decision making as central to both, with the former path being far more frequent. The results are discussed in terms of the psychological processes involved in influence strategies as a effecting group activity.