The dynamics of riot growth: An epidemiological approach

A new approach to the study of large‐scale urban riots has resulted in the discovery of remarkably coherent patterns in the distribution of riot events over time. Patterns within three major riots suggest that the dynamics of the spread of riot behavior during a riot can be fruitfully compared to those operative in classical epidemics. We therefore conceptualize riots as behavioral epidemics, and apply the mathematical theory of epidemics to data from the Los Angeles (1965), Detroit (1967), and Washington, D.C., (1968) riots.