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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for neighborhoods and crime
174 results foundAuthor: Bjerk, David Title: Thieves, Thugs, and Neighborhood Poverty Summary: This paper develops a model of crime analyzing how such behavior is associated with individual and neighborhood poverty. The model shows that even under relatively minimal assumptions, a connection between individual poverty and both property and violent crimes will arise, and moreover, "neighborhood" effects can develop, but will differ substantially in nature across crime types. A key implication is that greater economic segregation in a city should have no effect or a negative effect on property crime, but a positive effect on violent crime. Details: Bonn, Germany: IZA (Study of Labor), 2009. 44p. Source: Discussion Paper No. 4470; Claremont McKenna College" https://d-nb.info/997468106/34 Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: https://d-nb.info/997468106/34 Shelf Number: 116675 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePovertyPublic HousingSocioeconomic Conditions and Crime |
Author: Charron, Methieu Title: Neighbourhood Characteristics and the Distribution of Police-Reported Crime in the City of Toronto Summary: This research paper explores the spatial distribution of police-reported crime in the city of Toronto. The relationships between neighborhood characteristics and crime rates are examined. The analyses are based on data from the 2006 Census and police-reported crime data from the 2006 Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Details: Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2009. 54p. Source: Crime and Justice Research Paper Series; no. 018; Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: Shelf Number: 116478 Keywords: Crime Statistics (Toronto, Canada)Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Roman, Caterina Gouvis Title: Community Organizations and Crime: An Examination of the Social-Institutional Process of Neighborhoods Summary: This report examines how local, community-based institutions and organizations are linked to social control and crime, in order to inform community development policy, research, and practices for crime control and public safety. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center, 2009. 66p., app. Source: Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 117565 Keywords: Community OrganizationsCrime AnalysisCrime Control TheoryNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Savoie, Josee Title: Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of Crime in Canada: Summary of Major Trends, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2006 Summary: "This paper summarizes the major trends in the series on the spatial analysis of crime conducted by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) using geographic information system technology in Canadian cities. The main purpose of this analytical series, which was funded by the National Crime Prevention Centre at Public Safety Canada, was to explore the relationships between the distribution of crime and the demographic, socio‑economic and functional characteristics of neighbourhoods." Details: Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2008. 36p. Source: Internet Resource; Crime and Justice Research Paper Series; no. 15; Accessed August 16, 2010 at: http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collection_2008/statcan/85-561-M/85-561-MIE2008015.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Canada URL: http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collection_2008/statcan/85-561-M/85-561-MIE2008015.pdf Shelf Number: 112357 Keywords: (Canada)Crime Statistics (Canada)Geographic StudiesNeighborhoods and CrimeSocioeconomic Status (Canada)Spatial Analysis |
Author: Roman, Caterina G. Title: The Examination of the Social and Physical Environment of Public Housing Residents in Two Chicago Developments in Transition Summary: This report was designed to shine a spotlight on the immediate physical and social environment of residents who were living in two distressed public housing developments in 2007. While past research has similarly described the high incidence of depression and the high levels of disorder and violence within older, urban public housing developments, this report was intended to bring those factors together to uncover the pathways that influence mental health. We find evidence that suggests that physical and social disorder create cues that take a toll on residents through negative feelings about neighborhood cohesion and the neighborhood's ability to come together in a time of need. In addition, we find that economic stressors, which include threats of eviction, not being able to pay bills, or buy food for oneself, is associated with depression. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2010. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 19, 2010 at: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412134-chicago-public-housing.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412134-chicago-public-housing.pdf Shelf Number: 119633 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePublic Housing |
Author: Popkin, Susan J. Title: Escaping the Hidden War: Safety Is the Biggest Gain for CHA Families Summary: "A main goal of the HOPE VI program was to improve public housing by replacing failed developments with healthy and safe communities that offer a better quality of life for residents. In 1999, when the Chicago Housing Authority's (CHA) Plan for Transformation began, the agency's large family developments were notorious for being among the most dangerous places in the nation. This brief explores whether the safety gains for early relocates have been sustained and whether those who moved later have benefited equally— because these residents tended to be among the most vulnerable, there was good reason to think that they would not fare as well. We find that almost all former residents are now living in safer conditions and that improved safety and quality of life has been the greatest benefit of the Plan for Transformation for CHA residents." Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2010. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 20, 2010 at: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412187-CHA-escaping-the-hidden.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412187-CHA-escaping-the-hidden.pdf Shelf Number: 119645 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePublic Housing |
Author: Rosenthal, Stuart S. Title: Violent Crime, Entrepreneurship, and Cities Summary: This paper estimates the impact of violent crime on the location of business activity and entrepreneurship in five U.S. cities. Central to our analysis is the idea that different sectors of the economy will sort into high- and low-crime areas depending on their relative sensitivity to crime. We illustrate this by comparing retail industries to their wholesale counterparts, and highend restaurants to low-end eateries. Because retail industries are dependent on pedestrian shoppers, they are expected to be especially sensitive to violent crime. Because high-end restaurants are dependent on evening business, they are expected to be especially sensitive to violent crime over the prime dinner hours. Findings indicate that retail, wholesale, high- and low-end restaurants are all more active in areas with higher local rates of violent crime, even after conditioning on an extensive set of model controls. This could arise because violent crime is attracted to our target industries. This also likely reflects that other sectors of the economy outbid our target industries for safer locations (e.g. residential). Further analysis confirms such sorting behavior. Retailers are more likely to locate in safer locations as compared to wholesalers in the same industry. Among restaurants, an increase in violent crime during the prime dinner hours equivalent to the sample max/min range would decrease the high-end share of local restaurants by roughly 40 percentage points. These findings indicate that entrepreneurs take violent crime into account when bidding for locations within a city. These finding also indicate that efforts to make distressed portions of cities more vibrant must give consideration to the need to ensure that such areas are safe. Details: Syracuse, NY: Department of Economics, Syracuse University, 2009. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 15, 2010 at: http://www.cepr.org/meets/wkcn/2/2409/papers/rosenthalfinal.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.cepr.org/meets/wkcn/2/2409/papers/rosenthalfinal.pdf Shelf Number: 119804 Keywords: BusinessesEconomicsNeighborhoods and CrimeRetail CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Kubrin, Charis E. Title: The Impact of Capital on Crime: Does Access to Home Mortgage Money Reduce Crime Rates? Summary: Home mortgage loans today are more readily available in urban neighborhoods and cities are safer than has been the case in decades. Community reinvestment advocates and law enforcement authorities have long contended that access to financial services and homeownership are critical to neighborhood stability, all of which contribute to lower crime rates. But no systematic research has explored the relationship between lending and crime. This study utilizes mortgage loan, census, and Uniform Crime Report data to examine the impact of lending on crime in Seattle, Washington communities, controlling for several neighborhood characteristics. We also examine the impact of loans made by lenders covered by the Federal Community Reinvestment Act to determine whether fair lending policy has an independent effect. The findings show that increased mortgage lending is significantly associated with lower crime levels and that the relationship is even stronger for lending by CRA-covered institutions. This research advances our understanding of the linkages among financial services, neighborhood social organization, and crime. The findings suggest that community reinvestment can effectively complement human capital development as an alternative to incarceration for combating crime. We offer specific recommendations for strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act and related fair lending rules in order to stabilize the communities to which many ex-offenders return and reduce neighborhood crime. Details: Washington, DC: George Washington University, 2004?. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2010 at: http://realcostofprisons.org/pdfs/TTT_paper3.pdf Year: 2004 Country: United States URL: http://realcostofprisons.org/pdfs/TTT_paper3.pdf Shelf Number: 120016 Keywords: CommunitiesMortgage LendingNeighborhoods and CrimeSocial DisorganizationSocioeconomic Status |
Author: Wilson, Ronald E. Title: A Theoretical Underpinning of Neighborhood Deterioration and the Onset of Long-Term Crime Problems From Foreclosures (Working Paper) Summary: This paper proposes a theory of interaction between the social, economic and ecological settings that could produce long-term crime problems in neighborhoods that are suffering from concentrated foreclosures. It goes further and explores the possibility for accelerated neighborhood decline that may be difficult to suppress, and which may significantly shock the local economy. To do so, the authors draw on a wealth of research findings from sociology, economics, housing studies, and geography, to expand on a criminological base to make the case for their concern that concentrated foreclosures may ultimately create deviant places and severely impact the progress of the metropolitan areas within which they are set. Details: Unpublished report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2010. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2010 at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/230450.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/230450.pdf Shelf Number: 120017 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimeProperty CrimeSocioeconomic Conditions |
Author: Goodstein, Ryan M. Title: Do Foreclosures Increase Crime? Summary: Among the policy concerns associated with increased foreclosures is an increase in neighborhood crime. We propose that foreclosures increase crime by decreasing informal policing by residents, an aspect of crime deterrence little explored in the empirical economics literature. We investigate the effect of foreclosures on crime using a national county-level panel dataset covering the period 2002 to 2007. Employing an instrumental variables strategy to correct for measurement error in foreclosure rates, we find robust evidence that foreclosures increase burglary. A one percentage point increase in foreclosure rates is estimated to increase burglary rates by 10.1 percent. Sensitive to sample period, we also find positive effects on larceny and on aggravated assault. Our estimates indicate that the recent spike in foreclosure activity will result in associated community-wide burglary costs of at least $4.6 billion, and of at least $17.4 billion when considering the impact on all types of crime. Details: Washington, DC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Center for Financial Research, 2010. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: FDIC Center for Financial Research Working Paper, No. 2010-05: Accessed October 20, 2010 at: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/cfr/2010/wp2010/CFR_WP_2010_05goodsteinlee.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/cfr/2010/wp2010/CFR_WP_2010_05goodsteinlee.pdf Shelf Number: 120034 Keywords: BurglariesForeclosuresHousingNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Kutsuzawa, Ryuji Title: The Impact of Crime on Housing Land Prices and the Effects of Police Boxes and Voluntary Groups on Crime Prevention in Japan Summary: Many people now fear crime in Japan, which has had the image of being a safe country, because the crime rate has increased dramatically and the rate of crime detection has decreased at the same time. As demand for low-crime residential areas becomes stronger, low-crime rates may affect land prices in Japan. High levels of land prices may reflect the high economic value of low-crime neighborhoods. However, the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimate may cause a bias because the crime rate is not necessarily an exogenous determinant of land price. Therefore, in this study, we adopt the instrumental variable (IV) method, and use instrumental variables such as distance from police boxes and existence of voluntary anti-crime groups, and analyze the effects of property crime rates on residential land prices. The results show that a 10% decrease in the rate of burglaries causes an average rise in residential land prices of 1%. Details: Nishinomiya, Japan: School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, 2010. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper No. 60: Accessed October 21, 2010 at: http://192.218.163.163/RePEc/pdf/kgdp60.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Japan URL: Shelf Number: 120041 Keywords: Crime PreventionNeighborhoods and CrimeProperty Crimes |
Author: Hipp, John R. Title: Spreading the Wealth: The Effect of the Distribution of Income and Race/Ethnicity Across Households and Neighborhoods on City Crime Trajectories Summary: This study focuses on the effect of economic resources and racial/ethnic composition on the change in crime rates over a 30-year period in 352 cities in metropolitan areas that experienced a large growth in population after World War II. The key findings are that whereas inequality increases the amount of crime in cities, the distribution of this inequality across the census tracts of the city has important interaction effects. Thus, in cities with high levels of inequality, higher levels of economic segregation actually lead to much higher levels of the types of crime studied here (aggravated assaults, robberies, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts). In contrast, in cities with low levels of inequality, it is mixing of households in neighborhoods with varying levels of income that leads to higher levels of crime. Likewise, we found an important interaction between the racial/ethnic composition of the city and how these groups are distributed across the neighborhoods of the city. In cities with high levels of racial/ethnic heterogeneity, higher levels of segregation of these groups leads to particularly high overall levels of crime in these cities. In cities with low levels of racial/ethnic heterogeneity, greater mixing of groups in neighborhoods actually increases the crime rate. These are important, novel findings. Details: Irvine, CA: Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California, Irvine, 2010. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 21, 2010 at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/232084.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/232084.pdf Shelf Number: 12003 Keywords: Economics and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimePovertyRace/Ethnicity |
Author: Alexander, Maria A. Title: An Overview of Crime in the Neighborhoods Contiguous to the University of Memphis: Strategies and Initiatives Summary: This report was produced in an effort to review the specific crime issues that are occurring in neighborhoods that border the University of Memphis. The research contained in this report is primarily derived from data collected from CompStat (computer statistics) through the Memphis Police Department, interviews with neighborhood association groups within the University District and survey data which were collected and analyzed by the University of Memphis Center for Community Criminology and Research (CCCR). Additionally, universities and campus police departments throughout the United States were queried as to strategies and initiatives that have been employed in similar settings. Details: Memphis, TN: Memphis Shelby Crime Commission 2003. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 28, 2010 at: http://cas2.memphis.edu/community/pdfs/UNCrime_2003.pdf Year: 2003 Country: United States URL: http://cas2.memphis.edu/community/pdfs/UNCrime_2003.pdf Shelf Number: 120108 Keywords: Colleges and UniversitiesCrime AnalysisNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Cooper, H. Title: The Causes and Consequences of Community Cohesion in Wales: A Secondary Analysis Summary: Community cohesion is increasingly afforded significance in public policy and planning as an attribute possessed by strong, healthy and vibrant communities. This study uses two largescale surveys of the public living in Wales to empirically investigate the parameters and distribution of cohesion within diverse communities and how cohesion links with public perceptions of crime, policing and victimisation. Our key findings from the data are summarised below: • There are healthy levels of community cohesion overall in Wales, with the majority endorsing the ‘classic’ cohesion statement of ‘this neighbourhood is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together’. • When community cohesion is analysed using a question about being treated with ‘respect and consideration’ – a measure which we argue is more likely to tap into the nature of peoples’ interactions with strangers in their local area - we find that it is a problem for 1 in 3 living in Wales. • This measure of ‘respect and consideration’ captures more variance in public perceptions of cohesion than the classic or commonly used measure. It also emerges more strongly in understanding crime perceptions. • We can identify social groups and areas where community cohesion is lacking in Wales. These include respondents in social housing or in areas characterised by multiple deprivation. • A consistent picture emerges of low community cohesiveness in the Gwent police force area (PFA), particularly among men. • Where levels of community cohesion are compromised, there is also a perceived difficulty in mobilising community resources, that is, to take positive action when faced with a local problem. This is seen most strongly for areas with multiple deprivation and for the Gwent PFA. • Differences in attitudes are apparent between the indigenous population of Wales and those who have migrated to live in Wales, with the former generally holding more traditionalist attitudes and the latter more open to the idea of different cultures and groups. • There is an association between cohesion and crime outcomes concerned with: worry about being the victim of crime; levels of confidence in the police; and reported experience of victimisation, discrimination or harassment in the last five years. These findings, which are most marked using our ‘respect’ measure of community cohesion, take into account relevant social and demographic factors. • The links between cohesion and reported worry about crime are gendered. Trust and the perceived ability of their community to mobilise are particularly important in understanding the worry perceptions of women. Details: Cardiff, Wales: Police Science Institute, Cardiff University School of Social Sciences, 2009. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 28, 2010 at: http://www.upsi.org.uk/resources/UPSICohesionF.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.upsi.org.uk/resources/UPSICohesionF.pdf Shelf Number: 120112 Keywords: Communities and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeVictimization |
Author: Jones, Malia Title: Eyes on the Block: Measuring Urban Physical Disorder Through In-Person Observation Summary: In this paper, we present results from measuring physical disorder in Los Angeles neighborhoods. Disorder measures came from structured observations conducted by trained field interviewers. We examine inter-rater reliability of disorder measures in depth. We assess the effects of observation conditions on the reliability of reporting. Finally, we examine the relationships between disorder, other indicators of neighborhood status, and selected individual outcomes. Our results indicate that there is considerable variation in the level of agreement among independent observations across items, although overall agreement is moderate to high. Durable indicators of disorder provide the most reliable measures of neighborhood conditions. Circumstances of observation have statistically significant effects on the observers' perceived level of disorder. Physical disorder is significantly related to other indicators of neighborhood status, and to children's reading and behavior development. This result suggests a need for further research into the effects of neighborhood disorder on children. Details: Los Angeles: California Center for Population Research, University of California - Los Angeles, 2010. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: On-Line Working Paper Series, PWP-CCPR-2010-049: Accessed February 2, 2011 at: http://papers.ccpr.ucla.edu/papers/PWP-CCPR-2010-049/PWP-CCPR-2010-049.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ccpr.ucla.edu/papers/PWP-CCPR-2010-049/PWP-CCPR-2010-049.pdf Shelf Number: 120672 Keywords: Crime and DisorderNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas |
Author: Geller, Bill Title: Building Our Way Out of Crime: The Transformative Power of Police-Community Developer Partnerships Summary: Building Our Way Out of Crime: The Transformative Power of Police-Community Developer Partnerships describes and analyzes innovative efforts in communities across the United States to reduce crime in and improve the economic vitality of blighted neighborhoods. By working together, local police, nonprofit community developers, elected and appointed officials, financial strategists, and community leaders can do more with less, converting crime hot spots that ruin entire neighborhoods and consume considerable police services into safety-generating community assets. Case studies, photographs, charts, and lessons learned demonstrate the power these partnerships have for transforming troubled neighborhoods in cost-effective ways into stable, healthy, and sustainable communities. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Police Services, 2010. 376p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2011 at: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/BldgOurWayOutOfCrime_ALL%20BkMk_5-19-10_10-06pm234.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/BldgOurWayOutOfCrime_ALL%20BkMk_5-19-10_10-06pm234.pdf Shelf Number: 120767 Keywords: Crime Prevention PartnershipsEconomicsNeighborhoods and CrimePolice-Community Relations |
Author: Fagan, Jeffrey Title: Incarceration and the Economic Fortunes of Urban Neighborhoods Summary: New research has identified the consequences of high rates of incarceration on neighborhood crime rates, but few studies have looked beyond crime to examine the collateral effects of incarceration on the social and economic well being of the neighborhoods themselves and their residents. We assess two specific indicia of neighborhood economic well-being, household income and human capital, dimensions that are robust predictors of elevated crime, enforcement and incarceration rates. We decompose incarceration effects by neighborhood racial composition and socio-economic conditions to account for structural disadvantages in labor force and access to wealth that flow from persistent patterns of residential segregation. We use panel methods to examine the effects on incarceration on New York City census tracts over an 11 year period from 1985-1996, a period which saw crime rates rise and fall sharply, and when incarceration rates increased and remained high in concentrated areas throughout the city. We examine whether persistently high incarceration rates erode human capital and depress median household incomes, further intensifying incarceration risks and threatening to create conditions where incarceration and economic disadvantage become endogenous features of certain neighborhoods. We find distinct but overlapping effects for prisons and jails, suggesting that these are parallel processes produced by loosely coupled law enforcement priorities. Incarceration effects are greater for household income than human capital, suggesting a complex relationship between persistent poverty, residential segregation, and incarceration that reinforces a classic poverty trap. Household incomes are lower over time in neighborhoods with higher proportions of African American population, even after controlling for the effects of race on incarceration, but we find no similar effects for Hispanic populations. Spatially targeted policies such as microinvestment and housing development may be needed offset the local embeddedness of poverty and disrupt its connections to incarceration and crime, while education policy and transitional labor market networking can strengthen local human capital. Details: New York: Columbia Law School, 2010. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Columbia Public Law Research Paper No. 11-266: Accessed March 11, 2011 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1772190 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1772190 Shelf Number: 120971 Keywords: Crime RatesEconomics of CrimeImprisonmentIncarcerationNeighborhoods and CrimeSocioeconomic StatusUrban Areas |
Author: Schnupp, Rebecca J. Title: Adolescent Deviance within Families and Neighborhoods Summary: Much of the research on delinquency has focused on the role that either families or neighborhoods play in the development of criminal behavior. While both of these theoretical traditions have received much empirical support, it is argued that individuals are simultaneously affected by each of these contexts either directly or indirectly (Gephart, 1997). Further, these contexts interact with each other and the individual to produce behavioral outcomes (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1986, 1988). A more adequate portrayal for why individuals engage in delinquency, therefore, should not only examine the effects of one context but also how these different contexts function together to either facilitate or impede antisocial behaviors. The primary propose of this dissertation is to try to ascertain if the effects of the more proximal context to the child, the family, is moderated by the more distal context, the neighborhood. Specifically, are the positive effects of “good” parenting found in both “good” and “bad” neighborhoods? Or does the neighborhood a family resides in alter the effects of “good” parenting? Using structural equation modeling, this dissertation will explore the moderating effects of neighborhood factors in the relationship between parenting and antisocial behavior while also considering the individual characteristics of the child. These relationships will be assessed using waves one and two of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH). The results of this study revealed that although the direct effects of parenting and neighborhood factors are weak, residential instability moderates the effects of parenting. This association remained after considering the reciprocal nature of the relationship between parenting and child’s disposition. The implications of these findings, as they pertain to the current practice of studying contexts in isolation from one another, will be discussed. Details: Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati, Division of Research and Advanced Studies, 2010. 177p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed March 14, 2011 at: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1285687987 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1285687987 Shelf Number: 120999 Keywords: Juvenile DelinquencyJuvenile OffendersNeighborhoods and CrimeParenting |
