Pulling Back the Curtain on the California Gang Database: Evidence of Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities among 222 Law Enforcement Agencies

The California Gang Database (CalGang) is the first, largest, and arguably most controversial shared gang database in the United States. This study examined its demographic composition and disparities in 103,840 records input by 222 unique law enforcement agencies between 2017 and 2022; the database was 94% male, 66% Hispanic, 23% Black, 51% 18 to 30 years old, and 38% 31 to 45 years old. About one-quarter of 1% of Californians are listed in CalGang. Age-standardized estimates indicated that males were overrepresented relative to females by a factor of 17 and that Black and Hispanic males were overrepresented relative to White males by factors of 33 and 11, respectively, while Asian males were underrepresented. These demographic disparities generalized across nearly all law enforcement agencies. Gang databases will remain highly controversial owing to significant racial/ethnic disparities, but also concerns about civil liberties, due process, privacy rights, and collateral consequences. The generative questions that remain are whether the observed disparities can be explained by legal factors and whether the public safety value outweighs any potential violations of individual rights.