Author: Perez, Adriana Title: The Safety Networks Initiative: Examining the Role of the Community Coalition in Strengthening Neighborhoods Summary: Safety Net Works (SNW) is a state-sponsored initiative designed to promote collaboration among local community groups with the goals of preventing youth violence and fostering youth development. Seventeen Illinois communities, including 12 in Chicago, were originally selected in 2008; each having a lead agency that coordinates a SNW coalition to provide direct services to at-risk individuals ages 10 to 24. This report introduces the premise behind the community coalition model on which Safety Net Works was conceived, summarizes the initiative’s activities and services, and considers the extent to which the coalition approach employed contributed to the goals of the initiative. Details: Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2011. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 21, 2011 at: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/ResearchReports/Safety_Net_Works_Initiative_March_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/ResearchReports/Safety_Net_Works_Initiative_March_2011.pdf Shelf Number: 121084 Keywords: Community Participation (Chicago)Delinquency PreventionJuvenile DelinquentsNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Jannetta, Jesse Title: The District of Columbia Mayor's Focused Improvement Area Initiative: Review of the Literature Relevant to Collaborative Crime Reduction Summary: In March 2010, the Executive Offce of the Mayor/Offce of the City Administrator asked the District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute (DCPI) to assess the Mayor's Focused Improvement Area Initiative. The Focused Improvement Area (FIA) Initiative, launched in November 2007, is a community-based initiative that aims to reduce criminal activity and increase the quality of life in at-risk communities by combining community policing with human and social services delivery. In an effort to make recommendations on how to strengthen the FIA Initiative, DCPI conducted an assessment based on: - Interviews with the Initiative's stakeholders-past and present-on the Initiative's mission and background, design, and actual implementation; - Reviews of programmatic materials and administrative records and field observations of the Initiative's processes and procedures; and - An exhaustive review of the theoretical and empirical literature on best and promising practices in crime reduction, prevention, and suppression strategies and effective comprehensive community initiatives. Based on the assessment, DCPI has produced three documents to help guide District stakeholders on a redesign of the FIA Initiative, including: - An examination of past challenges and successes; - A review of research literature relevant to collaborative crime reduction; and - A strategic plan to guide future efforts. This document summarizes the results of a literature review on multifaceted approaches to reducing crime and improving neighborhoods; in other words, of literature on efforts like the District's FIA Initiative. To that end, this literature review focused on efforts that were intended to produce community-level impacts, involved multiple approaches, and were carried out by partnerships spanning agency boundaries. The literature review focused further on two major categories of interventions: 1) those focused on reducing or preventing crime and, 2) those with broader goals of improving neighborhoods or resident well-being, sometimes called "Comprehensive Community Initiatives" (CCIs). Both types of interventions are place-based and intended to improve neighborhoods, but they usually involve different public agencies, funding sources, and community-based organizations with diverse missions. While the two sets of interventions share the broad goal of improving distressed neighborhoods, their specific goals usually do not overlap. Crime prevention/reduction efforts typically focus on reducing homicides, arrests, gang activity, or other public safety indicators. Activities to improve other measures of well-being such as school attendance or employment are typically subordinate to the crime prevention efforts and are not tracked as closely. Meanwhile, comprehensive community initiatives or other place-based efforts focused on employment, economic development, or housing may expect reduced crime as an indirect benefit, but do not generally target activities specifically towards crime reduction, and if they do, it is a subordinate activity. While many sections of this document focus on crime-reduction efforts, lessons from CCIs and other community initiatives are incorporated as relevant. For public safety interventions, this literature review is based on evaluations indicating that crime reduction /prevention efforts produced targeted outcomes in at least one location in which they were implemented. The review of the public safety literature sought to determine which aspects of existing violence or crime prevention programs were successful. Because the goals and activities of CCIs and other broad neighborhood improvement efforts focused on social services or physical revitalization are so varied, it is notoriously dfficult to structure evaluations and draw conclusions about what works in the field. Therefore, this review pulls from information on specific CCIs as well as state-of-the-field assessments to highlight what such initiatives can and cannot accomplish and what structures and actions are most effective. This literature review was not designed to rank intervention programs in general, since extant research thoroughly documents best and promising practices in public safety and prevention. However, this document does pull out and highlight lessons for policy and practice in the District, aligned with the study team's recommendations for moving forward in the strategic plan. The literature review is divided into two broad sections. The first covers programmatic elements of initiatives: the strategies, interventions, and activities that successful efforts have employed. The second section covers process and structural elements, with subsections devoted to interagency collaboration, community engagement, and sustainability. Evaluations consistently find that how a collaborative effort structures itself and carries out its work is as important to its success as what programs or activities it uses. This insight is reflected throughout this review, both in the elevation of structural elements as a subject for consideration in their own right, and in discussion of implementation practices in the tactical elements section. Several challenges encountered in summarizing the literature in this way should be noted. Research on collaborative crime- and violence-reduction initiatives varies considerably in attention paid to anything other than overall outcomes. The importance of partnership design elements is often slighted, and the contribution of specific elements of multi-pronged approaches may not be discussed. Even when specific elements are discussed, there may be little detail regarding what specific models were used. For example, an evaluation may state that an initiative provided case management without specifying what model was used, how large caseloads were, whether formal case plans were created, or any number of details that would be useful to a practitioner seeking to replicate the approach. As Roehl et al. write about the SACSI sites, - The list of prevention/intervention services provided through SACSI is long, and includes -- Summary descriptions and lists were common, since a variety of different programs implemented at different levels were involved in these comprehensive programs. Perhaps most importantly, it is difficult to discuss the various models and approaches discussed in this literature review due to the way that they evolved from or were informed by one another. For example, Irving Spergel's Little Village Gang Violence Reduction Project gave rise to what is generally known as the "Spergel Model," which was replicated in multiple sites to varying degrees of success, and became the Offce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)'s Comprehensive Gang Model. In addition, some programs, such as Weed and Seed and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), tend to work in concert when present in the same communities because of the shared goals and objectives. Past research on collaborative efforts to reduce crime and improve communities contains a multitude of valuable lessons. The key lessons that are supported across several sources are summarized in table 1.1. For a quick summary of the crime prevention and reduction initiatives discussed frequently in this literature review, see summary tables 2.1 and 2.2. Detail on the initiatives and sources used for this review are included in the annotated bibliography. Details: Washington, DC: District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute, Urban Institute, 2010. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2011 at: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412320-Improvement-Area-Initiative.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412320-Improvement-Area-Initiative.pdf Shelf Number: 121147 Keywords: Codmmunity Crime PreventionCommunitiesCrime (Washington, D.C.)Delinquency PreventionGangsNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Betts, Phyllis Title: Best Practice Number Ten: Fixing Broken Windows - Strategies to Strengthen Housing Code Enforcement and Related Approaches to Community-Based Crime Prevention in Memphis Summary: Inspired by the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission's vision that the quality of life in urban neighborhoods is related to crime, and that crime reduction strategies mean more than conventional law enforcement, this report examines the dynamics of the low-income housing market in Memphis neighborhoods and the performance of housing code enforcement as a tool to reduce blight. Kelling and Cole's landmark Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities (1996) argues that physical neglect and non-violent "quality of life" offenses increase fear of crime, empty neighborhoods of people who have a choice of where to live, and ultimately cede space to increasingly predatory individuals and more dangerous crimes against property and people. Like the "broken window" that remains unfixed and invites vandalism, physical neglect that is allowed to escalate and quality of life offenses that go unaddressed invite increasingly anti-social activity in urban neighborhoods. Integrating the creative understandings and evaluating the concrete crime reduction strategies that have emerged since Kelling and Wilson's original (1982) conceptualization of the broken windows phenomenon, Kelling and Cole and others argue that "problem properties" attract and aggravate criminal activity in deteriorated or declining neighborhoods. That is, neighborhood blight in the form of problem properties is "crimogenic" in that abandoned buildings, derelict vacant lots, dilapidated housing, and other neglected properties are associated with concentrations of crime. Problem properties may contribute to "hotspots" of criminal activity in that they harbor crime (e.g. the abandoned building out of which operates a drug market), or because their neglect signals a lack of care and concern, which in itself invites anti-social and criminal activity. It follows that dealing with problem properties gives communities another tool to enhance the safety of neighborhoods and the quality of life for residents. This research has three inter-related goals: 1) to enhance our understanding of the conditions that produce blighted neighborhoods and to characterize the problem as it manifests itself in Memphis; 2) to explore the potential and limitations of housing code enforcement as a strategy for countering blight, with a special emphasis on the relationship between code enforcement and the demand for affordable housing; 3) to document the code enforcement process in Memphis and evaluate new opportunities to use code enforcement as one tool in a comprehensive neighborhood-based crime reduction strategy. We conclude with a series of recommendations to strengthen the role of code enforcement and related anti-blight and community development strategies and mitigate the impact of problem properties in Memphis neighborhoods. Details: Memphis, TN: Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, 2001. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 29, 2011 at: http://cbana.memphis.edu/GenResearch/BestPracticeNumber10Fixing_Broken_Windows.pdf Year: 2001 Country: United States URL: http://cbana.memphis.edu/GenResearch/BestPracticeNumber10Fixing_Broken_Windows.pdf Shelf Number: 121152 Keywords: Broken WindowsCrime Prevention (Memphis)HousingNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Rhoades, Philip W. Title: Weed and Seed Evaluation: A Report for The Weed and Seed Program, Park and Recreation Department, City of Corpus Christi Summary: This report describes the findings of an evaluation of the Weed and Seed Program of the City of Corpus Christi. The Weed and Seed Program is managed by the Park and Recreation Department and is aided by an advisory board of citizens. The Weed and Seed Program is operated in two sites located in the west-central part of the City. In 1994, the City of Corpus Christi began preparation for implementation of the Weed and Seed project. The first target site for the program was officially defined in 1996 and the “weed” aspects of the program began. As defined by the Weed and Seed Staff to the Evaluation Team, Site I is bounded on the east by IH-37 and North Staples and on the west by Omaha and Baldwin Streets. It extends from the beginning of residential areas on the north next to the port area to Agnes Street on the south. In 1997, the second target site for the Weed and Seed program was officially defined and funding was received to establish “seed” programs. This site was defined to the Evaluation Team as being bounded by Baldwin-Airport-Greenwood-Horne-Old Brownsville on the west, Brownlee and South Staples on the east, Agnes on the north, and Saratoga Boulevard on the South. One neighborhood to the west of Old Brownsville Road and north of Bear Lane was included in Site II. Actual programming for the “seed” aspects of the project began in 1998. Initial negotiations to begin the present evaluation began in the fall of 2000. The actual contract and evaluation itself began in March 2001. Data collection for the indicators began at that time and extended through September 2001. The survey of residents occurred in June and July 2001. The evaluation and this report were divided into two parts. First, the evaluation examined the general goals of the Weed and Seed Program in relationship to indicators derived from official government sources of data. The Weed and Seed staff indicated that the Program’s objectives included the a. reduction of crime and juvenile delinquency, b. reduction of child abuse, c. improvement of academic performance, and d. improvement of economic conditions. These objectives were examined by indicators of crime, delinquency, child abuse, academic performance, and economic conditions. Second, the Program was examined in the light of a public opinion survey conducted by phone and in-person. The survey was administered only within the two sites. It contained questions concerning citizen’s satisfaction with their neighborhood, perceptions and experience with crime, perceptions of police services, opinions and evaluations of services in the neighborhood, and knowledge and evaluation of specific Weed and Seed funded programs. For much of the survey data, no base-lines are available for comparison. Thus, much of the results reported here must be seen as creating that base-line for future comparisons in later evaluation efforts. Details: Corpus Christi, TX: Texas A&M University, 2002. 93p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 1, 2011 at: http://ssrc.tamucc.edu/PublicationsOther/weed%20seed%202002%20report.pdf Year: 2002 Country: United States URL: http://ssrc.tamucc.edu/PublicationsOther/weed%20seed%202002%20report.pdf Shelf Number: 121207 Keywords: Child Abuse, Prevention ofCrime PreventionDelinquency PreventionEconomic Conditions and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeWeed and Seed Program (Texas) |
Author: Rwengabo, Sabastiano Title: Neither Formal nor Marketized: Privatized Security in the Slum Areas of Kampala City, Uganda Summary: The simultaneity of commercialized/marketized; and non-formal, non-market, security arrangements in an urban setting brings new insights to our understanding of privatization of security. Security privatisation is a current global phenomenon with various dimensions and dynamics. There are aspects of privatized security whose understanding is vital for our appreciation of today’s security spectrum. The shift from state-centric security provisioning to the involvement of various non-state actors has changed the security landscape. It has necessitated new foci of analysis that transcend the focus on commercialized security. Beyond ‘the market for force’ and ‘selling security’ (Avant, 2001, 2007), new private security arrangements have emerged. These are not limited to organized private security providers like companies or criminals and rebels (Rwengabo, 2009): they extend to non-organized, non-formal private security mechanisms. So, privatization of security as understood in the literature (Jager & Kummel, 2007; Gounev, 2006; Bourne, 2004; Aketch, 2007; Gumedze, 2008) cascades beyond marketization and formalization, to informalization as well. Studies of privatization of security are yet to address the question of informalization of security. This study attempts to address security informalization to break ground for newer approaches to the understanding of non-formal and non-market security arrangements in our midst. It was carried out in the slum areas of Kampala City, Uganda. There is general lack of policy-specific and scholarly, attention, to Uganda’s urban security spectrum. The need for an in-depth investigation contributing to knowledge and developing new insights on privatized security also abounds. The steady increase in private security actors leaves unanswered, the question of whether states as actors charged with providing security has given way to non-state actors in the management of security, and why this development. The phenomenon calls for deeper analyses extending the understanding of security to unravel non-formal, non-market security mechanisms developed in slum areas, and interrogate the role of the state in supporting and/or frustrating these informal arrangements. Moreover the development of non-formal and non-market private security has implications for governing the security sub-sector. This study sought to examine these security arrangements amongst slum dwellers; how these arrangements impact on security provisioning in urban settings; and thereby draw implications of the increasing private security services provision for the management of urban security. I hypothesize that new private security arrangements have emerged, including non-commercialized, non-formal security mechanisms, and that these arrangements are inevitable at present. Within this milieu explaining the increase in private security actors in Kampala; examining non-formal, non-market private security mechanisms developed in Kampala’s slum areas, and how these impact on urban security provisioning; and understanding the role of the state and the Uganda Police Force (UPF) in the management of urban security alongside these private interventions are herein attempted. Non-formal, non-market security measures are only loosely and informally institutionalized: they are based an individual or small-group basis, with limited, if any, transactions involved. Data were acquired through group discussions and in-depth interviews with deliberately selected private security actors, UPF personnel, security and Local Government personnel; and residents of slum areas; observations of physical security-enhancing structures on the one hand and security-threatening behaviors and structures on the other; and critical review of secondary sources and related literature. This case study is a reflection on Kampala to make tentative conclusions about other cities in the region. Content analysis was used: themes and sub-themes were developed along the study objectives, with subsequent data analysis along the themes/sub-themes. The study discovered that informal and non-market security interventions at the individual and group levels account for a significant constituent of urban safety and security in Kampala. True, both state and commercialized security providers exist. But these do not serve the whole city, and especially the urban poor in slum areas. The private security actions and behaviors of slum dwellers do not fit the category of commercialization. It is concluded that various security mechanisms exist in Kampala’s slum areas, with UPF backing people’s own arrangements. The study recommends that government needs to combat the increasing urban crime to improve on urban security, to support and encourage the ‘security begins with you’ ethos; and address urban infrastructure challenges limiting effective security by police. More studies are needed to bolster our understanding of urban security. Details: Santiago de Chile: The Global Consortium on Security Transformation (GCST), 2011. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: New Voices Series, No. 12: Accessed April 4, 2011 at: http://www.securitytransformation.org/images/publicaciones/201_New_Voices_Series_12_-_Neither_Formal_nor_Marketized.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Uganda URL: http://www.securitytransformation.org/images/publicaciones/201_New_Voices_Series_12_-_Neither_Formal_nor_Marketized.pdf Shelf Number: 121241 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePrivate SecuritySecuritySlumsUrban Areas |
Author: Corsaro, Nicholas Title: The Peoria Pulling Levers Drug Market Intervention: A Review of Program Process, Changes in Perception, and Crime Impact Summary: The Peoria Drug Market Intervention (DMI) program was intended to alleviate the disproportionately high crime rates found within a high-risk, disadvantaged, and chronically violent geographic area. Officials within the city decided to implement a focused deterrence strategy that relied upon the use of target identification, investigation, and arrest sweeps followed with an offender notification session that occurred within the target neighborhood. At the core of the strategy was the enhanced prosecution of identified offenders combined with an attempt to bridge partnerships between local law enforcement and residents of the target area. Increased prosecution was designed to incapacitate chronic and violent offenders as well as to communicate a credible deterrent threat to potential replacement law violators. The public meeting (i.e., notification session) was used to publicize the increased risk of sanctions that potential replacement offenders would face if the drug markets re-emerged. This study used a variety of methodological and analytical approaches to examine the following: • The fidelity of program implementation through the use of a detailed process assessment. • The change in officially reported violent, property, and drug related offenses as well as calls for police service trends by relying upon interrupted time series analyses. • Peoria residents’ perceptions of crime after the implementation of the strategy, awareness of the DMI program, and changes in police-community partnerships through the use of phone surveys that captured information from residents living in the target area, a control area, and the remainder of Peoria (for comparison purposes). • The use of in-depth resident interviews to capture detailed information regarding the dynamics of neighborhood conditions, drug markets, and perceived police activity. A synthesis of study results indicated that Peoria police and public officials were consistent with the fidelity of the focused deterrence framework throughout the duration of the initiative. Study results clearly indicated, however, that crime and calls for service within the target area remained relatively stable between pre- and post-intervention periods. In addition, the vast majority of target area residents that were interviewed appeared somewhat unfamiliar with the tenets and purpose of the intervention program, indicating a shortfall in the intended police-community partnership. In-depth resident interviews suggested that residents were seriously concerned with replacement offending, displacement, retaliation, and neighborhood stigmatization if they cooperated with police. We drew upon research from organizational and social disorganization theories to highlight the key themes, implications, and potential limitations of the Peoria focused deterrence strategy. Details: Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2011. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 11, 2011 at: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/ResearchReports/PeoriaPullingLeversDrugMarketIntervention_Report_March_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/ResearchReports/PeoriaPullingLeversDrugMarketIntervention_Report_March_2011.pdf Shelf Number: 121307 Keywords: Drug EnforcementDrug MarketsDrug OffensesFocused Deterrence (Illinois)Neighborhoods and CrimePolice-Community PartnershipsProsecutionPulling Levers Strategy |
Author: Newlove, Baroness Title: Our Vision for Safe and Active Communities Summary: This report details what residents, businesses, local agencies and central government can do to begin a generational shift in the country’s approach to activism and tackling neighbourhood crime. The report, ‘Our Vision for Safe and Active Communities’, calls for a change of culture so neighbourhoods no longer see crime, antisocial behaviour (ASB) and disorder as ‘someone else’s problem’; and for services to go beyond simply asking communities what their problems are and see them as equal partners in resolving those issues. Baroness Newlove’s recommendations for local areas to take forward include: 'Community Reward' – where information provided by the community leads to a conviction the community is given a reward to spend on crime prevention work; 'Bling Back' – where money made from selling local drug dealers’ assets is handed back to the neighbourhood they blighted; letting communities set their own local speed limits; taking crime maps to the next level so people can use them to report crime and ASB and agencies can publish details of what action was taken against offenders; giving the public a single point of contact through the roll out of the 101 number to report ASB; providing council tax rebates, or vouchers for local businesses and services, for people who take part in activism; asking Police and Crime Commissioners to commit at least one per cent of their budget to grass roots community groups to use or have a say on. Details: London: Home Office, 2011. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 27, 2011 at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/baroness-newlove-report?view=Binary Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/baroness-newlove-report?view=Binary Shelf Number: 121510 Keywords: Community Crime PreventionCrime Prevention (U.K.)Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Liberman, Akiva Title: Strategic Plan for a Collaborative Neighborhood-Based Crime Prevention Initiative Summary: Neighborhoods vary in their experiences of crime and victimization. The reasons include both immediate and long-term factors associated with crime. Neighborhoods vary in the ongoing levels of problem behavior, including crime, the presence of gangs or crews, and the availability and/or visibility of drugs. Neighborhoods also vary in the presence of risky circumstances that might lead to crime, such as the number of unsupervised and idle youth, in the number of unemployed residents, in the levels of physical and social disorder on the streets, and in opportunities for theft. Neighborhoods also vary in their levels of protective factors including opportunities for positive recreational opportunities for youth, in the resources available to combat crime and disorder, and in informal social control and supervision. This combination of immediate and long-term factors suggests a promising approach to reduce and prevent crime at the neighborhood level which would combine e orts to address short-term and long-term factors. E orts to suppress crime in the short term would be combined with e orts to address risk factors for crime in the longer term, through the provision of services, the remediation of neighborhood neglect, and e orts to improve youth developmental outcomes and increase human and social capital. Suppression e orts would be led by law enforcement and other justice agencies, while e orts to prevent crime through the reduction in its risk factors and increase in protective factors would be led by human service agencies. This report is a strategic plan for a collaborative neighborhood-based crime prevention initiative (NCPI) that combines suppression by law enforcement with intervention and prevention through social services to address risk factors for crime, and is guided by analysis of data on crime and neighborhood risk factors. Details: Washington, DC: District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute, Urban Institute, 2010. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2011 at: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412331-strategic-plan-collaborative-NCPI.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412331-strategic-plan-collaborative-NCPI.pdf Shelf Number: 121587 Keywords: Community Crime PreventionCrime PreventionNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Kneebone, Elizabeth Title: City and Suburban Crime Trends in Metropolitan America Summary: The impact of crime on general well-being is profound. Those most directly impacted are the victims of crime. By one estimate, the combination of direct monetary losses and the costs of pain and suffering among crime victims in the U.S. amounts to nearly 6 percent of gross domestic product. Beyond these direct costs are substantial indirect costs associated with reducing the threat of crime. In 2006, federal, state, and local government criminal justice expenditures amounted to $214 billion. Many households pay significant premiums, either in terms of housing prices or commute costs, to live in neighborhoods with lower probabilities of victimization. Many also purchase security devices and insurance to minimize the likelihood and costs of being criminally victimized. Moreover, fear of crime often impacts the most mundane personal decisions, such as whether to walk down a given street or through a particular neighborhood, whether to let one’s children play outside, or whether to leave one’s home after dark. While all communities are affected by crime and the criminal justice system, residents in large urban areas are particularly impacted. Moreover, within large metropolitan areas, the residents of poor, largely minority neighborhoods suffer disproportionately. Crime rates are generally higher in more urbanized areas and the young, male, and minority residents of the nation’s central cities contribute disproportionately to the growing prison population. Yet, in recent decades, U.S. crime rates have fallen sharply. By 2008 the sexual assault rate stood at only 23 percent of its peak value in 1991, while robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault had fallen to 37, 33, and 42 percent of their 1991 levels, respectively. Similarly, homicide rates dropped from 10.5 per 100,000 in 1991 to 6.2 per 100,000 by 2006. Between 1991 and 2008 the number of burglaries per 1,000 households declined by 59 percent, while rates of theft and motor vehicle theft dropped by 62 and 70 percent, respectively. Though much has been written about the precipitous declines in crime since the 1990s, less is known about trends within the nation’s big cities and suburbs. Two-thirds of the nation’s population lives in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, but crime levels vary greatly across — and even within — these regions. To what extent have decreases in crime been shared across these communities? Moreover, crime fell over a period that coincided with considerable changes in the makeup and distribution of the country’s metropolitan population. Do those changes help explain the steep declines in community-level crime? In this paper, we explore these questions by analyzing crime data compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and data from the U.S. Census Bureau to provide a geographically-focused assessment of how crime rates have changed between 1990 and 2008. Specifically, we analyze data for the roughly 5,400 communities located within the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. We estimate changes in metropolitan crime, as well as city and suburban trends within these regions. We then consider the relationship between community-level demographic characteristics and crime, and analyze how those relationships may have changed over time. Details: Wsahington, DC: Brookings Institute, 2011. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Metropolitan Opportunity Series: Accessed July 12, 2011 at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/0526_metropolitan_crime_kneebone_raphael/0526_metropolitan_crime_kneebone_raphael.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/0526_metropolitan_crime_kneebone_raphael/0526_metropolitan_crime_kneebone_raphael.pdf Shelf Number: 122028 Keywords: Crime RatesCrime StatisticsCrime Trends (U.S.)Neighborhoods and CrimeSuburban CrimeUrban Crime |
Author: Czapska, Janina Title: Sharing Good Practice in Crime Prevention: Polish National Report Summary: This report presents an analysis of the territory of Pradnik Czerwony and assesses good practices in crime prevention in various European cities that could be utilized in this area for the prevention of crime. Details: Krakow: Crime Prevention Carousel, 2006. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 24, 2011 at: http://www.e-doca.net/content/docs/National_Report_Poland.pdf Year: 2006 Country: Poland URL: http://www.e-doca.net/content/docs/National_Report_Poland.pdf Shelf Number: 122482 Keywords: Crime Prevention (Europe)Crime Prevention (Poland)Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Cahill, Meagan Title: Movin’ Out: Crime Displacement and HUD’s HOPE VI Initiative Summary: The purpose of this project was to conduct an evaluation of the impact on crime of the closing, renovation, and subsequent reopening of selected public housing developments under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s HOPE VI initiative. No studies have specifically considered the effects of redevelopment of public housing under the HOPE VI initiative on the spatial distribution of crime. The current research aimed to remedy that deficiency through an examination of crime displacement and potential diffusion of benefits in and around three public housing developments. The developments were selected from a candidate set of six HOPE VI sites in Milwaukee, Wis., and Washington, D.C., all of which were in the process of being redeveloped with HOPE VI funds during the study period. Displacement refers to changes in crime patterns that occur because offenders adapt their behavior to changes in opportunities for offending. In the context of the proposed work, opportunity changes are the result of large-scale public housing redevelopment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that, when HOPE VI developments are demolished and construction begins on new housing, residents are typically moved to other public housing sites in the same city. Our assumption was that crime would move with those residents to the new public housing locations, or to other nearby areas offering similar criminal opportunities. Three central research questions thus guide this report: 1. Does the closing of a large high-poverty public housing development under HOPE VI influence patterns of crime in and around that development, and if so, how? 2. Does crime displacement or di usion of benefits result during the time that the development is closed for rebuilding, and does crime return to previous levels when the development reopens? 3. Do different methodologies for examining crime displacement and diffusion of benefits from public housing developments yield similar results, and which is most appropriate for studying displacement in this context? The work entailed a statistical analysis of potential displacement or diffusion of crime from three selected sites, after the redevelopment timeline of each site was established. Three methods were employed: a point pattern analysis, a Weighted Displacement Quotient (WDQ), and time series analysis. The methods were compared following their application in each site. The results indicate that displacement of crime did not appear to be a significant problem during or following redevelopment under the HOPE VI program in these three sites. Instead, a diffusion of benefits was observed to some extent in each site. We found a clear indication in all three sites that crime dropped at some point during redevelopment and that redevelopment affected crime in surrounding areas in some way — usually by decreasing it. The effects in the buffers (the areas searched for displacement or diffusion of benefits) varied, but for the most part, we observed a diffusion of benefits from the target sites outward. Additional investigation into subtypes of crime would help to bring more specificity to the results (e.g., whether any crime prevention methods implemented during redevelopment should target specific types of crimes that are more vulnerable to displacement). In addition, in no site did we find any return to pre-intervention crime levels following the intervention period in either the target site itself or in the buffer areas. This indicates that the positive effects — the drops in crime — lasted at least as long as the study period, which was generally one to two years beyond the end of the intervention period. The project also aimed to compare different methods for studying displacement. The point pattern analysis had limited use in the present context, but we concluded that it would have more utility if a specific crime such as homicide, robbery, or burglary, were studied as opposed to studying a class of crimes such as personal or property crimes. The method is also quite involved, but efficiencies are gained once analyses are set up for one context, making it easier to apply the method in additional contexts (e.g., for additional time period comparisons, different areas/site boundaries, or types of crime). While it cannot replace more rigorous statistical analyses and testing, the typical constraints felt by most practitioners on time and resources make the WDQ best suited for their context. The WDQ is intuitive, easy to calculate, and does not require a long series of data. It is appropriate for use in exploring the possible effects of an intervention to determine whether more sophisticated analyses are worthwhile. While there are drawbacks to the use of the WDQ — it is only descriptive, it can only indicate relative (not absolute) effect sizes, and it is dependent on the parameters selected (time periods and displacement areas selected) — it is nonetheless a useful intermediate tool in the study of displacement. Where skilled statisticians are available and a quantification of the changes in crime levels is desired, the time series analyses methods presented here produce more rigorous results. Our results also demonstrated the desirability of the structural Vector Autoregression (VAR) over the traditional time series method typically used in displacement research — single series Autoregressive Integrated MovingAverage (ARIMA) modeling. The VAR was preferable based on the simultaneous modeling of the three study areas, as opposed to modeling each area individually. Finally, to the extent that the three HOPE VI sites in two cities are representative of other actual and possible HOPE VI sites, the results are applicable to other public housing sites undergoing this type of large-scale redevelopment, especially given the comparability of results we found across sites and methods. The consistency with which we found evidence of diffusion from the sites is an indication that redevelopment under HOPE VI does indeed lead to diffusion of crime reduction, whether via changes directly attributable to HOPE VI in the target area or indirectly by encouraging additional investment in the larger neighborhood of the HOPE VI site, leading to additional redevelopment efforts in areas surrounding the HOPE VI site itself. Based on our findings, we expect that housing authorities that undertake such largescale public housing redevelopment efforts as are common under HOPE VI will likely see a diffusion of benefits to nearby areas, and those nearby areas may experience reductions in crime levels similar to that experienced in the redevelopment site itself. Localities considering large-scale redevelopment, either under the HOPE VI program or following a similar process, might look at specific crimes that may be displaced, such as personal crimes (as was the case in Milwaukee) and enact policies that serve to prevent displacement specifically of those crimes from occurring. Studying displacement from public housing is an important undertaking, and the possibility of displacement should be considered by housing authorities either already undertaking such e orts or considering whether to start large-scale redevelopment. While this research showed that diffusion of benefits is likely from redeveloped public housing, more work of this type — exploring different options for target area boundaries, intervention periods, and displacement areas — can provide more evidence of the best approaches to this type of effort and inform housing authorities of the most effcient ways to include studies of displacement and diffusion in their redevelopment efforts. Additional research in this vein that confirms the results here would add to the case presented by this research for the positive effects of HOPE VI on target sites and on surrounding neighborhoods. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center, 2011. 95p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 10, 2011 at: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412385-movin-out.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412385-movin-out.pdf Shelf Number: 122687 Keywords: Crime and RedevelopmentCrime DisplacementCrime PreventionDiffusion of BenefitsNeighborhoods and CrimePublic HousingUrban Areas |
Author: Hartley, Daniel A. Title: Blowing it Up and Knocking it Down: The Effect of Demolishing High Concentration Public Housing on Crime Summary: Despite popular accounts that link public housing demolitions to spatial redistribution of crime, and possible increases in crime, little systematic research has analyzed the neighborhood or city-wide impact of demolitions on crime. In Chicago, which has conducted the largest public housing demolition program in the United States, I find that public housing demolitions are associated with a 10 percent to 20 percent reduction in murder, assault, and robbery in neighborhoods where the demolitions occurred. Furthermore, violent crime rates fell by about the same amount in neighborhoods that received the most displaced public housing households relative to neighborhoods that received fewer displaced public housing households, during the period when these developments were being demolished. This suggests violent crime was not simply displaced from the neighborhoods where demolitions occurred to neighborhoods that received the former public housing residents. However, it is impossible to know what would have happened to violent crime in the receiving neighborhoods had the demolitions not occurred. Finally, using a panel of cities that demolished public housing, I find that the mean public housing demolition is associated with a drop of about 3 percent in a city’s murder rate and about 2 percent in a city’s assault rate. I interpret these findings as evidence that while public housing demolitions may push crime into other parts of a city, crime reductions in neighborhoods where public housing is demolished are larger than crime increases in other neighborhoods. A caveat is that while the city-wide reduction in assault rate appears to be permanent, the city-wide reduction in murder rate seems to last for only a few years. Details: Cleveland, OH: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, 2010. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper 10/22: Accessed September 12, 2011 at: http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/workpaper/2010/wp1022.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/workpaper/2010/wp1022.pdf Shelf Number: 122724 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePublic HousingUrban AreasUrban Renewal |
Author: Freedman, Matthew Title: Low-Income Housing Development and Crime Summary: This paper examines the effect of rental housing development subsidized by the government’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program on local crime. We take advantage of changes in the formula used to determine the eligibility of census tracts for Qualified Census Tract (QCT) status, which affects the size of the tax credits developers receive for building low income housing. QCT status attracts real estate development from other parts of the county, differentially improving the housing stock in the poorest census tracts. Low-income housing development, and the associated revitalization of neighborhoods, brings with it significant reductions in violent crime that are measurable at the county level. There are no detectable effects on property crime, perhaps because of changes in reporting behavior among residents. Details: Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 2011. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 12, 2011 at: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~raphael/IGERT/Workshop/Matt%20Friedman%20-%20Fall%202010.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~raphael/IGERT/Workshop/Matt%20Friedman%20-%20Fall%202010.pdf Shelf Number: 122725 Keywords: Low-Income HousingNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Renewal (U.S.) |
Author: Ellen, Ingrid Gould Title: Do Foreclosures Cause Crime? Summary: The mortgage foreclosure crisis has generated increasing concerns about the effects of foreclosed properties on their surrounding neighborhoods, and on criminal activity in particular. There are a number of potential ways in which a foreclosed property might increase the payoffs to committing crime and decrease the likelihood of being caught. Reduced property maintenance by foreclosed owners may serve as a visual signal of increasing disorder and decreased monitoring by neighborhood residents. Residential turnover precipitated by foreclosure may further weaken the informal social networks that prevent crime. Vacant foreclosed properties may provide opportunities for more serious and lucrative crimes. Using point-specific, longitudinal crime, foreclosure, and other property data from New York City, this paper determines whether foreclosed properties affect criminal activity on the surrounding blockface – an individual street segment including properties on both sides of the street, looks separately at how foreclosures affect different types of crime, examines whether foreclosures that result in long-term bank owned status have larger impacts than foreclosures that are resolved by a sale to a new owner, and compares the marginal effect of additional foreclosures across neighborhoods with differing concentrations of criminal and foreclosure activity. We find that additional foreclosures on a blockface lead to additional violent crimes and public order crimes. These effects are largest when foreclosure activity is measured by the number of bank-owned properties on a blockface. We find that effects are largest in neighborhoods with lower levels of crime, and effects appear to be heightened when foreclosure activity is concentrated. Details: New York: Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University, 2011. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 13, 2011 at: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/Ellen_Lacoe_Sharygin_ForeclosuresCrime_June27.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/Ellen_Lacoe_Sharygin_ForeclosuresCrime_June27.pdf Shelf Number: 122727 Keywords: HousingMortgage ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas |
Author: Ellen, Ingrid Gould Title: Crime and U.S. Cities: Recent Patterns and Implications Summary: For most of the twentieth century, U.S. cities – and their high-poverty neighborhoods in particular -- were viewed as dangerous, crime-ridden places that middle class, mobile (and typically white) households avoided, fueling suburbanization. While some pundits and policy analysts bemoaned this urban flight, others voiced concern over the potential impact of crime-ridden environments on the urban residents who were left behind. In the past decade or so, the media has instead highlighted the dramatic reductions in crime taking place in many large cities. In this paper we explore these crime reductions and their implications for urban environments. We begin by examining the changes in central city crime rates in greater detail, documenting how central cities fared relative to suburban communities and examining which cities and neighborhoods experienced the largest declines. Given these patterns, we then explore two key questions: (1) whether and how these changes altered existing disparities in safety (or exposure to crime) among particular groups, and (2) the extent to which these reductions increased the relative attractiveness of cities and ultimately led to city growth. In exploring these questions, we draw on theory, past literature, as well as empirical evidence. Details: New York: Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Planning and Wagner School of Public Services, New York University, 2009. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed September 13, 2011 at: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/Cities_and_US_Crime-Recent_Patterns_and_Implications.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/Cities_and_US_Crime-Recent_Patterns_and_Implications.pdf Shelf Number: 122728 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePovertyUrban Areas (U.S.) |
Author: Willis, Dale Title: Place and Neighborhood Crime: Examining the Relationship between Schools, Churches, and Alcohol Related Establishments and Crime Summary: The objective of this research is to determine the degree to which neighborhood crime patterns are influenced by the spatial distribution of three types of places: schools, alcohol establishments, and churches. A substantial body of research has examined the relationship between places and crime. Empirically, this research indicates that there is more crime at certain types of places than at others (Sherman, Gartin, and Buerger, 1989; Spelmen, 1995; Block and Block, 1995). The criminological literature also provides several potential theoretical explanations for these patterns. The routine activity perspective (Cohen and Felson, 1979) argues that crime occurs when motivated offenders converge with potential victims in unguarded areas. Places that promote this convergence are expected to have elevated crime rates, while places that prevent or reduce this convergence are expected to have lower crime rates. The social disorganization perspective (Shaw and McKay, 1942; Bursik, 1988; Krivo and Peterson, 1996) argues that communities with more collective efficacy (in the form of internal social networks and access to external resources and values) are likely to have less crime, while communities lacking in efficacy are likely to have more crime. Places that promote the formation of positive social ties and grant the community access to external resources are expected to reduce crime, while places that inhibit positive social ties and separate the community from external resources are likely to increase crime. Much of the literature on place and crime has focused on the influence of bars on neighborhood crime rates, with a substantial body of research indicating that bars are associated with elevated crime rates (Roncek and Bell, 1981; Roncek and Pravatiner, 1989; Sherman, Gartin, and Buerger, 1989; Roncek and Maier, 1991; Block and Block, 1995). Sherman, Gartin, and Buerger (1989), for example, found that bars can account for upwards of 50% of police service calls in a given area. Here we examine the relationship not only between bars and crime rates, but other types of liquor establishments as well (e.g., liquor stores and restaurants that serve alcohol). In addition to the literature that characterizes bars as hot spots for crime, a smaller, yet growing, body of literature indicates that the presence of schools (Roncek and Lobosco, 1983; Roncek and Faggiani, 1985; Roman, 2004; Kautt and Roncek, 2007, Broidy, Willits, and Denman, 2009, Murray and Swatt, 2010) is also associated with neighborhood crime. The most recent of this research suggests that while high schools are associated with increased crime at the neighborhood level, elementary schools may have a protective influence. Research on churches and crime is limited relative to research focused on schools and bars, but suggests that churches may help protect neighborhoods from crime (Lee, 2006; Lee 2008; Lee 2010). Furthermore, there are theoretical reasons to suspect that churches, like schools and liquor establishments, may be an important type of place to consider when examining crime at the neighborhood level. The current research contributes to a criminological understanding of place and crime by examining whether and how all three location types operate to influence crime rates both independently and relative to one another. Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center, 2011. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2011 at: nmsac.unm.edu/ Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 122927 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, DisorderChurchesCommunities and CrimeCrime AnalysisCrime Hot-SpotsCrime PatternsNeighborhoods and CrimeSchools |
Author: Broidy, Lisa Title: Schools and Neighborhood Crime Summary: The objective of this research is to determine the degree to which neighborhood crime patterns are influenced by the location, level, and quality of neighborhood schools. A small body of research has investigated the link between schools and neighborhood crime (Roncek and Lobosco, 1983; Roncek and Faggiani, 1985; Roman, 2004; Kautt and Roncek, 2007). This body of research, as a whole, suggests that schools generate crime at the neighborhood level. Because neighborhood boundaries are difficult to identify, neighborhood level research generally defines neighborhoods using geographic boundaries defined by the U.S. Census Bureau (Sampson, Morenoff, and Gannon-Rowley, 2002). Research examining schools and crime has been uniformly conducted at smallest geographic unit defined by the U.S. Census Bureau: the block. The U.S. Census Bureau, however, releases data on a wider range of social indicators at larger levels of analysis (like the block group and tract). Consequently, previous research has been unable to control for a wide array of social-structural factors when examining the relationship between schools and neighborhood crime. Therefore, previous research on schools and crime cannot definitively demonstrate that schools are related to crime above and beyond factors like structural disadvantage, residential mobility, and family disruption. In addition to limited controls for key structural determinants of crime, most studies examining schools and neighborhood crime focus exclusively on high schools. This is also problematic, as some research suggests that crime and victimization may be similarly elevated near elementary and middle schools (Nolin, Davies, and Chandler, 1996; Wilcox et al., 2005). Interestingly, the single neighborhood study (Kautt and Roncek, 2007) that has considered elementary, middle, and high schools together found that neighborhoods with elementary schools have more burglaries than those without elementary schools. The study, however, showed no such relationship when comparing neighborhoods with and without middle schools or high schools. At the very least, this work suggests that research examining the relationship between schools and crime rates should not focus exclusively on the effect of high schools. Moreover, no previous studies on schools and neighborhood crime have investigated the role of school quality. The social disorganization perspective argues that strong social institutions can prevent crime (Krivo and Peterson, 1996), suggesting that high quality schools may help prevent crime, while lower quality schools might foster crime. In this study, we use incident-crime data from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to address some of the limitations of the current research on schools and crime at the neighborhood level. Specifically, we assess the influence of the presence and quality of elementary, middle and high schools on neighborhood crime rates, net of key structural correlates of crime. First, we utilize the block group as our level of analysis. This allows us to investigate the effects of schools, while controlling for a wider array of variables than previous studies. By controlling for concepts like structural disadvantage, residential mobility, and family disruption, we can be more certain that any significant relationship between schools and neighborhood crime is reflective of school effects and not of structural conditions. We also disaggregate our analysis by schools and by type of crime. By including elementary, middle, and high schools in our analysis, we address the possibility that different levels of schools are related to neighborhood crime in different ways. Moreover, we consider the possibility that various characteristics of schools, including school quality and school size, moderate the relationship between school presence and neighborhood crime. And finally, we examine the relationship between schools and crime by time of day, in order to address the possibility that the effect of schools on crime may be constrained to the hours during which youth are likely to be in or around the school area. In each of these analyses, we examine the relationship between schools and a variety of different types of crime. In sum, the current research examines the following questions: Are schools related to neighborhood crime? Does this relationship vary based on crime type, school type, school quality, and time of day? This report is organized into five chapters. The second chapter presents a literature review of the research on this topic. In addition to reviewing previous research on schools and crime, this chapter also frames the topic in terms of relevant sociological theory. The third chapter describes the data and methodologies that we used to investigate the relationship between schools and crime. The fourth chapter presents the results of our research. The fifth and final chapter discusses these results, presents empirical and theoretical conclusions, and addresses directions for future research. Details: Report prepared for the Justice Research Statistics Association, 2008(?). 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2011 at: http://www.jrsa.org/ibrrc/background-status/New_Mexico/Schools_Crime.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.jrsa.org/ibrrc/background-status/New_Mexico/Schools_Crime.pdf Shelf Number: 122932 Keywords: Crime AnalysisGeographic StudiesNeighborhoods and CrimeSchools and Crime |
Author: Cui, Lin Title: Foreclosure, Vacancy and Crime Summary: This paper examines the impact of residential foreclosures and vacancies on violent and property crime. To overcome confounding factors, a difference-in-difference research design is applied to a unique data set containing geocoded foreclosure and crime data from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Results indicate that while foreclosure alone has no effect on crime, violent crime increases by Details: Pittsburg, PA: Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, 2010. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 4, 2011 at: Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 122974 Keywords: Housing Foreclosures (U.S.)Neighborhoods and CrimeProperty CrimesUrban AreasVacant Properties |
Author: Maxwell, Christopher D. Title: Collective Efficacy and Criminal Behavior in Chicago, 1995-2004 Summary: This study reproduces and extends the analyses about the neighborhood-level effects of collective efficacy on criminal behavior originally reported by Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls in a 1997 Science article entitled ―Neighborhood and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy.‖ Based on a 1995 citywide community survey of 8,782 residents in 343 neighborhood clusters conducted as part of the NIJ-sponsored Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, they reported that collective efficacy directly affects perceived neighborhood violence, household victimization, and official homicide rates (Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls 1997). They also reported that collective efficacy moderates the relationship of residential stability and disadvantage with each measure of violence. This study uses Earls, Brooks-Gunn, Raudenbush, and Sampson’s (Earls et al. 1997) archived community survey database, archived U.S. Census summary data (United States Department of Commerce 1993) and Block and Block’s (2005) archived Homicides in Chicago, 1965-1995 study to assess the extent to which Sampson, et al.’s (1997) reported results can be reproduced by using measures and statistical methods specified by Sampson, et al. (1997) and Morenoff, et al. (2001). We then extend the analyses conducted by Sampson, et al. (1997) by adding ten additional years of more detailed crime data in statistical models that address temporal and spatial correlation and multicollinearity. Our findings reproduce the direction and statistical significance of all the key theoretical results reported by Sampson, et al. (1997). In addition, our extension of their analyses finds a direct connection between collective efficacy and rates of homicide and rape from 1995 through 2004. However, we did not find that collective efficacy is negatively related to officially recorded measures of robbery and assaults in 1995, nor is collective efficacy related to most property crimes during any period covered by our study. These latter findings suggest some of the limits to the influence of collective efficacy on crime. Future research should seek to determine the extent to which these limits are valid or due to issues of measurement or to methodological considerations. Details: Shepherdstown, WV: Joint Center for Justice Studies, Inc., 2011. 147p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2011 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/235154.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/235154.pdf Shelf Number: 123084 Keywords: Collective Efficacy (Chicago)Neighborhoods and CrimeSocial CohesionViolent Crime |
Author: Chiaradia, Alain Title: Spatial Economics of Crime: Spatial Design Factors and the Total Social Cost of Crime Against Individuals and Property in London Summary: Combining two original pieces of research, the first on the spatial attributes of two types of crime and the second on the total social cost of the same crime, this paper proposes a methodology to evaluate the total socio-economic cost of spatial attributes related to robbery and burglary. Only recently have studies started to focus on particular types of crime, and extract their built environment characteristics. Most of these studies focus on burglary and robbery as it is the type of crime with the best record of location. Re-using the extensive amount of data from a case study area in London which demonstrates the link between street robbery and property burglary occurrences and spatial design factors, this paper sets out to evaluate burglary and robbery risk as a cost in spatial planning and design. Details: London: Space Syntax Limited, 2009. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 28, 2011 at: http://www.sss7.org/Proceedings/08%20Spatial%20Configuration%20and%20Social%20Structures/017_Chiaradia_Hillier_Schwander.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sss7.org/Proceedings/08%20Spatial%20Configuration%20and%20Social%20Structures/017_Chiaradia_Hillier_Schwander.pdf Shelf Number: 123167 Keywords: BurglaryEnvironmental CriminologyNeighborhoods and CrimeSocio-Economic Conditions and CrimeSpatial DesignStreet Robbery (London)Urban Design |
Author: Bell, Brian Title: Immigrant Enclaves and Crime Summary: There is conflicting evidence on the consequences of immigrant neighbourhood segregation for individual outcomes, with various studies finding positive, negative or insubstantial effects. In this paper, we document the evolution of immigrant segregation in England over the last 40 years. We show that standard measures of segregation point to gentle declines over time for all immigrant groups. However, this hides a significant increase in the number of immigrant enclaves where immigrants account for a substantial fraction of the local population. We then explore the link between immigrant segregation, enclaves and crime using both recorded crime and self-reported crime victimization data. Controlling for a rich set of observables, we find that crime is substantially lower in those neighbourhoods with sizeable immigrant population shares. The effect is non-linear and only becomes significant in enclaves. It is present for both natives and immigrants living in such neighbourhoods. Considering different crime types, the evidence suggests that such neighbourhoods benefit from a reduction in more minor, non-violent crimes. We discuss possible mechanisms for the results we observe. Details: Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor, 2011. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper No. 6205: Accessed January 10, 2012 at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1976536 Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1976536 Shelf Number: 123541 Keywords: ImmigrantsImmigrants and CrimeNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Roettger, Michael E. Title: Longitudinal Associations Between Dimensions of African American Residential Segregation and Arrest within U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1980-2000 Summary: While much research incorporates measures of residential segregation in macro-level research, surprisingly little work has examined the relationship between dimensions of segregation to changes in arrest rates within metropolitan areas. Using data from the U.S. Census and FBI Arrest reports, this paper analyzes how Massey and Denton‟s (1988, 1994) five dimensions of residential segregation influence total, violent, and property arrest rates within a panel of metropolitan areas (MAs). Additionally, by extending this analysis to explain race-specific arrest rates over time, this study expands existing research using theories of racial threat and concentrated deprivation that link African American residential segregation and arrest rates. Results suggest that significant dimensions of segregation include evenness in distribution across census tracts, exposure to non-African Americans, and concentration within adjoining census tracts. Analysis of arrest rates also suggests that concentrated disadvantage explains arrest patterns over time within MAs. Details: Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University, The Center for Family and Demographic Research, 2009. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series 2009-16: Accessed January 13, 2012 at: http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/cas/file73769.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/cas/file73769.pdf Shelf Number: 123606 Keywords: African AmericansArrest Rates (U.S.)Neighborhoods and CrimeRace and CrimeRace/EthnicityResidential Segregation |
Author: Winesburg, Melissa Title: Perceptions Of Neighborhood Problems: Agreement Between Police and Citizens and Impact on Citizen Attitudes Toward Police Summary: Research comparing police and citizen perceptions of neighborhood problems and the impact their agreement or disagreement has on attitudes toward the police is limited. While researchers have examined citizen attitudes toward the police since the 1960s, there have been few studies focusing on police and citizen priorities. This research examined these issues together to determine whether or not differences in perceptions impact citizen attitudes toward the police. This research explored data collected from two sources, including a survey of citizens in Cincinnati neighborhoods and a survey of Cincinnati police beat and community officers assigned to separate neighborhoods. It examined police and citizen alignment of 13 neighborhood problems focusing on crime and disorder, and the impact these have on attitudes toward the police. Logistic regression models were used to examine the influence police-citizen agreement on neighborhood problems had on citizen perceptions of attitudes toward the police in general, citizen attitudes toward the job police were doing to prevent crime in their neighborhood, and citizen attitudes toward the job police were doing working with citizens in their neighborhood to solve crime. Findings revealed that when citizens viewed disorder as less of a problem than officers, citizen satisfaction toward the police increased across all dependent variables in the study. Findings also revealed that the mere presence of a difference in perceptions impacted attitudes toward the police, regardless of the magnitude of the difference in perceptions. When police and citizens differed in their perceptions of neighborhood crime problems, citizens were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the job police were doing to prevent crime when they perceived crime as less of a problem than officers. Details: Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati, Division of Criminal Justice, 2010. 186p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed January 13, 2012 at: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1299178960 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1299178960 Shelf Number: 123609 Keywords: Community PolicingCrime and DisorderNeighborhoods and CrimePolice-Citizen InteractionsPolice-Community RelationsPublic Attitudes |
Author: Madensen, Tamara D. Title: The Impact of Foreclosures on Neighborhood Crime in Nevada, 2006-09 Summary: This State Data Brief provides an examination of foreclosures in Nevada and the impact of these events on crime in Nevada neighborhoods. The distribution of foreclosures across neighborhoods, the characteristics of high foreclosure neighborhoods, and the impact of foreclosures on neighborhood crime between 2006 and 2009 are examined. The findings and related policy implications are discussed in light of theoretical frameworks that help to explain the observed outcomes. Details: Las Vegas, NV: Center for Analysis of Crime Statistics, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2011. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: State Data Brief: Accessed January 20, 2012 at: http://cacs.unlv.edu/SDBs/Foreclosures/Foreclosures%20in%20Nevada%202006-09%20v4.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://cacs.unlv.edu/SDBs/Foreclosures/Foreclosures%20in%20Nevada%202006-09%20v4.pdf Shelf Number: 123685 Keywords: Economics and CrimeHousing Foreclosures (Nevada)Neighborhoods and CrimeProperty Crime |
Author: Hirschfield, Alex Title: National Evaluation of New Deal for Communities, Scoping Report: Review of Major Policy Developments and Evidence Base: Crime Domain Summary: The evidence base review for the Crime Domain examined some of the leading theories used to explain the manifestation of crime (i.e. what makes some neighbourhoods and places more vulnerable to crime than others), presented information on levels of reported and unreported crime and discussed current policy initiatives aimed at preventing and reducing crime. Particular attention was paid to developments relevant to Area Based Initiatives (ABIs). The extent of the evidence base on ‘what works’ in crime prevention was then examined. Variations in the quality and robustness of the evidence base was discussed and examples of best practice were identified drawing upon the Home Office’s ‘Toolkits’ for crime prevention and a comprehensive review of crime prevention evaluation studies carried out for the US National Institute of Justice. The latter identified crime prevention strategies that work, those that are promising and those that demonstrably do not work (Sherman et al 1998). Current and forthcoming evaluations of crime prevention initiatives that NDC Partnerships might draw lessons from were identified and efforts to build a comprehensive evidence base on effective crime prevention measures (the Campbell Collaboration – www.campbell.gse.upenn.edu) were outlined. Lessons were identified for the NDC evaluation teams in terms of known problems and pitfalls in conducting crime prevention evaluations and in obtaining consistent crime data. Lessons for partnerships were also defined, particularly, in relation to project management, maximising the positive impacts of crime prevention interventions and partnership working. Where feasible and appropriate, the review also sought to identify the extent to which local authority areas with NDC programmes had been successful in securing funds through the Home Office’s Crime Reduction Programme. Particular attention was paid to the Reducing Burglary Initiative, Targeted Policing and the CCTV programme. Details: Sheffield, UK: New Deal for Communities Evaluation, Sheffield Hallam University, 2001. 125p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 29, 2012 at http://extra.shu.ac.uk/ndc/downloads/reports/Crime%20Review%20of%20Evidence.pdf Year: 2001 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://extra.shu.ac.uk/ndc/downloads/reports/Crime%20Review%20of%20Evidence.pdf Shelf Number: 124324 Keywords: Crime PreventionCrime Reduction (U.K.)Evaluative StudiesEvidence-Based PracticesNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Kubrin, Charis E. Title: Does Fringe Banking Exacerbate Neighborhood Crime Rates? Social Disorganization and the Ecology of Payday Lending Summary: Payday lenders have become the banker of choice for many residents of poor and working class neighborhoods in recent years. The substantial costs that customers of these fringe bankers incur have long been documented. Yet there is reason to believe there are broader community costs that all residents pay in those neighborhoods where payday lenders are concentrated. One such cost may be an increase in crime. In a case study of Seattle, Washington, a city that has seen a typical increase in the number of payday lenders, we find that a concentration of payday lending leads to higher violent crime rates, controlling on a range of factors traditionally associated with neighborhood crime. Social disorganization theory provides a theoretical framework that accounts for this relationship. The findings suggest important policy recommendations and directions for future research that could ameliorate these costs. Details: Unpublished Paper, 2009. 43p. Source: Working Paper: Internet Resource: Accessed March 10, 2012 at http://ancsaragreen.org/Payday.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://ancsaragreen.org/Payday.pdf Shelf Number: 124418 Keywords: BankingCrime RatesNeighborhoods and CrimeSocial Disorganization |
Author: Youth Justice Board (New York City) Title: Looking Forward: Youth Perspectives on Reducing Crime in Brownsville and Beyond Summary: This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Youth Justice Board, a group of New York City teenagers who study public policy issues that affect young people. Since August 2010, the Youth Justice Board has focused on reducing youth crime in New York City using the neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn as a case study. This report presents ideas about how to reduce incidences of youth crime in Brownsville and neighborhoods that face similar challenges. In 2011-12, the Board will work to implement many of the ideas contained in this report in conjunction with the development of a new community justice center in Brownsville. The Board’s ultimate goal is to make Brownsville a safe, supportive neighborhood for young people that provides for their social, emotional, and educational needs. Over five months, the Youth Justice Board conducted interviews with over 30 individuals involved in the city justice system and the Brownsville community. The Board visited four community justice centers and conducted three focus groups with young people involved in the justice system to learn about the experiences and perspectives of youths. The Youth Justice Board developed 10 recommendations designed to reduce youth crime in Brownsville and make the community a safer, more supportive place for youths to grow up. Details: New York: Center for Court Innovation, 2011. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 2, 2012 at: http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/documents/report%20for%20website.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/documents/report%20for%20website.pdf Shelf Number: 124789 Keywords: Community Justice CentersDelinquency Prevention (New York City)Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Popkin, Susan J. Title: Public Housing Transformation and Crime: Making the Case for Responsible Relocation Summary: Our analysis indicates a complex relationship between public housing transformation and crime in Chicago and Atlanta, though the efforts led to small net decreases in crime over a study period where crime declined significantly. In neighborhoods with public housing demolition, crime rates fell substantially, while in destination neighborhoods for households relocated with vouchers, they did not fall as much as expected. On average, neighborhoods with a modest or high density of relocated households saw higher crime rates than areas without relocated households. These findings suggest a need for thoughtful relocation strategies that support both assisted residents and receiving communities. Details: Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2012. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2012 at: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412523-public-housing-transformation.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412523-public-housing-transformation.pdf Shelf Number: 124884 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePublis Housing (Atlanta, Chicago) |
Author: Ramey, David Michael Title: Neighborhood Violent Crime in Contemporary Latino Destination Cities Summary: The emergence of new Latino destination cities over the 1990s presents a host of unanswered questions about neighborhood violent crime rates. While past neighborhood crime studies have found little or no evidence of an association between Latino immigrant concentration and violent crime in multiple cities, contemporary studies of neighborhood violent crime do not consider how varying characteristics of cities in which neighborhoods are embedded have a bearing on immigrant composition and violent crime. The current project uses the Neighborhood Change Database and the National Neighborhood Crime Study to examine the relationship between Latino migration and neighborhood violent crime in cities that vary according to their histories with Latino migration. Using multilevel modeling techniques, this analysis demonstrates that the effects of social disorganization and Latino population characteristics on neighborhood violence are significantly influenced by city-level Latino population growth. Details: Columbus, OH: Ohio State University, 2010. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Master's Thesis: Accessed May 3, 2012 at: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=osu1275414603 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=osu1275414603 Shelf Number: 125142 Keywords: Demographics and CrimeHispanic-AmericansLatinos (U.S.)Neighborhoods and CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Ramey, David M. Title: Neighborhood Violent Crime during a New Era of Immigration Summary: The 1990s was a period of simultaneous concentration and dispersal for the immigrant population in the United States (Portes and Rumbaut 2006). While vibrant migrant streams remained in large cities with traditionally high levels of immigration, economic and social changes also influenced a shift in settlement patterns towards places with relative low immigrant populations at the start of the decade. Although past neighborhood studies find little or no evidence of any association between immigration and neighborhood crime, few consider how varying characteristics of cities and neighborhoods may have an influence. This project uses the Neighborhood Change Database and the National Neighborhood Crime Study to examine how the effects of immigration on neighborhood violent crime vary in neighborhoods and cities that vary according to their immigration histories. Using multilevel modeling techniques, I argue that local immigrant concentration and growth contribute to a decline in neighborhood violence, but that this is condition by factors associated with city-level immigration. Further, the effects of city-level immigration dynamics are stronger in more integrated neighborhoods. Details: Unpublished paper, 2011. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2012 at: http://paa2011.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=110722 Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://paa2011.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=110722 Shelf Number: 125146 Keywords: Cities and CrimeImmigrantsImmigration and CrimeNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Eck, John E. Title: Situational Crime Prevention at Specific Locations in Community Context: Place and Neighborhood Effects Summary: This final report to the National Institute of Justice describes the methods, data, findings and implications of a study of the situational and contextual influences on violence in bars and apartment. The study was conducted in Cincinnati, Ohio. Interviews of managers and observations of sites were made for 199 bars. For apartment complexes owners were interviewed for 307 and observations were made at 994. Using the data from these sources, police records, county land parcel data, and census information, the study examined why some bars and apartments had more violent crime than others. For both types of places, violent crime is highly skewed: a few places have most of the violent incidents but most bars and most apartment complexes have no violence or very little violence. In both bars and apartment complexes, neighborhood context seems to be loosely coupled with violence. Bars were clustered in a few neighborhoods, but violent and non-violent bars were near each other. Neighborhood context influenced the relationship between situational variables and violence in apartment complexes, but not consistently. Place specific features are also important. In bars, minimum drink price and whether the bar was attracting the ideal customer were negatively associated with violence while security was positively associated with violence. In apartment complexes a host of site specific features and management practices were associated with violence, including location, physical characteristics, incivilities, and management practices. These associations sometimes depended on neighborhood disadvantage or violence. To account for these findings, the report describes a hypothetical general model of place management. The report concludes with policy and research implications. Details: Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 2010. 190p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 9, 2012 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/229364.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/229364.pdf Shelf Number: 118077 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime and DisorderApartment Complexes and CrimeCrime AnalysisHot SpotsNeighborhoods and CrimeSituational Crime Prevention (Cincinnati) |
Author: Choate, David E. Title: Comparing South Mountain Neighborhood Arrestees among AARIN Respondents Summary: The South Mountain neighborhood is located in the southern part of the City of Phoenix in Maricopa County. The three zip codes of 85040, 85041 and 85042 comprise the bulk of the neighborhood and serve as the target area boundary for this report. South Mountain is a distressed community, with significant need and limited resources. It is an area that differs from most of the city, with a pre- dominantly economically disadvantaged Latino and African-American population. As part of Maricopa County’s efforts to identify the needs, the gaps in services and resources, and to use data to inform the County about making effective and meaningful policy changes, this report uses data collected as part of the ongoing AARIN project and economic measures derived from U.S. Census data to help examine and potentially guide restoration efforts in South Mountain. The report is divided into two sections for analysis. The first section uses U.S. Census estimates as a basis for understanding some of the community’s social and economic context through demographic characteristics. The second series of analysis relies on data gathered as part of the AARIN project to compare arrestees from the South Mountain area to respondents from the rest of Maricopa County. When the information provided by AARIN respondents is combined with the social and economic characteristics of the South Mountain community at large, meaningful policy implications emerge. Details: Phoenix: Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety, Arizona State University, 2009. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2012 at: http://cvpcs.asu.edu/sites/default/files/content/products/AARIN%20Report_south%20mountain_FINAL2.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://cvpcs.asu.edu/sites/default/files/content/products/AARIN%20Report_south%20mountain_FINAL2.pdf Shelf Number: 125619 Keywords: Drug Offenders (Arizona)Drugs and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimePoverty |
Author: Kochel, Tammy Rinehard Title: Legitimacy as a Mechanism for Police to Promote Collective Efficacy and Reduce Crime and Disorder Summary: Prior research showed that when collective efficacy is strong, it mediates the effects of concentrated disadvantage, and neighborhoods experience less crime. An untested theory about legitimacy suggests that legal institutions may be a catalyst for neighborhoods to improve collective efficacy. Legitimacy theory claims that when societies grant legal institutions legitimacy, people internalize rules and laws upheld by legal institutions, socialize others to those rules and laws, and adhere to the formal authority of legal institutions, which reduces crime. This dissertation is interested in the process by which people socialize others to rules and laws in the form of collective efficacy, examining whether views about police behaviors are related to legal institution legitimacy and collective efficacy. I theorized that police can improve legal institution legitimacy by delivering high quality services and minimizing misconduct, thus strengthening collective efficacy in neighborhoods and reducing crime and disorder. Conducting the research in Trinidad and Tobago extends the boundaries of prior research on collective efficacy and legitimacy beyond the United States, Britain, and other developed nations, into a developing nation that is wrestling with difficult challenges, including widespread disadvantage, inadequate infrastructure, acute violence, corruption, and cynicism and distrust among its people. Trinidad’s circumstances provided the opportunity to examine the linkages between police misbehavior and legal institutions and community outcomes in an environment fraught with challenges for police and neighborhoods to overcome. Additionally, in this context, I studied the linkages between delivering higher quality services and legal institution legitimacy, collective efficacy, and crime and disorder, even when the overall level of services is constrained to be low. I found that police behavior in Trinidad and Tobago has important consequences for legal institution legitimacy and for neighborhood outcomes. The results support that police may contribute to and utilize neighborhood collective efficacy as a lever to reduce crime and disorder problems. The results, however, do not (in general) support that the mechanism through which police accomplish this is legal institution legitimacy. The conclusions uphold the strong relationship between collective efficacy and crime and disorder, but leave in doubt whether legal institution legitimacy provides a pathway for increasing collective efficacy. Details: Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, Department of Administration of Justice, 2009. 219p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed July 19, 2012 at: http://digilib.gmu.edu:8080/dspace/bitstream/1920/4525/1/Kochel_Tammy.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://digilib.gmu.edu:8080/dspace/bitstream/1920/4525/1/Kochel_Tammy.pdf Shelf Number: 125683 Keywords: Collective EfficacyNeighborhoods and CrimePolice BehaviorPolice Legitimacy (U.S.)Police MisconductPolice-Citizen Interactions |
Author: Ellen, Ingrid Gould Title: Memphis Murder Mystery Revisited: Do Housing Voucher Households Cause Crime? Summary: In recent years, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has greatly increased the absolute and relative size of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV or “voucher”) program. In 1980, the traditional public housing program was almost twice the size of the HCV program; by 2008, the voucher program was almost twice the size of public housing program. There were 2.2 million vouchers nationwide in 2008, compared to 1.2 million public housing units. Although the academic and policy communities have welcomed this shift, community opposition to vouchers can be fierce (Galster et al. 2003). Local groups often express concern that voucher recipients will both reduce property values and heighten crime. Hanna Rosin gave voice to the latter worries in her widely-read article, “American Murder Mystery,” published in the Atlantic Magazine in August 2008. Despite the publicity, however, there is virtually no research that systematically examines the link between the presence of voucher holders in a neighborhood and crime. Our paper aims to do just this, using longitudinal, neighborhood-level crime and voucher utilization data in 10 large U.S. cities. We use census tracts to represent neighborhoods. The heart of the paper is a set of regression models of census tract-level crime that test whether the presence of additional voucher holders leads to elevated rates of crime, controlling for census tract fixed effects—which capture unobserved, pre-existing differences between neighborhoods that house large numbers of voucher households and those that do not, trends in crime in the city or broader sub-city area in which the neighborhood is located, and in some models, time-varying census tract characteristics such as the extent of other subsidized housing and demographic characteristics. We also test for the possibility that causality is reversed and that voucher holders tend to settle in higher crime areas. In brief, we find no evidence that an increase in the number of voucher holders in a tract leads to more crime. We do find that crime in a year tends to be higher in census tracts with more voucher households that year, but that positive relationship disappears after we control for crime trends in the broader sub-city area. There is some evidence for the reverse causal story, however. That is, the number of voucher holders in a neighborhood tends to increase in tracts with rising crime, suggesting that voucher holders are more likely to move into neighborhoods where crime rates are increasing. Details: New York: New York University School of Law, Wagner School of Public Service and Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, 2011. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 26, 2012 at: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/Memphis_murder_mystery.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/Memphis_murder_mystery.pdf Shelf Number: 125783 Keywords: HousingHousing VouchersNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Lens, Michael C. Title: Neighborhood Crime Exposure Among Housing Choice Voucher Households Summary: Given a choice to move, do voucher holders successfully locate in neighborhoods with greater public safety? Housing Choice Vouchers provide tenants with opportunities to obtain affordable housing in higher quality neighborhoods, yet evidence suggests that they rarely take advantage of such opportunities by moving to lower-poverty neighborhoods. Using census tract-level crime and subsidized housing data for 91 large cities in 2000, the researchers compare the neighborhood crime rates of voucher holders to those of public housing, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and unassisted poor renter households. The researchers also examine longitudinal crime data from seven cities at the census tract level, allowing them to observe changes in crime exposure from 1998 to 2008. The results suggest that from 1998 to 2008 exposure of voucher holders to neighborhood crime improved considerably in seven sample cities. However, gains in safety are not attributed to voucher households moving to lower crime neighborhoods. Rather, the more significant cause is that the safety levels of the neighborhoods where voucher holders live improved more than those of other neighborhoods. The researchers find that voucher households occupied neighborhoods that were about as safe as the average poor renter household, and with much lower crime rates than those of assisted tenants of place-based programs (i.e., the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and public housing programs) in the same cities. Although voucher holders selected much safer neighborhoods than those of other subsidized households, they did not select lower poverty neighborhoods. This result suggests that voucher households simply may care more about safety levels than about poverty rates. At the very least, it suggests that neighborhood poverty rates do not perfectly capture underlying neighborhood conditions. Public safety outcomes of voucher holders are found to differ on the basis of race and ethnicity. Consistent with other studies, black voucher households lived in neighborhoods with higher crime rates than other voucher holders. Yet their neighborhoods were considerably safer than those of poor black households and black renters. This was not the case for white and Hispanic voucher holders, suggesting that the voucher program may be more successful in helping black households reach safer neighborhoods than it is in helping white and Hispanic households reach lower crime communities. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, 2011. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Assisted Housing Research Cadre Report; Accessed July 26, 2012 at: http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/Lens_NeighborhoodCrime_AssistedHousingRCR08.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/Lens_NeighborhoodCrime_AssistedHousingRCR08.pdf Shelf Number: 125784 Keywords: HousingHousing VouchersNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Ellen, Ingrid Gould Title: American Murder Mystery Revisited: Do Housing Voucher Households Cause Crime? Summary: Potential neighbors often express worries that Housing Choice Voucher holders heighten crime. Yet no research systematically examines the link between the presence of voucher holders in a neighborhood and crime. Our paper aims to do just this, using longitudinal, neighborhoodlevel crime and voucher utilization data in 10 large U.S. cities. We test whether the presence of additional voucher holders leads to elevated rates of crime, controlling for neighborhood fixed effects and either time-varying neighborhood characteristics or trends in the broader sub-city area in which the neighborhood is located. In brief, crime tends to be higher in census tracts with more voucher households, but that positive relationship disappears after we control for existing trends. We find far more evidence for the reverse causal story; voucher use in a neighborhood increases in tracts with rising crime, suggesting that voucher holders tend to move into neighborhoods where crime rates are increasing. Details: New York: New York University School of Law, Wagner School of Public Service and Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, 2011. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 26, 2012 at: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/American_Murder_Mystery_Revisited.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/American_Murder_Mystery_Revisited.pdf Shelf Number: 125782 Keywords: HousingHousing VouchersNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Freedman, Matthew Title: Your Friends and Neighbors: Localized Economic Development, Inequality, and Criminal Activity Summary: We exploit a sudden shock to demand for a subset of low-wage workers generated by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program in San Antonio, Texas to identify the effects of local economic development programs on crime. We use a difference-in-difference methodology that takes advantage of variation in BRAC’s impact over time and across neighborhoods. We find that appropriative criminal behavior increases in neighborhoods where a fraction of residents experienced increases in earnings. This effect is driven by residents who were unlikely to be BRAC beneficiaries, implying that inequality can increase crime. We find less evidence of an impact on serious violence. Details: Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, Department of Economics and Department of Policy Analysis and Management, 2012. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 30, 2012 at: http://works.bepress.com/matthew_freedman/17/ Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://works.bepress.com/matthew_freedman/17/ Shelf Number: 125816 Keywords: Economic Development and CrimeEconomics and Crime (Texas)Neighborhoods and CrimePoverty |
Author: Hinkle, Joshua Conard Title: Making Sense of Broken Windows: The Relationship Between Perceptions of Disorder, Fear of Crime, Collective Efficacy and Perceptions of Crime Summary: The broken windows thesis has had a profound impact on policing strategies around the world. The thesis suggests that police can most effectively fight crime by focusing their efforts on targeting disorder—minor crimes and nuisance behaviors such as loitering, public drinking and vandalism, as well as dilapidated physical conditions in a community. The strategy was most prominently used in New York City in the 1990s, and has been often credited for the crime drop observed in the city over that decade. Despite the widespread influence of the broken windows thesis, there has been relatively little rigorous empirical research which has sought to test the validity of its theoretical propositions. This dissertation aimed to address this shortcoming by using structural equation modeling to test the relationships between perceived disorder, fear of crime, collective efficacy and perceptions of crime suggested by the broken windows thesis using survey data collected during a randomized, experimental evaluation of broken windows policing in three cities in California. The results are supportive of the broken windows thesis, but also raise some challenges. Perceptions of disorder were found to increase fear of crime, reduce collective efficacy and lead to crime as suggested. However, fear of crime was not significantly related to collective efficacy as suggested, and the direct effect of perceived social disorder on perceptions of crime was the strongest effect in every model. Nevertheless, the findings do suggest that a reduction of disorder in a community may have positive effects in the form of reducing fear and promoting collective efficacy, and suggest the limitations of studies which only test for direct effects of disorder on crime and/or do not examine the variables at the perceptual level. Future research needs to further examine the broken windows thesis, ideally involving a prospective longitudinal study of crime at place. Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland, College Park, 2009. 169p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed August 3, 2012 at: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/9547/1/Hinkle_umd_0117E_10573.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/9547/1/Hinkle_umd_0117E_10573.pdf Shelf Number: 125845 Keywords: Broken Windows PolicingBroken Windows TheoryCollective EfficacyFear of CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeNuisance Behaviors and Disorders |
Author: Beckenkamp, Martin Title: First Impressions Engender (Anti-)Social Behaviour An Experimental Test of a Component of Broken Windows Theory Summary: Broken Windows: the metaphor has changed New York and Los Angeles. Yet it is far from undisputed whether the broken windows policy was causal for reducing crime. In a series of lab experiments we put one component of the theory to the test. We show that first impressions are causal for cooperativeness in three different institutional environments: absent targeted sanctions; with decentralised punishment; with decentralised punishment qualified by the risk of counterpunishment. In all environments, the effect of first impressions cannot be explained with, but adds to, participants’ initial level of benevolence. Mere impression management is not strong enough to stabilise cooperation though. It must be combined with some risk of sanctions. Details: Bonn, Germany: Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, 2009. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Preprints of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods Bonn 2009/21: Accessed August 3, 2012 at: http://www.coll.mpg.de/pdf_dat/2009_21online.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.coll.mpg.de/pdf_dat/2009_21online.pdf Shelf Number: 125846 Keywords: Broken Windows PolicingBroken Windows TheoryNeighborhoods and CrimePunishment |
Author: Seiler, Bryan M. Title: Moving from 'Broken Windows' to Healthy Neighborhood Policy: Reforming Urban Nuisance Law in the Public and Private Sectors Summary: City and state governments throughout the country are increasingly turning to public nuisance law as a way to preserve public order in urban neighborhoods. Many cities have established problem property units to encourage neighborhoods to actively report public nuisance conditions and behaviors. This public order enforcement certainly fills an enforcement gap for both criminal and landlord-tenant law, but its misuse threatens dire consequences for the disenfranchised urban poor. Public nuisance law is a powerful injunctive force that can rapidly change the composition of neighborhoods, and, used improperly, can be a means to cultural, economic, and racial homogeneity. Despite the extensive academic literature on urban renewal, there is little written about the authority and advisability of the current policy trend towards the use of public nuisance law. This Note attempts to fill this scholarly void in several ways. First, it provides an overview of the history and present application of public nuisance law, with particular attention paid to the expansion of the doctrine during the nineteenth century. Second, it summarizes the many weaknesses of the broken windows policy system that currently dominates public nuisance law. Finally, it proposes a novel combination of both public and private reforms to state and local public nuisance law to ensure the proper use of public nuisance law. In particular, this Note argues that the infusion of economic value into an area of entitlement presents the best hope of striking a balance between enforcing public order while protecting vulnerable residents. Though difficult, this is a balance that all healthy urban neighborhoods must actively seek and maintain. Details: Minneapolis: Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs; University of Minnesota, 2009. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Minnesota Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-19 : Accessed August 3, 2012 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1099019 Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1099019 Shelf Number: 125847 Keywords: Broken Windows PolicingBroken Windows TheoryNeighborhoods and CrimeNuisance Behaviors and DisordersUrban Areas |
Author: Helmholdt, Nicholas Gerald Title: Neighborhood Effects of Physical Interventions to Abandoned Housing Summary: Many communities are facing new challenges due to the foreclosure crisis in terms of code enforcement and community stabilization. Older, industrial cities have been dealing with the effects of housing abandonment for many years. Previous studies have collected the best practices and prevailing trends for interventions to vacant and abandoned properties. Theoretical and quantitative evidence suggests that abandoned properties pose serious threats to the health and safety of surrounding neighborhoods. This study attempts to evaluate whether the physical interventions performed to abandoned homes can abate these adverse consequences. A survey of code enforcement officers in large, American cities along with Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis were performed to see this goal. The results suggest that maintenance interventions are able to abate neighborhood rates of fire and crime incidence to a much greater degree than demolition. This study is exploratory in nature and further research will be needed to quantify and better understand these results. Details: Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 2009. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed August 3, 2012 at: http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/13804?mode=full Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/13804?mode=full Shelf Number: 125848 Keywords: Abandoned PropertiesCode EnforcementHousingNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas |
Author: Armitage, Rachel Title: Re‐evaluating Secured by Design (SBD) Housing In West Yorkshire Summary: The report presents the findings of a re‐evaluation of SBD housing within West Yorkshire conducted between January and March 2009. The research builds upon the original evaluation of SBD housing in West Yorkshire, which was conducted in 1999. The project utilised a variety of methods to collect the data presented within the report. These were: A review of the literature relating to SBD and the principles upon which it is based; An analysis of police recorded crime on three separate samples. The aim of this section of the report was to establish whether SBD estates experience less crime than their non‐SBD counterparts. 1) SBD Versus West Yorkshire (16 SBD developments compared with West Yorkshire as a whole); 2) Same Street Analysis (11 developments which contained both SBD and non‐SBD properties) and 3) Matched Pairs Analysis (16 SBD and 16 non‐SBD matched pairs located as close as possible to each other. An analysis of self‐reported crime, disorder and fear of crime on 16 SBD and 16 non‐SBD matched pairs in an attempt to establish whether SBD residents experience less self reported experiences, fears and perceptions of crime and disorder than their non‐SBD counterparts. Visual audits at 16 SBD and 16 non‐SBD sites in an attempt to establish whether SBD estates experience less visual signs of disorder than their non‐ SBD counterparts. Re‐visiting a sample of two developments from the original (1999) evaluation to establish whether the performance of SBD has improved, deteriorated or remained the same. The results were extremely positive with the findings from each strand of the analysis suggesting that SBD developments outperform their non‐SBD counterparts in terms of the reduction of crime, fear of crime and visual signs of disorder. Details: Huddersfield, UK: University of Huddersfield, 2009. 101p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 10, 2012 at: http://www.fldoca.com/meeting/Re-evaluating-SBD-Housing-in-West-Yorks.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.fldoca.com/meeting/Re-evaluating-SBD-Housing-in-West-Yorks.pdf Shelf Number: 125950 Keywords: Design Against CrimeDisorder and CrimeHousingNeighborhoods and CrimeSecured by Design (U.K.)Situational Crime PreventionUrban Areas |
Author: Ceccato, Vania Title: The Impact of Crime on Apartment Prices: Evidence of Stockholm, Sweden Summary: This study uses data over 9600 apartment sales in Stockholm, Sweden, to assess the impact of crime on property prices. Using two-stage analysis, the study first employs hedonic pricing modelling to estimate the impact of crime controlling for other factors (property and neighbourhood characteristics). Then, the willingness to pay is calculated for a certain property having as a function crime together with other house and area attributes. GIS is used to combine apartment sales by co-ordinates with offences, land use characteristics and demographic and socio-economic data of the population. The novelty of this research is threefold. First, it explores a set of land use attributes created by spatial techniques in GIS in combination with detailed geographical data in hedonic pricing modelling. Second, the effect of crime in neighboring zones at one place can be measured by incorporating spatial lagged variables of offence rates into the model. Third, the study provides evidence of the impact of crime on housing prices from a capital city from a welfare state country, something otherwise lacking in the international literature. Our results indicate that total crime rates showed no effect on apartment prices but when the offences were break down by types, violence, residential burglary, vandalism and robbery had individually a significant effect on property values. Details: Stockholm, Sweden: School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Royal Institute of Technology, 2011. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 10, 2012 at: http://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa10p1026.html Year: 2011 Country: Sweden URL: http://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa10p1026.html Shelf Number: 125966 Keywords: Crime and Housing (Sweden)Geographical Information Systems (GIS)Neighborhoods and CrimeResidential Crimes |
Author: Scottish Government, Communities Analytical Services Title: A Thematic Review of Literature on the Relationship Between Neighbourhoods, Housing and Crime Summary: Summary • The relationship between housing, neighbourhoods and crime is best represented within neighbourhood effects research. This refers to the idea that effects are not a result of the characteristics of families and individuals who live in particular areas; rather, there is an additional area related effect which results from concentrated disadvantage. • Indirect neighbourhood effects include such aspects as criminal behaviour and social disorder. • Other research suggests that, contrary to neighbourhood effects, individual and family characteristics are more important in determining life chances and outcomes. • Collective efficacy, defined as social cohesion amongst neighbours, relates to neighbourhood cohesion and is considered by some to be a strong indicator of the level of crime and disorder in particular localities. It follows from this that strategies which enhance collective efficacy may have some impact on reducing some types of crime and disorder. • Neighbourhood effects research has led to a range of initiatives to tackle the relationship between neighbourhoods and crime, for example, community regeneration. • Housing and regeneration are important areas in the Scottish Government’s priorities for law, order and public safety, through strategies which seek to enhance community safety and regeneration. • Some UK research, such as the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, suggests that the characteristics of the neighbourhoods in which young people live have some influence on delinquent and drug using behaviour, but that individual characteristics are also important. • Several schools of crime prevention through environmental design have developed, focusing primarily on architecture, housing construction and street layout. • Higher numbers of property and violent crimes have been found in areas with higher levels of deprivation, and the risk of being a victim of crime for those living in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland is greater than for those living in the rest of Scotland. • Some research questions whether there is justification for the widespread adoption of policies to increase neighbourhood social mix, since this can result in physical segregation and a segregationalist attitude amongst residents. • The relationship between housing and crime for offender groups, including high risk offenders, has been increasingly recognised as a significant factor in reducing reoffending, with joined up working pursued as the most effective way to achieve this and to increase public safety. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Government, 2010. Source: Internet Resource: Analytical Paper Series: Accessed August 16, 2012 at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/supply-demand/chma/marketcontextmaterials/housesandcrime Year: 2010 Country: International URL: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/supply-demand/chma/marketcontextmaterials/housesandcrime Shelf Number: 126049 Keywords: Collective EfficacyHousingNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Monchuk, Leanne Title: Re-evaluating the Secured by Design (SBD) scheme 10 years on Summary: Secured by Design (SBD) is an award scheme which aims to encourage housing developers to design out crime at the planning stage. The scheme is managed by the Association of Chief Police Officers Crime Reduction Initiatives Limited (ACPO CPI Ltd.) whilst the day-to-day delivery of the scheme is conducted by Architectural Liaison Officers (ALOs) or Crime Prevention Design Advisors (CPDAs) working for individual police forces throughout the United Kingdom. The scheme sets standards for compliance which developments must meet to be awarded SBD status. This paper presents the findings of research conducted over a ten-year period (1999 to 2009) into the effectiveness of the SBD scheme as a crime reduction measure. Utilising a variety of methods, the research aims to establish whether residents living within SBD developments experience less crime and fear of crime than their non-SBD counterparts. Whether SBD developments show less visual signs of crime and disorder than their non-SBD counterparts, and finally, whether properties built to the SBD standard are able to sustain any crime reduction benefits over a ten-year period. Details: Huddersfield, UK: University of Huddersfield. Source: Presentation: Available at Don M. Gottfredson Library of Criminal Justice, Acc. # 126076. Year: 0 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 126076 Keywords: Design Against CrimeDisorder and CrimeHousingNeighborhoods and CrimeSecured by Design (U.K.)Situational Crime PreventionUrban Areas |
Author: Great Britain. Home Office Title: National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. Report of Policy Action Team 8: Anti-Social Behaviour Summary: Anti-social behaviour is a widespread problem. It is a problem that is more prevalent in deprived neighbourhoods. Its effects are often most damaging in communities that are already fragile and where services are overstretched. Serious hard-core perpetrators are small in number but their behaviour has a disproportionate impact on large numbers of ordinary people. There is no one accepted definition and anti-social behaviour can range from dropping litter to serious harassment. The lack of hard facts compounds the problem, but it is known that anti-social behaviour: is perceived to be twice as high in deprived areas than nationally; is considered to be a medium-to-large problem by three-quarters of social landlords, with some landlords recording figures of up to 285 complaints a year per 1,000 tenancies; and appears to be increasing, with reports to the police of disorder offences increasing by 19 per cent from 1995–96 to 1997–98 and complaints to environmental health officers about neighbours rising by 56 per cent from 1993 to 1997. Tackling anti-social behaviour should be a high priority and should be seen as a prerequisite for the success of the overall National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. All agencies will need to be fully engaged in the fight against anti-social behaviour. Central government needs to support local government in doing this. This can be delivered through the following measures: clear responsibility. Given that the action will be based within Crime and Disorder Partnerships, the Home Office (HO) should co-ordinate the process nationally, working very closely with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and other Government departments. LAs should name a person to co-ordinate action; targeting anti-social behaviour to be a distinct and separate part of crime and disorder strategies. All agencies should state what their role will be in delivering this; improving performance. Developing a set of key indicators for measuring anti-social behaviour and putting in place corresponding Best Value Performance Indicators. At present anti-social behaviour is no one agency’s priority and so risks their collective neglect. No one agency is responsible for pulling together action in Whitehall or at local authority and neighbourhood level and little information is collected on the number and severity of incidents. This has lead to poor implementation and some real policy gaps. To remedy this the Government has agreed the recommendations in the report, which cover five broad areas: assigning clear responsibility for tackling anti-social behaviour to the Home Office nationally and to Crime and Disorder Partnerships locally; promoting prevention by involving local residents and putting in place measures to create a physical and social environment where anti-social behaviour is less likely to arise in the first place; enforcement: intervening earlier, making better use of current powers such as Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and tackling the hard core; 5 resettlement: breaking the cycle of repeated anti-social behaviour and minimising perverse outcomes of exclusion such as homelessness; and combating racial harassment: putting action to combat racism at the centre of anti-social behaviour strategies. In addition, the report identifies two outstanding issues for further public consultation which will be taken forward by the Home Office and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. These are: ensuring that there are effective sanctions in place against perpetrators who are living in private rented or owner-occupied accommodation; and preventing perpetrators repeating their behaviour in new accommodation or in different neighbourhoods after eviction. Details: London: Home Office, 2000. 121p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 1, 2012 at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/social_exclusion_task_force/assets/publications_1997_to_2006/pat_report_8.pdf Year: 2000 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/social_exclusion_task_force/assets/publications_1997_to_2006/pat_report_8.pdf Shelf Number: 126223 Keywords: Antisocial Behaviour (U.K.)At-risk YouthDelinquency PreventionDisorderly ConductIncivilitiesNeighborhoods and CrimeNuisance Behaviors and Disorder |
Author: Stults, Brian J. Title: Determinants of Chicago Neighborhood Homicide Trends: 1980-2000 Summary: One of the most important social changes in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s was the dramatic increase and subsequent decrease in crime, and particularly violent crime, in large cities. For example, the homicide rate in Chicago nearly tripled between 1965 and 1992, after which point it declined by more than 50% through 2005. Surely this is a remarkable pattern of change, but is this trend representative of all areas in the city? The general purpose of the proposed project is to examine homicide trends in Chicago neighborhoods from 1980-2000 using three data sources available from ICPSR and the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD). Drawing on the social disorganization and concentrated disadvantage literature, this study will use growth-curve modeling and semi-parametric group-based trajectory modeling to: 1) assess neighborhood variation in homicide trends; 2) identify the particular types of homicide trajectory that Chicago neighborhoods follow; 3) assess whether structural characteristics of neighborhoods influence homicide trends and trajectories; and 4) determine the extent to which the influence of structural characteristics is mediated by neighborhood levels of collective efficacy. This project extends prior research by not only describing the homicide trends and trajectories of Chicago neighborhoods, but also identifying the neighborhood characteristics that directly and indirectly influence those trends. Results show that considerable variation exists in homicide trends across Chicago neighborhoods. In the group-based trajectory analysis, homicide trajectories are consistently associated with initial levels of concentrated disadvantage as well as change over time. Change in family disruption is also predictive of trajectory group assignment, but only among neighborhoods with very high initial levels of ii homicide. In the growth curve analysis, concentrated disadvantage is associated with initial levels of homicide, but not change over time. In contrast, social disorganization and immigrant concentration emerge as significant predictors of variability in homicide trends. Additional models incorporating data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) show that neighborhood ties and perceived social disorder mediate a substantial portion of the effects of concentrated disadvantage and social disorganization on homicide rates. Details: Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University, 2012. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 5, 2012 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239202.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239202.pdf Shelf Number: 126260 Keywords: Homicide (Chicago)Neighborhoods and CrimeSocial DisorganizationViolent Crime |
Author: Davis, Diane E. Title: Urban Resilience in Situations of Chronic Violence Summary: While the sources and forms of social and political violence have been extensively examined, the ways ordinary people along with their neighbors and officials cope with chronic urban violence have earned far less attention. This eight-case study of cities suffering from a history of violence explores this latter phenomenon, which we call resilience. We define resilience as those acts intended to restore or create effectively functioning community-level activities, institutions, and spaces in which the perpetrators of violence are marginalized and perhaps even eliminated. This report identifies the sets of conditions and practices that enhance an individual or a community’s capacity to act independently of armed actors. We specify the types of horizontal (e.g., intra-community, or neighborhood-to-neighborhood) and vertical (e.g., state-community) relationships that have been used to sustain this relative autonomy. Violence and responses to it are situated in physical space, and we look for the spatial correlates of resilience, seeking to determine whether and how physical conditions in a neighborhood will affect the nature, degrees, and likelihood of resilience. Urban resilience can be positive or negative. Positive resilience is a condition of relative stability and even tranquility in areas recently or intermittently beset by violence. Strong and cooperative relationships between the state and community, and between different actors—businesses, civil society, the police, etc.—tend to characterize positive resilience. Negative resilience occurs when violence entrepreneurs have gained effective control of the means of coercion, and impose their own forms of justice, security, and livelihoods. In such situations—most frequently in informal neighborhoods where property rights are vague or contested—the community is fragmented and seized by a sense of powerlessness, and the state is absent or corrupted. Our findings suggest that resilience appears at the interface of citizen and state action, and is strengthened through cooperation within and between communities and governing authorities. Resilience is robust and positive when ongoing, integrated strategies among the different actors yield tangible and sustainable gains for a particular community: improvement in the physical infrastructure, growing commercial activity, and communityoriented policing, to name three common attributes. When citizens, the private sector, and governing authorities establish institutional networks of accountability that tie them to each other at the level of the community, a dynamic capacity is created to subvert the perpetrators of violence and establish everyday normalcy. The security activities produced through citizen-state networks are most accountable, legitimate, and durable when they are directed and monitored by communities themselves, in a relationship of cooperative autonomy. More broadly, urban resilience benefits from good urban planning—promoting and investing in mixed commercial and residential land use, for example, particularly in areas of the city at-risk for crime, and building infrastructure that enables free movement of people within and between all neighborhoods (via pedestrian corridors; parks; public transport) to promote security and livelihoods. This speaks to the challenge of informality—the communities built up, usually on the city’s periphery, without regard to ownership rights. The legal entanglements of informality can be daunting, but some cities have finessed this to provide services, with substantially positive outcomes. Formal property rights or not, citizens of all income groups need to have the opportunity to live in vibrant areas where social, economic, and residential activities and priorities reinforce each other in ways that bring a community together in the service of protecting and securing those spaces. This process yields good results for the entire metropolitan area. Finally, this report develops the idea of legitimate security as a way to address the vexing interactions of the state and communities in the provision of security and positive resilience. The relationship of at-risk communities with the police is often troubled. Legitimate security addresses this by seeking to ensure democratic and participatory governance in every sense—political, civil, and social. It recognizes needs specific to marginalized and underrepresented populations, including ethnic/racial minorities, women, the poor, and indigenous groups. It is, moreover, a viable alternative to deleterious responses to insecurity—e.g., privatization of security, fortification of urban spaces, and vigilantism, among others. Legitimate security fosters broad participation and initiatives from “below” with an increased focus on multi-sector partnerships to provide more effective, lasting, and accountable ways forward for cities seeking security. Details: Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for International Studies; Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2012. 134p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2012 at: http://web.mit.edu/cis/urbanresiliencereport2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://web.mit.edu/cis/urbanresiliencereport2012.pdf Shelf Number: 126361 Keywords: Crime PreventionNeighborhoods and CrimeSocial CapitalUrban Areas and CrimeUrban PlanningViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Levinthal, Jodi Title: The Community Context of Animal and Human Maltreatment: Is there a Relationship between Animal Maltreatment and Human Maltreatment: Does Neighborhood Context Matter? Summary: The purpose of the study is to explore the influence of demographic and neighborhood factors on the phenomenon of animal maltreatment in an urban setting as well as the association of animal maltreatment with human maltreatment. Using a unique dataset of animal maltreatment from the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the distribution and prevalence of animal neglect, abuse, and dog fighting in Philadelphia were mapped with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Statistical analysis was employed to examine the relationship between animal maltreatment and neighborhood factors, domestic violence, and child maltreatment. The low correlation between animal abuse and neighborhood factors in this study suggests that animal abuse may be better explained as an individual phenomenon than a behavior that is a function of neighborhoods. However, animal neglect does correlate with demographic, cultural, and structural aspects of block groups, suggesting social disorganization may lead to animal neglect. This study also suggests that dog fighting is a crime of opportunity, as dog fighting correlates with indicators of abandoned properties. Finally, this study is unable to demonstrate a community link between animal maltreatment and child maltreatment, which does not preclude the link among individuals. The findings suggest caution in policies and advocacy campaigns that link human and animal violence in all arenas. Details: Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, 2010. 115p. Source: Publicly accessible Penn Dissertations, Paper 274: Internet Resource: Accessed September 20, 2012 at http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/274/ Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/274/ Shelf Number: 126375 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCruelty to AnimalsGeographic Distribution of CrimeGeographic StudiesNeighborhoods and CrimeViolence |
Author: Alvarado, Camila Title: Crime in College Park: Understanding Crime Levels, Perceptions, and Environmental Design in an Off-Campus Student-Occupied Neighborhood Summary: Despite recently decreasing crime rates in College Park, fear of crime remains high. Additionally, while the crime rate on the University of Maryland campus is relatively low compared to the national average, crime in off-campus areas continues to be a problem. Crime mapping using spatial analysis techniques allowed the researchers to identify Old Town College Park as a student-occupied, off-campus residential area with a relatively high rate of larcenies, burglaries, and robberies. Through a longitudinal case study, quantitative and qualitative data about crime and students' perceptions of crime in the target were collected. These data were used to identify trends in how the rate of crime and perception changed in response to the implementation of CCTV cameras in Old Town. These data were also used to identify the correlation between crime level and the existing environmental design of the neighborhood's housing properties. Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2011. 181p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis, Gemstone Team Crime Prevention and Perception: Accessed November 24, 2012 at: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/11391 Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/11391 Shelf Number: 126984 Keywords: Camera SurveillanceClosed-Circuit TelevisionColleges and UniversitiesCrime PreventionDesign Against CrimeFear of CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeOff-Campus Housing |
Author: Gossman, Christina Title: Urban Resilience in Situations of Chronic Violence Case Study of Johannesburg, South Africa Summary: The Johannesburg of yore was polarized. Whereas in the past it was tainted by the strictures of apartheid, Johannesburg is now striving to be a first-world city. It is the economic hub of sub-Saharan Africa and was site of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Although its origins are steeped in controversy and founded on practices of racial segregation, today it brands itself as integrated and heterogeneous. Yet present day Johannesburg is actually a city of gray areas. It is more cohesive culturally, economically, and racially than in the past, but in many parts of the city this integration is incomplete or precarious. Unity is neither present in all neighborhoods, nor spread equally across all city spaces; and for some residents the aims of social and spatial integration challenge the search for identity and community. It is this disconnect between the physical layout of the city, its polarized workings, and a wide range of individual and collective aspirations that helps fuel the violence that has made Johannesburg famous not only for its gold rush, its man-made forest, and its climate, but also for its high rates of crime and murder. Johannesburg has long been one of the most important cities of Sub-Saharan Africa. Even the decline of the mining industry did not halt its growth. Instead, numerous industries have grown significantly, attracting an increasing number of South Africans from rural provinces as well as foreigners from neighboring African countries. The apartheid era that disenfranchised black South Africans politically and economically, in combination with the country’s increasing rate of urbanization (62% of the population now lives in cities) led this small mining town to become the crime capital of South Africa. Like other cities studied in this project, while the physical layout of Johannesburg is rather straightforward, its spatial organization is more complex and depends largely on distances from and relationships with the state. Distance from the state can be either quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative distance is a mere matter of the physical distance from the city-center and its governing bodies and seems to have minimal effects within the city. Qualitative distance, however, is a matter of affiliation and perception, and has much more bearing on violence within the city. Within Johannesburg, the physical layout does not match the spatial organization, and it is perhaps in areas where the two are most dissonant that violence emerges most prominently. In neighborhoods that are physically proximate to the city-center but have an incredibly far perceived distance from the state in terms of economy, culture, services, or communication, violence is often used as a mechanism to compensate for the gap. The relationship of different parts of the state is a key factor in levels of violence, and is largely wrapped up in the concept of identity. Within Johannesburg, there are homogeneous spaces of people who mostly share a common identity that is unrelated to the state and there are heterogeneous spaces of people with different identities centered around a common tie to the state. This report focuses on the role and interactions between individuals, communities and governmental organizations in producing resilience. Which ones are effective, which ones are destructive? How do actors on the residential, collective and government level see these interactions and does collaboration among them exist? Given the time constraints in the field and the multitude and levels of violence and resilience in Johannesburg, we decided to focus on two neighborhoods that represent neighborhoods with high level of violence as well as a high number of innovative strategies for resilience: Hillbrow, one of Johannesburg's oldest, most transformed, and ever-changing neighborhoods, and Diepsloot, a relatively young, peri-urban informal settlement in the north of Johannesburg. Details: Cambridge, MA: Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 7, 2012 at: http://www.urcvproject.org/uploads/Johannesburg_URCV.pdf Year: 2012 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.urcvproject.org/uploads/Johannesburg_URCV.pdf Shelf Number: 127137 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimeUrban AreasUrban ViolenceViolent Crime (Johannesburg, South Africa) |
Author: Harris, Philip Title: Investigating the Simultaneous Effects of Individual, Program and Neighborhood Attributes On Juvenile Recidivism Using GIS and Spatial Data Mining Summary: The primary goal of this project was to develop, apply, and evaluate improved techniques to investigate the simultaneous effects of neighborhood and program forces in preventing juvenile recidivism. For many years, program evaluation researchers have presented the question, “What works to prevent delinquency for whom under what circumstances?” In community settings, answering this question presents a unique challenge, since “circumstances” includes the home neighborhoods of youths participating in correctional programs. Understanding how programs and neighborhoods jointly shape youth behavior and identifying conditions under which rehabilitative programs are successful are fundamental to planning programs that facilitate positive trajectories for physical, social, cognitive, and affective youth development. We investigated the simultaneous effects of neighborhood, program, and individual characteristics (including family) on juvenile recidivism using linear modeling, geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data mining. GIS provides the technology to integrate diverse spatial data sets, quantify spatial relationships, and visualize the results of spatial analysis. In the context of juvenile recidivism, this approach will facilitate the investigation of how, and why, recidivism rates vary from place to place, through different programs, and among individuals. The project applies spatial data mining to the analysis of adjudicated juvenile delinquents assigned to court‐ordered programs by the Family Court of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This population encompasses all adjudicated delinquents committed to programs by the court during the years 1996 to 2002 – more than 26,000 cases. The proposed study makes use of three levels of data: individual, program and neighborhood. In addition to data on individual youths and their families, we will employ a database of designs of the programs that they attended and two or more spatial data sets, including the crime data from Philadelphia Police Department and the U. S. Census. This study includes a vast methodological departure from current practices and can greatly improve the chances of learning more about the dynamics of juvenile recidivism, leading to more effective prevention policies and programs. Details: Philadelphia: Temple University, Department of Criminal Justice, 2012. 254p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 24, 2013 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/237986.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/237986.pdf Shelf Number: 127373 Keywords: Crime AnalysisDelinquency PreventionGeographic Distribution of CrimeJuvenile RecidivismNeighborhoods and CrimePeer InfluenceRehabilitation, Juvenile OffendersTreatment Programs |
Author: Innes, Martin Title: Mapping and Measuring the Social Harms of Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour; Towards an Outcomes-Based Approach to Community Safety in Wales Summary: This document reports findings from an exploratory study designed to conceptually and empirically develop the concept of ‘social harm’. Social harm is defined as the negative collective impacts associated with an illegal or disorderly act, or social control intervention. The study had three key aims: 1) To establish a more robust conceptual definition of social harm in relation to the impacts of crime and disorder; 2) Reflecting this definition, to develop a more sophisticated method of measuring the distribution and intensity of social harm; 3) Apply these measures to test what insights they may afford in relation to how crime and disorder affects communities and neighbourhoods. Engagement with these aims is set against a backdrop where harm has become an increasingly influential idea in some areas of the criminal justice system. In particular, it is commonly used in relation to illegal narcotics and has acquired some traction in relation to measures designed to address serious and organised crime. These developments notwithstanding, wider uptake and use of the concept of harm has been inhibited by difficulties in deriving robust and stable measurements, as well as a lack of clarity in thinking about what precisely constitutes harm and how it differs from other measures. The work conducted for this study suggests that harm can be differentiated from several other allied concepts of risk, threat and vulnerability. Examining these helps to define and clarify the unique conceptual space occupied by the idea of harm. Orthodox approaches to measuring risk are based upon determining the likelihood of an event occurring in conjunction with its relative impact. Risks become threats when they are less prospective and more immediate. Vulnerability is concerned with the likelihood and capacity to be harmed. These ideas can be combined in order to identify the ‘risk of harm’ or ‘vulnerability to harm’. However, it can be seen that harm is unique in focusing upon actual negative impacts. The defining quality of a harm based framework is then that it attends to the impacts or effects of problems or issues. So whereas more orthodox measures of crime and disorder tend to be weighted towards prevalence, that is the amount of that issue that is occurring, focusing upon harm shifts attention to impact and consequences. The significance of this is that it recognises that in terms of understanding and mitigating the harms of crime and disorder, there might be a small number of incidents that impact quite heavily upon the public. Likewise, just because there is a highly prevalent issue in an area, it cannot be assumed that it is the ‘market mover’ in terms of shaping public attitudes and opinions. There are of course different kinds of harm that can be generated and experienced. Crime and disorder receives attention (at least in part) because of the harm that is done to victims. Whilst this form of individual harm is important, herein, the focus is explicitly upon the ‘social’ harm of crime. Adopting this approach reflects findings from an accumulating body of research evidence, that crime and disorder can be extremely consequential at the collective level in terms of negatively shaping the security, well‐being and resilience of communities and/or neighbourhoods. Details: Cardiff, Wales: Universities Police Science Institute, 2011. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2013 at: http://wales.gov.uk/docs/caecd/research/130121-mapping-measuring-social-harms-crime-anti-social-behaviour-en.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://wales.gov.uk/docs/caecd/research/130121-mapping-measuring-social-harms-crime-anti-social-behaviour-en.pdf Shelf Number: 127530 Keywords: Antisocial Behavior (Wales, U.K.)Disorderly ConductDrug Abuse and CrimeEnvironmental DisorderNeighborhoods and CrimeSocial Disorder and Crime |
Author: Ruther, Matthew Howard Title: Essays on the Spatial Clustering of Immigrants and Internal Migration within the United States Summary: The chapters in this dissertation each look at some aspect of immigration or internal migration in the United States, highlighting the spatial nature of population distribution and mobility. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on the effect of immigrant residential clustering on crime and Chapter 3 explores the internal migration behavior of Puerto Ricans. In the first chapter, we investigate the effect of immigrant concentration on patterns of homicide in Los Angeles County. We also suggest an alternative method by which to define immigrant neighborhoods. Our results indicate that immigrant concentration confers a protective effect against homicide mortality, an effect that remains after controlling for other neighborhood structural factors that are commonly associated with homicide. Controlling for the spatial dependence in homicides reduces the magnitude of the effect, but it remains significant. Chapter 2 examines how foreign born population concentration impacts homicide rates at the county level. This chapter utilizes a longitudinal study design to reveal how changes in the immigrant population in the county are associated with changes in the homicide rate. The analysis is carried out using a spatial panel regression model which allows for cross-effects between neighboring counties. The results show that increasing foreign born population concentration is associated with reductions in the homicide rate, a process observed most clearly in the South region of the United States. In Chapter 3 we explore the internal migration patterns of Puerto Ricans in the United States, comparing the migration behavior of individuals born in Puerto Rico to those born in the United States. Second and higher generation Puerto Ricans are more mobile than their first generation counterparts, likely an outcome of the younger age structure and greater human capital of this former group. Puerto Ricans born in the United States also appear to be less influenced by the presence of existing Puerto Rican communities when making migration decisions. Both mainland- and island-born Puerto Rican populations are spatially dispersing, with the dominant migration stream for both groups being between New York and Florida. Details: Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2012. 159p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 26, 2013 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239863.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239863.pdf Shelf Number: 127715 Keywords: HomicideIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrants and CrimeImmigrationNeighborhoods and CrimePuerto Rican Immigrants |
Author: Freedman, Matthew Title: Immigration, Employment Opportunities, and Criminal Behavior Summary: There is little consensus on the effects of immigration on crime. One potential explanation for the conflicting evidence is heterogeneity across space and time in policies toward immigrants that affect their status in the community. In this paper, we take advantage of provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which granted legal resident status to long-time illegal residents but created new obstacles to employment for others, to explore how employment opportunities affect criminal behavior. Exploiting unique administrative data on the criminal justice involvement of individuals in San Antonio, Texas and using a difference-in-differences methodology, we find evidence of an increase in felony charges filed against Hispanic residents of San Antonio after the expiration of the IRCA amnesty deadline. This was concentrated in neighborhoods where recent immigrants are most likely to locate, suggesting a strong relationship between access to legal jobs and criminal behavior. Details: Unpublished paper, 2013. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 26, 2013 at: http://www.human.cornell.edu/pam/people/upload/IRCA_20130206.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.human.cornell.edu/pam/people/upload/IRCA_20130206.pdf Shelf Number: 127722 Keywords: Employment and CrimeImmigrants and CrimeImmigration (U.S.)Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Chauhan, Preeti Title: Homicide by Neighborhood: Mapping New York City’s Violent Crime Drop Summary: The United States, and New York City (NYC) in particular, experienced falling rates of violent crime beginning in the 1990s. For two decades, researchers, scholars, and policymakers interested in the NYC crime decline have attempted to pinpoint causes of the downward trend. Discovering the causes of the city’s crime drop may lead to important lessons for the city itself and may influence policy and practice throughout the state, nation, and perhaps other countries. Researchers have suggested a host of mechanisms that may explain the dramatic decline in violence, but two factors—misdemeanor policing and the transformation of drug markets—continue to receive the most attention. This report focuses on these factors in relation to gun-related homicide rates. Specifically, it describes and maps precinct-level relationships between misdemeanor policing, drug markets, and gun-related homicide rates from 1990 to 1999 in NYC. While some precincts demonstrate theoretically expected patterns, others do not. An increase in misdemeanor policing is related to a decrease in homicide in some, but not all, precincts. Similarly, a decrease in drug use (measured by accidental deaths with toxicology reports positive for cocaine and drug arrest rates) is not consistently related to homicide decline. Notably, cocaine consumption demonstrates more theoretically consistent relationships relative to drug arrest rates. Overall, there is substantial heterogeneity in the social processes associated with the decline in violent crime. A few select precincts may be responsible for driving aggregate level trends. Future investigations may be able to develop a more nuanced understanding of the complex systems of crime reduction if they consider micro level, geospatial analyses, in addition to multivariate analyses. Details: New York: Research and Evaluation Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, 2012. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 14, 2013 at: http://johnjayresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/rec20122.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://johnjayresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/rec20122.pdf Shelf Number: 127932 Keywords: Crime StatisticsGun ViolenceHomicidesNeighborhoods and CrimeViolent Crime (New York City, U.S.) |
Author: New York University. Furman Center Title: Investigating the Relationship Between Housing Voucher Use and Crime Summary: A 2008 feature in The Atlantic (“American Murder Mystery” by Hanna Rosin) highlighted the correlation between the presence of households using housing vouchers in a community and crime levels. The article, which drew from interviews and maps in the Memphis area, amplified common fears that families with vouchers bring crime with them when they move to a new neighborhood. Community resistance to households assisted by the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is nothing new. The media has long stoked speculation that increased crime follows households with vouchers, and fear of increased crime has fueled community resistance that threatens to undermine the effectiveness of the voucher program. However, until recently, virtually no empirical research existed to fortify, or debunk, the presumption that an influx of families with vouchers into a neighborhood increases crime. A recent Furman Center study fills this gap by examining whether, in fact, households with vouchers bring higher crime with them into neighborhoods. Using neighborhood-level data on crime and voucher use in 10 cities, our study finds no evidence that an increase in households using vouchers results in increased crime in a neighborhood. Instead, we find that households with vouchers tend to settle in areas where crime is already high. Our results show that community resistance to households with vouchers based on fears about crime is unwarranted. Moreover, our finding that voucher holders tend to use their vouchers in communities with elevated crime rates raises important questions about whether the voucher program is achieving its objective of allowing low-income households to choose from a wider range of neighborhoods. After describing our research and Investigating the Relationship between Housing Voucher Use and Crime 2 results, this policy brief considers the relevance of these two findings to recent policy debates and initiatives involving the voucher program. Details: New York: New York University, Furman Center, 2013. 5p. Source: New York: Policy Brief: Accessed April 9, 2013 at: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/FurmanCenter-HousingVoucherUseCrime.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/FurmanCenter-HousingVoucherUseCrime.pdf Shelf Number: 128321 Keywords: Fear of CrimeHousing Vouchers (New York City)Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Nyrop, Kris Title: An Ethnographic Comparison of Public Venue Drug Markets in Two Seattle Neighborhoods Summary: The purpose of this project was to provide an ethnographic picture of the demographic composition of two public venue drug areas in Seattle. Of particular interest was the difference (if any) between the demographic composition and structure of public venue narcotics sales between the area surrounding Second and Pike in downtown and one 15 blocks away in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. To that end the following methods were used: • on randomized days and times ethnographers carried out observations of the following areas: Second and Pike and, Broadway and Denny (both areas described below). The area around Second and Pike was observed in two waves of thirty (30) hours each and Broadway was observed in one wave of thirty (30) hours and a follow-up observation of ten (10) hours, resulting in a total of 100 observation hours. • ethnographers looked for and recorded all indications of drug sales that occurred in these locations. Ethnographers recorded the perceived race/ethnicity those engaged in transactions, the gender of those involved, and the nature of the transaction (i.e., whether individuals involved were engaged in drug purchase or the referral of buyer to seller or actual sale, which we termed “delivery”). This report is based on those observations and highlights the nature of these public venue drug markets and notes key differences and similarities. In particular, it calls attention to the differences between the two markets and the difference between publicly observable law enforcement practices in each market. Details: Seattle, WA: Street Outreach Services, 2003. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 17, 2013 at: http://www.kcba.org/druglaw/pdf/ethnographicstudy.pdf Year: 2003 Country: United States URL: http://www.kcba.org/druglaw/pdf/ethnographicstudy.pdf Shelf Number: 128383 Keywords: Drug Markets (Seattle, WA, U.S.)Illegal DrugsNarcotic DrugsNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Toomey, Traci L. Title: The Association between Density of Alcohol Establishments and Violent Crime within Urban Neighborhoods Summary: Background. Numerous studies have found that areas with higher alcohol establishment density are more likely to have higher violent crime rates but most of these studies did not assess the differential effects of type of establishments or the effects on multiple categories of crime. In this study, we assess whether alcohol establishment density is associated with four categories of violent crime, and whether the strength of the associations varies by type of violent crime and by on-premise establishments (e.g., bars, restaurants) versus off-premise establishments (e.g., liquor and convenience stores). Methods. Data come from the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2009 and were aggregated and analyzed at the neighborhood level. Across the 83 neighborhoods in Minneapolis, we examined four categories of violent crime: assault, rape, robbery, and total violent crime. We used a Bayesian hierarchical inference approach to model the data, accounting for spatial auto-correlation and controlling for relevant neighborhood demographics. Models were estimated for total alcohol establishment density as well as separately for on-premise establishments and off-premise establishments. Results. Positive, statistically significant associations were observed for total alcohol establishment density and each of the violent crime outcomes. We estimate that a 3.9% to 4.3%. increase across crime categories would result from a 20% increase in neighborhood establishment density. The associations between on-premise density and each of the individual violent crime outcomes were also all positive and significant and similar in strength as for total establishment density. The relationships between off-premise density and the crime outcomes were all positive but not significant for rape or total violent crime, and the strength of the associations was weaker than those for total and on-premise density. Conclusions. Results of this study, combined with earlier findings, provide more evidence that community leaders should be cautious about increasing the density of alcohol establishments within their neighborhoods. Details: Minneapolis, MN: School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 2012. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 1, 2013 at: http://www.sph.umn.edu/faculty1/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/rr2011-019.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.sph.umn.edu/faculty1/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/rr2011-019.pdf Shelf Number: 128590 Keywords: Alcohol OutletsAlcohol Related Crime, DisorderNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban AreasViolent Crime |
Author: Hailey, Chantal Title: Chronic Violence: Beyond the Developments Summary: Youth in our study who lived through CHA's Plan for Transformation remain in crisis. Many exhibit the short-term effects of growing up around violence, including high rates of criminal and delinquent behaviors. In 2011, fear and violence was affecting youth whose families had relocated with vouchers more than it was affecting those who had relocated to mixed-income or public housing. To manage their exposure to violence, some youth socially isolate themselves, or their families continue to seek refuge by moving. Still, some children are witnesses, victims, and perpetrators of violence as they leave their protective networks and enter new communities. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2013. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Brief # 05: Accessed July 9, 2013 at: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412764-Chronic-Violence-Beyond-the-Developments.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412764-Chronic-Violence-Beyond-the-Developments.pdf Shelf Number: 129329 Keywords: Housing and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Crime |
Author: Hanum, Mari Rønning Title: Fear of Crime in Spaces of Poverty and Disorder : Youth's coping strategies in poor urban neighbourhoods in Nairobi Summary: After the post-election violence in Kenya 2007/2008, Nairobi has witnessed an increased society of fear, which in turn has altered the spatiality of difference in many areas. Moreover, the emergence of criminal youth gangs during the last decade and the civil wars in neighbouring countries that have resulted in increased weapon smuggling, are major contributors to crime and other insecurities. The purpose of this research is to identify youth’s coping strategies to deal with fear of crime in Eastlands, a poor urban area in Nairobi. The thesis wants to explore the dimensions of place, social relations and social identities through the eyes of the youth in Eastlands, in order to analyse how these dimensions affect their fear of crime. The aim has not only been to identify but also to understand their opted coping strategies. Both young people’s perceptions and observation carried out in the area have provided the necessary insights in order to understand the complexity of their identities, as well as other factors that may influence fear of crime. Details: Oslo: University of Oslo, 2011. 121p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 2, 2013 at: https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/15949 Year: 2011 Country: Kenya URL: https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/15949 Shelf Number: 129507 Keywords: Fear of Crime (Nairobi, Kenya)Neighborhoods and CrimePoverty and CrimeUrban AreasYouth Gangs |
Author: Soto, Danielle A. Title: Hispanic Youth & Delinquency: A Longitudinal Examination of Generational Status, Family Processes, & Neighborhood Context Summary: Current examinations of racial/ethnic differences in delinquency largely treat Hispanics as a monolithic group, with little attention given to differences among Hispanic subgroups. Given that Hispanics are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States, and are also the largest immigrant group in the country, examinations of generational status and delinquency appear rather neglected. Informed by segmented assimilation theory and strain theory, the current study uses the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data to examine racial/ethnic differences in delinquent and violent offending, with particular attention paid to generational status. A subsample consisting solely of Hispanics is also examined in order to further explore differences among Hispanic groups based on generational status. Initial results show that Hispanics do indeed report higher levels of involvement in both delinquency and violence, but further investigation shows that this is almost entirely driven by the second and third generations, with first-generation Hispanics reporting scores either statistically similar to those of whites, or scores significantly lower than those of whites. Family functioning and processes and neighborhood context are both explored as possible mediators of this relationship between Hispanic ethnicity and offending. The current study finds that while neighborhood context does not appear to explain the gaps in offending between whites and Hispanic generational groups (or between Hispanic generational groups themselves), these measures do help to explain offending overall. Family processes, on the other hand, explain a significant proportion of these gaps in offending. Furthermore, these factors, especially permissive parenting and family integration, help to explain much of the effect of gang membership on offending, a factor previously identified as particularly salient in explaining Hispanic offending. Another important finding is that the effect of being bilingual, hypothesized as a potential protective factor by segmented assimilation theory, depends on age. Initial cross-sectional examinations of the effects of being bilingual on offending do show a protective effect, but later longitudinal analyses reveal that while this is the case in adolescence and the teen years, once respondents enter their early 20s, being bilingual is associated with increases in offending. Details: Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University, 2010. 263p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed August 6, 2013 at: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ap:10:0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:bgsu1277325919 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ap:10:0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:bgsu1277325919 Shelf Number: 129559 Keywords: Hispanic AmericansJuvenile OffendersMinority GroupsNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Hällsten, Mark Title: Crime as a Price of Inequality? The Delinquency Gap between Children of Immigrants and Children of Native Swedes Summary: We examine the gap in registered crime between the children of immigrants and the children of native Swedes. Our study is the first in Sweden to address the role of family and environmental background in creating the gap in recorded crimes. Lack of resources within the family and/or in the broader social environment, particularly in neighborhoods and schools, generates higher risks for criminal activity in children, and if the children of immigrants to a larger extent are underprivileged in those resources, a gap in crime may occur. In the empirical analyses we follow all individuals who completed compulsory schooling during the period 1990 to 1993 in the Stockholm Metropolitan area (N=66,330), and we analyze how background factors related to the family of origin and neighborhood segregation during adolescence influence the gap in recorded crimes, which are measured in 2005. For males, we are generally able to explain between half and three-quarters of this gap in crime by parental socioeconomic resources and neighborhood segregation. For females, we can explain even more, sometimes the entire gap. Resources in the family of origin appear to be the strongest mediator. In addition, the residual differences are virtually unrelated to immigrants’ country of origin, indicating that ‘culture’ or other shared context-of-exit factors matter very little in generating the gap. Details: Stockholm: The Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University; Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies (SULCIS), Stockholm University, 2011. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 19, 2013 at: http://www.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.55504.1321514493!/SULCISWP_2011_1.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Sweden URL: http://www.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.55504.1321514493!/SULCISWP_2011_1.pdf Shelf Number: 129655 Keywords: Immigrants and Crime (Sweden)ImmigrationJuvenile DelinquencyJuvenile OffendersNeighborhoods and CrimeSocioeconomic Conditions and Crime |
Author: Yang, Xiaowen Title: Exploring the Influence of Environmental Features on Residential Burglary Using Spatial-Temporal Pattern Analysis Summary: With the help of Geographic Information Systems and statistical tools, this dissertation intends to (a) explore the spatial and temporal patterns of burglary, (b) examine the correlation between burglary and environmental variables, and (c) identify specific features of the physical environment that contribute to burglary in general and to repeat burglary and “near repeat burglary” in particular. We hypothesize that some environmental variables such as accessibility, house location on the block, and adjacent land uses have strong contributions to burglary, repeat burglary, and “near repeat” burglary propensity, despite sociodemographic neighborhood differences. To test this hypothesis, this empirical research uses a case study approach and analyzes data from the Gainesville, Florida, Police Department for residential burglaries from January 2000 to December 2003. Details: Gainesville, FL, University of Florida, 2006. 210p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed August 19, 2013 at: http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0013390/yang_x.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0013390/yang_x.pdf Shelf Number: 129665 Keywords: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTDesign Against CrimeGeographical Information Systems (GIS)Neighborhoods and CrimeRepeat VictimizationResidential Burglary (U.S.) |
Author: California Sex Offender Management Board Title: The Impact of Victimization on Residential Mobility: Explaining Racial and Ethnic Patterns Using the National Crime Victimization Survey Summary: Criminal victimization is known to influence decisions to move, but theories suggest that the processes leading to a moving decision may vary across racial and ethnic groups depending on household socioeconomic characteristics as well as housing market conditions. This study used a longitudinal sample of 34,134 housing units compiled from the National Crime Victimization Survey for the forty largest metropolitan areas in the United States (1995-2003) to study racial/ethnic differences in household moving behavior after victimization. Specifically, the hypotheses of the study were: (1) Black and Hispanic victims would be less likely than Whites to move, and this would remain true even after being controlled for other measured household characteristics because it is unlikely that the data would be able to capture all socioeconomic and structural obstacles that minorities face in their housing search process; (2) racial/ethnic residential segregation may reduce the impact of victimization on moving for Black and Hispanic households, and the moderating effect of residential segregation may be particularly strong for Blacks since they experience the most severe segregation, and (3) in addition to the number of victimizations, victim injury and property loss may further increase the risk of moving for crime victims, and because the levels of victim injury and property loss vary across racial and ethnic groups, it is important to consider how these factors may contribute to racial/ethnic differences in moving after victimization. Multilevel discrete-time hazard models were used for the analyses. The results provided partial support for the hypotheses, but they also showed that the link between victimization and mobility is more complex than expected. Specifically, I find that victimization is less strongly associated with moving among Blacks and Hispanics than it is with moving among Whites. In special circumstances, however, victimization can significantly increase the chances of moving for minority residents, and this is especially the case for Black households after a property loss. Their moving behavior also is related to market conditions, as residential segregation will reduce opportunities for minority residents, Blacks in particular, to move after victimization. For Hispanics, the analysis of the victimization-mobility relationship yielded estimates with relatively large standard errors, and this suggests the need for larger samples and the need for consideration of the sub-group diversity among Hispanics. The findings have important implications for research and policy development, and they extend how we think about racial/ethnic disparities in the link between crime and mobility. Details: Final report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2013. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 17, 2014 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/244867.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/244867.pdf Shelf Number: 131952 Keywords: HousingNeighborhoods and CrimeRacial/Ethnic DisparitiesSocioeconomic Conditions and CrimeVictimization Survey |
Author: Rephann, Terance J. Title: Rental Housing and Crime: The Role of Property Ownership and Management Summary: This paper examines how residential rental property ownership characteristics affect crime. It examines the incidence and frequency of disturbances, assaults, and drug possession and distribution using police incident report data for privately owned rental properties. Results show that a small percentage of rental properties generate incident reports. Count model regressions indicate that the distance that the owner resides from the rental property, size of rental property holdings, tenant Section 8 voucher use, and neighborhood owner-occupied housing rates are associated with reported violations. The paper concludes with recommendations about local government policies that could help to reduce crime in rental housing. Details: Charlottesville, VA: Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, 2009. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2014 at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.694.8120&rep=rep1&type=pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23949141_Rental_Housing_and_Crime_The_Role_of_Property_Ownership_and_Management Shelf Number: 132126 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimeRental HousingRental Property |
Author: ERS Research and Consultancy Title: Exploring Barriers to Participation in Neighbourhood and Home Watch Schemes Summary: This report is a brief overview of the findings from a scoping study that explored barriers to participation in Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch. The research covered nine black and minority ethnic groups/representative organisations across England and Wales and sought to gain some insight into levels of participation in Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch, barriers to participation and how these might be overcome. Details: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: ERS Research and Consultancy, 2010. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2014 at: http://www.ourwatch.org.uk/uploads/pub_res/NHW_Barriers_Report_2010.04.15.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.ourwatch.org.uk/uploads/pub_res/NHW_Barriers_Report_2010.04.15.pdf Shelf Number: 132289 Keywords: Crime Prevention Home Watch Neighborhood Watch (U.K.) Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Ruteere, Mutuma Title: Missing the Point: Violence Reduction and Policy Misadventures in Nairobi's Poor Neighbourhoods Summary: Violence and crime are part of everyday life in many of Nairobi's poor urban neighbourhoods. While wealthier enclaves of the city are heavily guarded by private security firms, violence and protection provided through criminal organisations and vigilante groups has become commonplace in the poor neighbourhoods. The governments of both President Daniel arap Moi and his successor, Mwai Kibaki, over the years failed to measurably improve security for the urban poor. Rather, they reflected a narrow understanding of the problem as one of ordinary crime that can be stamped out with more robust policing measures. Given the complex drivers of violence in Nairobi, and the close associations between politics and violence in Kenya, a different approach is needed that addresses the underlying factors making the poor more vulnerable to violence, including their lack of access to basic services and economic opportunities. This report is organised as follows. The first section reviews existing data on welfare and violence in Nairobi's poor neighbourhoods and identifies key gaps in understanding. The second section unpacks official understandings of violence and crime, while the third examines various policy interventions to address violence in poor urban neighbourhoods and the limitations of these. The report concludes with practical proposals for a different approach to address and mitigate violence in Nairobi's poor neighbourhoods. Details: London: Institute of Development Studies, 2013. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Evidence Report No. 39: Accessed May 15, 2014 at: http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/3192/ER39%20Final%20Online.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2013 Country: Kenya URL: http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/3192/ER39%20Final%20Online.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 132357 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePovertyViolence (Kenya)Violent Crime |
Author: Berg, Louis-Alexandre Title: Crime, Violence and Community-Based Prevention in Honduras Summary: Violent crime has emerged as a growing development challenge, affecting large segments of societies and taking a severe toll on economic development. In Honduras, the most violent country in the world as measured by its homicide rate of 90.4 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, variations in the level of violence across time and space suggest that some communities have successfully prevented crime. This note summarizes the findings of a study of crime dynamics and prevention practices in Honduras. The research revealed that while the transnational drug trade, economic downturn and political crisis have deepened the effects of organized crime, some communities have prevented these forces from taking root in their neighborhoods. The study identified practices that communities have pursued to prevent violence, and examined the capabilities of communities, municipal governments and national institutions that enable or constrain these responses. In the context of the World Banks Safer Municipalities Project in Honduras, this research points to evidence-based approaches for preventing violence at the community level. Details: Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2014. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Just Development, Issue 4: Accessed July 1, 2014 at: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTLAWJUSTINST/0,,contentMDK:23587510~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:1974062~isCURL:Y,00.html Year: 2014 Country: Honduras URL: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTLAWJUSTINST/0,,contentMDK:23587510~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:1974062~isCURL:Y,00.html Shelf Number: 132574 Keywords: Crime PreventionNeighborhoods and CrimeOrganized CrimeViolenceViolence PreventionViolent Crime |
Author: Jacobson, Jessica Title: Crime and 'Community': Exploring the Scope for Community Involvement in Criminal Justice Summary: The promotion of 'community engagement' has been a significant and consistent theme within public policy in the United Kingdom since the late 1990s. It is a theme that, under both the Labour administration of 1997 to 2010 and the current Coalition government, has cross-cut many spheres of public policy, including criminal justice policy. The term 'community engagement' is broad and subject to differing definitions; it also overlaps with many other public policy concepts. These include community empowerment; community involvement; social action; civic or civil renewal; co-production; and active citizenship. Another related term - albeit one that has largely fallen into disuse since 2012 - is 'the Big Society', which encompassed Prime Minister David Cameron's vision of an active civil society against a backdrop of sweeping public sector spending cuts. The common thread running through all these policy concepts is the aim of fostering within communities more mutual trust, a greater sense of collective self-interest and a greater preparedness to act in this self-interest. 'Community justice' refers to the intersection between community engagement and criminal justice. It encapsulates the idea that local communities which have mutual trust and a sense of collective self-interest can and should play an active part in addressing problems of crime and disorder. This report undertakes a close and rigorous analysis of the concept of community justice. Specifically, it addresses the following three questions: - How has central government, since Labour came to power in 1997, perceived the role of local communities in tackling crime and disorder? - How do the members of local communities perceive their own role in tackling crime and disorder? - To what extent do government aspirations for community justice match those of the general public, and what are the main areas of discord between governmental and public expectations? We have addressed these questions by the following means: - A review of policy developments under the preceding and current government relating to community engagement in general and community justice in particular. - A review of existing data on volunteering and political and civic participation among the general public. - Empirical research into the scope and nature of community activism in four deprived neighbourhoods in north-east London, Bristol, Nottingham and south Wales. Details: London: Institute for Criminal Policy Research, University of London, 2014. 85p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 2, 2015 at: http://www.icpr.org.uk/media/37409/Community%20Justice%20report%2013%204%2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.icpr.org.uk/media/37409/Community%20Justice%20report%2013%204%2014.pdf Shelf Number: 132597 Keywords: Community JusticeCommunity ParticipationNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: McMurtry, Roy Title: The Review of the Roots of Youth Violence. Volume 4, Research papers Summary: The Review has commissioned a number of literature reviews and research papers to help fulfill its mandate. Some of the leading Canadian experts in the fields of criminology, sociology and race relations have authored these materials. This volume contains the following papers: A Province at the Crossroads: Statistics on Youth Violence in Ontario, by Scot Wortley; Youth Crime: The Impact of Law Enforcement Approaches on the Incidence of Violent Crime Involving Youth and Matters Related to Understanding the Implications of These Findings, by Anthony N. Doob, Jane B. Sprott and Cheryl Marie Webster; A Comparative Analysis of Youth Justice Approaches, by Tullio Caputo and Michel Vallee; Racial Minority Perspectives on Violence, by Rinaldo Walcott, Cecil Foster, Mark Campbell, and David Sealy; A Methodology to Identify Communities in Ontario Where High or Increasing Relative Disadvantage May Lead to Youth Violence, By Desmond Ellis; and Governance Models for the Roots of Youth Violence, by the Institute on Governance. Details: Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2008. 492p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 7, 2014 at: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/english/documents/topics/youthandthelaw/rootsofyouthviolence-vol4.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Canada URL: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/english/documents/topics/youthandthelaw/rootsofyouthviolence-vol4.pdf Shelf Number: 132625 Keywords: Juvenile DelinquentsJuvenile OffendersNeighborhoods and CrimeViolent CrimeYouth Violence |
Author: Clear, Todd R. Title: Predicting Crime through Incarceration: The Impact of Rates of Prison Cycling On Rates of Crime in Communities Summary: The purpose of this project has been to estimate the impact of "prison cycling" -the flow into and out of prison - on crime rates in communities, with special concern about areas that have high rates of prison cycling. In this work, we explicitly hypothesized that: (1) there would be a positive impact of neighborhood reentry rates on neighborhood crime rates, controlling for neighborhood characteristics; (2) there would be a positive effect of neighborhood removal rates (admissions) on neighborhood crime rates, controlling for neighborhood characteristics; (3) the effect of the rate of both removal and reentry on the neighborhood crime rate would depend upon the level of removal and reentry (tipping point); and (4) the effect of the rate of both removal and reentry on crime the neighborhood crime rate would depend upon the level of concentrated disadvantage in the neighborhood (interaction effect). To complete the proposed work, we compiled datasets on prison admissions and releases that would be comparable across places and geocoded and mapped those data onto crime rates across those same places. The data used were panel data. The data were quarterly or annual data, depending on the location, from a mix of urban (Boston, Newark and Trenton) and rural communities in New Jersey covering various years between 2000 and 2012. Census tract characteristics come from the 2000 Census Summary File 3. The crime, release, and admission data were individual level data that were then aggregated from the individual incident level to the census tract level by quarter (in Boston and Newark) or year (in Trenton). The analyses centered on the effects of rates of prison removals and returns on rates of crime in communities (defined as census tracts) in the cities of Boston, Massachusetts, Newark, New Jersey, and Trenton, New Jersey, and across rural municipalities in New Jersey. Our analytic strategy, was one of analytic triangulation. Through the data collection associated with this project, we amassed a uniquely comprehensive crime and incarceration dataset over time - arguably one of the most comprehensive assembled to date. This dataset allowed us to model the relationship between crime and incarceration using a range of techniques (fixed effects panel models, Arrellano-Bond estimations, and vector auto-regression) taking advantage of each and being partially freed of the limitations of any one. We gave considerable attention to the problem of modeling. As might be expected, different models often provide different results. The most parsimonious models provide small standard errors with significant results, but there are sometimes sign changes when new control variables are added, suggesting instability in the modeling strategy. By contrast, the most stable results are provided by fixed effects models that, while intuitively attractive, have the disadvantage of large standard errors. When we use this analytic approach, we achieve results that, we believe, are more reliable. Overall, our work finds strong support for the impact of prison cycling on crime. It seems that such cycling has different effects in different kinds of neighborhoods, consistent with the idea of a "tipping point" but more clearly expressed as an interaction between crime policy and type of neighborhood. The results in Tallahassee, Boston, and Trenton provide consistent support for this idea. In Newark, as a result of the city's limited variability in neighborhood disadvantage, we failed to find the same pattern. Further research will investigate whether this neighborhood interaction holds in other sites. It will also enable us to think about how neighborhood change over time affects the prison cycling-crime relationship. Do neighborhoods that improve start to benefit from incarceration policy? In contrast, does current incarceration policy become a factor that inhibits neighborhood improvement? Details: Final Report submitted to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2014. 141p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 11, 2014 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/247318.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/247318.pdf Shelf Number: 132949 Keywords: Crime ModelingCrime PlacesHotspotsNeighborhoods and CrimeRecidivismSocioeconomic Conditions and Crime |
Author: Damm, Anna Piil Title: Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior? Summary: How does growing up in a residential area with many juvenile delinquents affect their risk of juvenile delinquency? Does it increase their risk of juvenile delinquency? In general, it is hard to measure the effects of growing up in a residential area with many juvenile delinquents because it may well be the case that families in which the children face a high risk of juvenile delinquency have a higher tendency to settle in such local areas. This selection problem does not exist in the specific case of children of refugees who were granted asylum in Denmark over the 1986-1998 period. The reason is that they did not choose where to settle in Denmark, but were placed in housing by the Danish Refugee Council. The analysis examines whether children of refugees have a higher probability of being convicted of crime committed over the 15-21 age interval if they were - as children - assigned to housing in a municipality in which a high share of youth had been convicted of crime. Details: Copenhagen: Rockwool Foundation Research Unit, 2014. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Study Paper No. 63: Accessed August 23, 2014 at: http://www.rockwoolfonden.dk/files/RFF-site/Publikations%20upload/Arbejdspapirer/Study%20Paper%2063%20-%20Does%20growing%20up%20in%20a%20high%20crime%20neighborhood%20affect%20youth%20criminal%20behavior.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Denmark URL: http://www.rockwoolfonden.dk/files/RFF-site/Publikations%20upload/Arbejdspapirer/Study%20Paper%2063%20-%20Does%20growing%20up%20in%20a%20high%20crime%20neighborhood%20affect%20youth%20criminal%20behavior.pdf Shelf Number: 133124 Keywords: Juvenile DelinquencyNeighborhoods and CrimeRefugeesResidential Areas and Crime (Denmark)Socioeconomic Status and Crime |
Author: United Nations Human Settlements Programme Title: Diagnosis of Insecurity Report in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Summary: In 2002, the Government of Papua New Guinea with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and technical assistance from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) launched the Safer Port Moresby Initiative with the express aim of addressing the underlying causes of crime that have accompanied the unprecedented urban growth of Port Moresby. The Safer Port Moresby Initiative (SPMI) is a citywide crime prevention initiative that is built on partnerships with public, private and popular (sector) institutions that can contribute towards crime reduction in the city. The initiative is presently being run from the offices of the Department for Community Development, formally known as the Department of Social Welfare and Development and works closely with the City Government (National Capital District Commission - NCDC). Details: Nairobi, Kenya: UN-HABITAT, 2004. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Safer Cities Programme Series 4: Accessed September 12, 2014 at: http://unhabitat.org/publications/diagnosis-of-insecurity-report-in-port-moresby-papua-new-guinea/ Year: 2004 Country: Papua New Guinea URL: http://unhabitat.org/publications/diagnosis-of-insecurity-report-in-port-moresby-papua-new-guinea/ Shelf Number: 133301 Keywords: CollaborationCrime PreventionNeighborhoods and CrimePartnershipsUrban Areas (Papua New Guinea) |
Author: Long, Iain W. Title: The Storm Before the Calm? Adverse Effects of Tackling Organised Crime Summary: Policies targeted at high-crime neighbourhoods may have unintended consequences in the presence of organised crime. Whilst they reduce the incentive to commit crime at the margin, those who still choose to join the criminal organization are hardened criminals. Large organisations take advantage of this, substituting away from membership size towards increased individual criminal activity. Aggregate crime may rise. However, as more would-be recruits move into the formal labour market, falling revenue causes a reversal of this effect. Thereafter, the policy reduces both size and individual activity simultaneously. Details: Cardiff: Cardiff Business School, 2014. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper No. E2014/8: Accessed October 16, 2014 at: http://business.cardiff.ac.uk/sites/default/files/working-papers/E2014_8.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://business.cardiff.ac.uk/sites/default/files/working-papers/E2014_8.pdf Shelf Number: 133957 Keywords: Criminal CareersNeighborhoods and CrimeOrganized Crime (U.K.) |
Author: Manitoba. Manitoba Justice Title: Working Together to Address Sexual Exploitation on our Streets Summary: The sex trade has profoundly negative effects on neighbourhoods and the individuals involved on the streets. The Criminal Code of Canada (federal law) has measures to deal with the sex trade. The Manitoba government has also introduced many measures to discourage the harmful activities related to the sex trade and sexual exploitation. Manitobans in all neighbourhoods have an important role to play in addressing the sex trade and its impact on the community at large. This publication provides an overview of the sex trade, including its impact on the victims of sexual exploitation and the communities where it occurs. The publication is also a resource for neighbourhoods that wish to take action to help reduce the harm caused by street prostitution. Connecting communities to the many resources available will help us work together to address sexual exploitation on our streets. The information in this publication is based on the experience and advice of: - front line workers - Manitoba Family Services and Housing - law enforcement agencies - Crown attorneys - Manitoba Justice - community members Details: Winnipeg, Manitoba: Manitoba Justice, Community Justice Branch, 2006. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 27, 2014 at: http://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/safe/neighbourhoodsolutions.pdf Year: 2006 Country: Canada URL: http://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/safe/neighbourhoodsolutions.pdf Shelf Number: 133828 Keywords: Child ProstitutionChild Sexual ExploitationNeighborhoods and CrimeProstitution (Canada)Sex TradeStreet Prostitution |
Author: Curtis, Richard Title: South Bronx Community Connections: A Pilot Project of Community Connections for Youth: A Grassroots Approach to Pro-social Adolescent Development in a Neighborhood of Chronic Disadvantage. Phase I: A Formative Evaluation Summary: South Bronx Community Connections (SBCC), a three-year pilot project, is guided by a theory-of change that relies on the development of nascent resident strengths within neighborhoods of chronic disadvantage. By extending this strength-based approach to the pro-social development of neighborhood juveniles, SBCC changes the lens from "risk-focused" interventions to indigenous resources that can be effectively bundled in favor of resiliency. The pilot, funded with a federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDPA) federal formula grant from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), was awarded to Community Connections for Youth (CCFY), the lead agency for implementation of its SBCC program for court-acquainted juveniles. The pilot was funded at $1.1 million, under the category "Breakthrough Research-based Strategies." Funding was awarded with the proviso that SBCC's potentially "game-changing strategies" be rigorously evaluated --- an altogether reasonable expectation given the growing political importance of the project's neighborhood context, concerns about the efficacy of out-of-home placements for court-involved juveniles, and the substantial size of the award. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY), was awarded a subcontract by CCFY to provide a comprehensive evaluation of its SBCC pilot project. The technical report that follows is different from the original evaluation design. It does not provide an evidentiary chain that links SBCC's theory-based program model to research-based strategies, to outcomes, nor is it a small "N" case study. Given an ever- evolving implementation context, it was not possible to determine an evidentiary chain linking SBCC's theory-based program model to research-based strategies and then on to outcomes; shifting priorities and unanticipated problems produced project modifications, which precluded the use of a rigorous methodology. A small "N" case study was jeopardized by changing policies, which challenged the consistency of the pool of juvenile eligibles. Accordingly, the technical report that follows is more formative than summative. It provides meaningful, useful information that present stakeholders, policymakers, and future implementers of innovative grassroots programs can use to increase the probability of success. Simply summarized, SBCC's grassroots model has several potential strengths deserving of continued experimentation and exploration. Conceptualizing, designing, and implementing a "game-changing" program is more demanding than SBCC providers recognized, or than many funders appreciate. In fact, a three-year time-frame --- given the innovative nature of the project model --- underscores both the legitimacy of many evaluators' concerns with "evaluation-readiness" factors, and their desire to balance the information needs of stakeholders and decision-makers with methodological rigor. After a planning year, and two years of implementation devoted to tweaking the pilot project model to increase effectiveness, the latest of four program logic models identifies several intertwined strategies --- Family Engagement, Comprehensive Grassroots Involvement, and A Strength-based Focus --- each accompanied by relevant research-base activities. The activities are presumed to build neighborhood social resources via the capacity building technical assistance of CCFY and SBCC. The outcomes at the conclusion of this first phase of what hopefully will become a stronger program model, buttressed by a series of increasingly rigorous evaluations, are summarized below. Some of the outcomes are already evidence-based and are identified by an asterisk (*). Others are suggestive and encouraging, but, in the absence of sufficient data, are not yet measurable. These are identified by the letters "ID" (ID). Still others, though intriguing, remain hypothetical, needing to be meaningfully crystalized and objectified. These are noted with the letter "H" (H). All are worthy of attention and continued development if progress with the pro-socialization of court-acquainted youth is to continue. Details: New York: John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2013. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 12, 2014 at: http://cc-fy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SBCC_Technical_Report.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://cc-fy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SBCC_Technical_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 134067 Keywords: At-Risk YouthDelinquency PreventionDisadvantaged Youth (New York)Neighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas |
Author: Schroeder, Kari Britt Title: Local norms of cheating and the cultural evolution of crime and punishment: a study of two urban neighborhoods Summary: The prevalence of antisocial behavior varies across time and place. The likelihood of committing such behavior is affected by, and also affects, the local social environment. To further our understanding of this dynamic process, we conducted two studies of antisocial behavior, punishment, and social norms. These studies took place in two neighborhoods in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. According to a previous study, Neighborhood A enjoys relatively low frequencies of antisocial behavior and crime and high levels of social capital. In contrast, Neighborhood B is characterized by relatively high frequencies of antisocial behavior and crime and low levels of social capital. In Study 1, we used an economic game to assess neighborhood differences in theft, third-party punishment (3PP) of theft, and expectation of 3PP. Participants also reported their perceived neighborhood frequency of cooperative norm violation ("cheating"). Participants in Neighborhood B thought that their neighbors commonly cheat but did not condone cheating. They stole more money from their neighbors in the game, and were less punitive of those who did, than the residents of Neighborhood A. Perceived cheating was positively associated with theft, negatively associated with the expectation of 3PP, and central to the neighborhood difference. Lower trust in one's neighbors and a greater subjective value of the monetary cost of punishment contributed to the reduced punishment observed in Neighborhood B. In Study 2, we examined the causality of cooperative norm violation on expectation of 3PP with a norms manipulation. Residents in Neighborhood B who were informed that cheating is locally uncommon were more expectant of 3PP. In sum, our results provide support for three potentially simultaneous positive feedback mechanisms by which the perception that others are behaving antisocially can lead to further antisocial behavior: (1) motivation to avoid being suckered, (2) decreased punishment of antisocial behavior, and (3) decreased expectation of punishment of antisocial behavior. Consideration of these mechanisms and of norm-psychology will help us to understand how neighborhoods can descend into an antisocial culture and get stuck there. Details: PeerJ 2:e450; DOI 10.7717/peerj.450. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 13, 2014 at: https://peerj.com/articles/450.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://peerj.com/articles/450.pdf Shelf Number: 134072 Keywords: Antisocial Behavior (U.K.)CheatingNeighborhoods and CrimePunishmentSocial CapitalStealingTheftUrban Areas |
Author: McLanahan, Sara Title: An Epidemiological Study of Children Exposure to Violence in the Fragile Families Study Summary: A large body of research shows that children raised in low-income families are exposed to more violence than children raised in high-income families, including neighborhood violence, domestic violence and parental violence, also referred to as 'harsh parenting.' Violence, in turn, is known to be associated with children's mental health and human capital development. This report summarizes what we have learned from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study about the prevalence, predictors and consequences of children's exposure to 1) neighborhood violence, 2) intimate partner violence (IPV), and 3) harsh parenting. By identifying violence as a threat to the public's mental health and recognizing the role of mental health challenges in increasing the risk for both victimization and perpetration of violence, the need to address violence in its varied forms becomes clear. Below are some of the over-arching action steps listed in the report that should be considered. Funding more research with diverse populations into the causes of violence Supporting policies to help vulnerable populations access mental health services, prevent violence, and improve cultural competency of mental health care providers Training and hiring more qualified people from vulnerable communities to be counselors and educators Coordinating care across different sectors -- including housing, education and workforce -- to reflect the interconnections between types of violence and the common stressors that increase risk Details: Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2014. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 20, 2014 at: http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2014/rwjf415091/subassets/rwjf415091_1 Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2014/rwjf415091/subassets/rwjf415091_1 Shelf Number: 134169 Keywords: Child Abuse and NeglectChildren and ViolenceChildren Exposed to Violence (U.S.)Domestic ViolenceFamily ViolenceIntimate Partner ViolenceNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Cahill, Meagan Title: Foreclosures and Crime: A Space-Time Analysis Summary: Despite growing attention to the negative consequences of foreclosures in neighborhoods, very little systematic research on the outcomes of the foreclosure crisis was being conducted on the topic through the late 2000s. In 2010, the National Institute of Justice funded the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center to fill that gap with a systematic assessment of the impacts of foreclosures and crime levels on each other. Four questions guided the present research: 1) What is the effect of foreclosures on the levels of crime in a neighborhood and how does that relationship change over time? Do the two phenomena have a circular relationship (where each affects the other simultaneously)? 2) Do foreclosures in one area have a "spillover" effect, increasing crime in a neighboring area at an immediate or later time period? 3) How do the effects of foreclosures on crime differ in the short-, medium -, and long-term? 4) What are the perceptions of key informants and residents on foreclosures and crime in their neighborhoods, on the impact of foreclosures on the crime rate, and on the best approaches to addressing the spillover effects of the foreclosure crisis? Data: The relationship between crime data and foreclosures was modeled at the census tract level for two sites: - Washington, DC; o 188 census tracts; -- Over the period Q1 2003 through Q4 2010 - Miami, FL ; -- 329 census tracts; -- Over the period Q4 2003 through Q1 2011 - Total of 6,016 data points in the DC data and a total of 9,870 data points in the Miami data. Results: - Effect of foreclosures on crime: -- Statistically significant in only one model: Miami model of foreclosure sales and violent crime; -- One percent increase in foreclosures would result in a 0.0157 percent increase in violent crimes - small enough to be considered non-existent. - In other models, the effect of foreclosures on crime was very small and non-significant - The effect of nearby foreclosures (spatially lagged foreclosures) was very small and not significant in any of the models The analysis suggests that any observed relationship between foreclosures and crime exists, more or less, because both foreclosures and crime happen in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Given this evidence, there is no reason to conclude that concentrated foreclosures, at least to the extent experienced in DC or Miami in the late 2000s, led to significant increases in crime on their own. The relationship between foreclosures and crime is complex, and indeed, in many ways, the two are related. However, evidence from a number of sources explored as part of this research-maps of the foreclosures and crime in both cities before and after the foreclosure crisis hit, reports from local experts and residents in both cities, descriptive analysis of foreclosures and crime data, and complex statistical models-suggests that the relationship is not direct, and is instead built on each event's relationships with other factors, like neighborhood characteristics that were in place before foreclosures spiked, such as poverty or other types of disadvantage. On a very small scale, such as by individual property or by block, a relationship between foreclosures and crime could exist, but if it does, we do not expect that it is widespread. Policies should not be designed to address these two phenomena alone. Instead, any policy responses should be designed to address wider community problems or disadvantage that likely lead to both higher foreclosures and higher crime. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2014. 109p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2015 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248652.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248652.pdf Shelf Number: 135209 Keywords: Economics and CrimeHousing ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeProperty CrimesVacant Properties |
Author: Braehler, Verena Barbara Title: Inequality of Security: Exploring Violent Pluralism and Territory in Six Neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Summary: Security is a universal human right and a highly valued societal good. It is crucial for the preservation of human life and is of inestimable value for our societies. However, in Latin America, the right to security is far from being universally established. The aim of this sequential, exploratory mixed methods study is to explore the logic of security provision in six neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro (Vidigal, Santissimo, Complexo do Alemao, Tabuleiro, Botafogo and Novo Leblon) and assess its implications for citizens' right to security. The findings from the research show that, on a city level, Rio de Janeiro's security network can best be understood as an oligopoly because different security providers (police, municipal guards, military, private security companies, militias and drug trafficking factions) are connected through cooperative, neutral or conflictual relationships and need to consider the actions and reactions of other groups when taking strategic decisions. On a neighbourhood level, the preferred option for security providers are monopolistic-type constellations, characterised by relative peace and stability. However, all actors are willing to engage in violence if the perceived political and/or economic benefits are great enough. The thesis shows that the relative power and influence of the security providers are primarily determined by the way they are perceived by the local communities and by their capacity to use violence effectively. Despite its appearance as chaotic, violence is therefore an instrument which is negotiated and managed quite carefully. The thesis concludes that insecurity and violence in Rio de Janeiro are primarily fuelled by the struggle for territorial control between conflicting security providers within the oligopoly. The oligopolistic constellation of security providers leads to an inequality of security, defined as a condition in which the right to security is not enjoyed by all residents to the same extent. Details: London: University College London, 2014. 292p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 30, 2015 at: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1457437/1/Verena_Barbara_Braehler_PhD_thesis.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Brazil URL: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1457437/1/Verena_Barbara_Braehler_PhD_thesis.pdf Shelf Number: 135808 Keywords: GangsNeighborhoods and CrimeOrganized CrimeSecurityUrban AreasViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Norwegian Church Aid Title: Exploiting Inequalities: Conflict and Power Relations in Bel Air Summary: Once a buzzing middle-class neighborhood of artists and intellectuals, Bel Air is today an impoverished neighborhood with a reputation for chronic instability, controlled to a large extent by gang leaders and criminals. Less known and researched than its infamous neighbor Cite Soleil in the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince, Bel Air represents an interesting case study of the complex structural and proximate factors that - individually and collectively - explain the state of fragility in this urban hotbed. Taken together, these factors offer a new understanding of the destabilizing consequences that the urban violence in Bel Air could lead to at the local, national and even international levels. Through the process of rapid urban migration, the densely populated and increasingly impoverished neighborhood Bel Air came to be strongly associated with former President Aristide's Lavalas movement. Aristide drew heavily upon the existing neighborhood associations or baz to safeguard his power, following in the footsteps of a long history of Haitian presidents who employed local armed groups to solidify their power. Embattled by the economic elite who felt their interests threatened by his pro-poor rhetoric, Aristide was blamed for arming the base structures and creating the paramilitary phenomenon responsible for the acute increases in violence. Violence had begun to decline following political reconciliation efforts and violence reduction strategies, combined with the actions of the UN Stabilization Mission and NGOs to implement law enforcement operations, beginning in late 2006. However, since the January 12, 2010 earthquake, the area known as Greater Bel Air has experienced an upsurge in violence, peaking in 2012. This conflict analysis for Greater Bel Air examines the driving factors of conflict, key actors, "connectors and dividers" and gender dimensions of conflict. The overall purpose is to improve the effectiveness of future peacebuilding programs in Greater Bel Air, by ensuring that they are addressing key driving factors of conflict. A specific objective for Norwegian Church Aid is to systematize and make explicit the information and insights gathered from a wide range of informants and organizations working on conflict resolution and violence reduction in Greater Bel Air, and to create a baseline upon which further programming can be developed. The conflict analysis is primarily based upon a desk study of existing analyses, academic research and other studies, combined with updated information gathered through interviews with key informants and focus groups. Key informants were identified among stakeholders from civil society, the private sector, local/national government including the police, the United Nations, national and international NGOs, religious leaders and peace practitioners. 46 interviews and six focus groups, made up of 8 - 13 participants from different sectors of society and from different sub-areas of Great Bel Air, were carried out over a two week period in July- August and one week in November 2013. Greater Bel Air and Haiti provides a unique context for understanding violence as it is a country that has not undergone war, and yet it is a situation where cyclical violent conflict has become entrenched in the sociopolitical life of Haitian society. A country born out of the world's first successful slave revolt, the roots of violence and resistance to injustice run deep, dating back to the system of slavery and the legacy of structural injustice perpetuated by this economic model. The disparities of power and wealth between the impoverished urban masses and the elite have often been marked with violence. Pervasive political, economic and social tensions are played out through local level violence between individuals and small groups, largely centered in Haiti's popular neighborhoods, but are often linked level turmoil, political and economic crises. Details: Ption Ville, Haiti: Norwegian Church Aid Haiti, 2014. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2015 at: https://www.kirkensnodhjelp.no/her-jobber-vi/haiti/exploiting-inequalities/ Year: 2014 Country: Haiti URL: https://www.kirkensnodhjelp.no/her-jobber-vi/haiti/exploiting-inequalities/ Shelf Number: 135902 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePovertySocioeconomic Conditions and CrimeUrban Areas and Crime |
Author: Delgado, Sheyla A. Title: Perceptions of Violence: Surveying Young Males in New York City. Summary: Violent crime in New York City declined sharply during the previous two decades, but some neighborhoods remain highly vulnerable to gun violence. In 2011, the City Council's Task Force to Combat Gun Violence recommended the implementation of a new "Crisis Management System" (CMS) in five New York City neighborhoods. The CMS approach includes strategies from the Chicago-based Cure Violence model along with other social and legal services. The Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College began assessing the implementation and effects of these efforts in 2013. One element in the project involves in-person surveys with young men (ages 18-30) in many of the neighborhoods implementing the strategy. The study operates under the brand name, "NYC-Cure." This report contains survey results from the first four neighborhoods to be involved in the NYC-Cure study. The survey instrument measures personal attitudes towards violence and experiences with violence, as well as each respondent's awareness of local violence prevention efforts. Additional surveys are being conducted in these and other neighborhoods around New York City in an effort to detect any changes over a three-year period. The study relies on Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS) methods to recruit survey respondents. Key Findings: 1. According to surveys conducted from March through June of 2014, Cure Violence programs have established a strong presence in New York City neighborhoods. The majority of young males in each neighborhood surveyed for this study recognized the educational materials (e.g. flyers, pamphlets, etc.) used by the organizations to promote their services. When asked if they recognized any staff from the programs (using unlabeled photographs), the majority of the survey respondents recognized at least one staff member. 2. Gun violence in these neighborhoods remains a real concern. When respondents were asked about their exposure to guns and gun violence, the majority reported hearing gunfire in their neighborhood at least once in the past 12-months and almost one-quarter (23%) heard gunshots more than 10 times. 3. Violent victimizations are common in these neighborhoods. Almost one in five survey respondents reported being stabbed at some time in the past, and almost 40 percent reported that they had been the target of gunfire in the past. 4. Contact with law enforcement was also common. Nearly 80 percent of all survey respondents reported that they had been "stopped, questioned, and frisked" in their neighborhoods at least once within the past year. Details: New York, NY: Research & Evaluation Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2015. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 15, 2015 at: https://jjrec.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/perceptionsofviolence.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://jjrec.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/perceptionsofviolence.pdf Shelf Number: 136077 Keywords: Gun-Related ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeViolent CrimeViolent OffendersYoung Adult Offenders |
Author: Sawas, Amiera Title: Urbanization, Gender and Violence in Rawalpindi and Islamabad: A Scoping Study Summary: This scoping study is part of a research project entitled 'Gender and Violence in Urban Pakistan'. This is one of 15 projects being conducted across the world which form the larger Safe and Inclusive Cities Project (SAIC). Co-funded by the International Development Research Center in Canada (IDRC) and the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), SAIC is directed towards understanding the drivers of violence in the urban areas of the global South so as to inform evidence-based policy making for safe and inclusive cities. This project, on urban Pakistan, focuses on the material and discursive drivers of gender roles and their relevance to configuring violent geographies specifically among urban working class neighbourhoods of Karachi and the twin cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad. The research is primarily concerned with investigating how frustrated gendered expectations may be complicit in driving different types of violence in urban areas. The project is also concerned with addressing first, the material aspects of gender roles through improved access to public services and opportunities, and second, discursive aspects of gender roles in terms of public discourse, education and media. The purpose of this scoping study is to bring together existing knowledge on the process of urbanization, and the interplay of gender roles, vulnerabilities, and violence in Pakistan. With an awareness of existing knowledge and knowledge gaps, the research team has been able to form a research protocol with a view to exploring known links and gaps in knowledge on the aforementioned themes. Methodologically, the study undertakes a review of the academic and policy related literatures, combined with a 3 month media analysis of selected print and online newspapers, television and radio which are relevant to national and local discourses about violence in Rawalpindi-Islamabad. By undertaking an analysis of such links between urbanization and violence, this study concludes that various types of urban geographies and the associated infrastructure therein enable or produce distinct forms of violence in Pakistan. In definitional terms, violence here is understood as the use of or threat of physical force in attaining particular aims. This understanding of violence allows an analytical distinction between 'violence as a product' and 'violence as a process'. An accompanying expansion of focus led to the inclusion not only of spectacular forms of violence (like terrorism), which is quite common in Pakistan, but also the much more common, persistent and understudied forms of everyday violence. Details: London: King's College London, Department of Geography, 2014. 130p. Source: Internet Resource: Environment, Politics and Development Working Paper Series No. 67: Accessed August 14, 2015 at: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/geography/research/epd/wp67Mustafa.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Pakistan URL: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/geography/research/epd/wp67Mustafa.pdf Shelf Number: 136404 Keywords: Gender-Related ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Anwar, Nausheen H. Title: Urbanization, Gender & Violence in Millennial Karachi: A Scoping Study Summary: This scoping study is part of a research project entitled "Gender and Violence in Urban Pakistan". This is one of 15 projects being conducted across the world which form the larger Safe and Inclusive Cities Project (SAIC). Co-funded by the International Development Research Center in Canada (IDRC) and the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), SAIC is directed towards understanding the drivers of violence in the urban areas of the global South so as to inform evidence-based policy making for safe and inclusive cities. This project, on urban Pakistan, focuses on the material and discursive drivers of gender roles and their relevance to configuring violent geographies specifically among urban working class neighbourhoods of Karachi and the twin cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad. The research is primarily concerned with investigating how frustrated gendered expectations may be complicit in driving different types of violence in urban areas. The project is also concerned with addressing first, the material aspects of gender roles through improved access to public services and opportunities, and second, discursive aspects of gender roles in terms of public discourse, education and media. The purpose of this scoping study is to bring together existing knowledge on the process of urbanization, and the interplay of gender roles, vulnerabilities, and violence in Pakistan. With an awareness of existing knowledge and knowledge gaps, the research team has been able to form a research protocol with a view to exploring known links and gaps in knowledge on the aforementioned themes. Methodologically, the study undertakes a review of the academic and policy related literatures, combined with a 3 month media analysis of selected print An accompanying expansion of focus led to the inclusion not only of spectacular forms of violence (like terrorism), which is quite common in Pakistan, but also the much more common, persistent and understudied forms of everyday violence. Details: London: King's College London, Department of Geography, 2014. 103p. Source: Internet Resource: Safe and Inclusive Cities: Accessed August 14, 2015 at: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/geography/research/epd/wp66Mustafa.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Pakistan URL: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/geography/research/epd/wp66Mustafa.pdf Shelf Number: 136409 Keywords: Gender-Related ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: MacDonald, John M. Title: Do Schools Cause Crime in Neighborhoods? Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Growth of Charter Schools in Philadelphia Summary: This paper examines the impact of schools on crime in urban neighborhoods. The change in the public educational landscape with the rise of charter schools in Philadelphia provides a natural experiment to examine the effects that school locations have on crime rates. In this paper, we use data on the location and opening of charter and public schools to estimate the effect that school openings had on neighborhood crime patterns between 1998 and 2010. We estimate the change in crime counts in areas surrounding schools before and after their opening compared to areas where schools are always open. We find that crime in general goes down when schools open. The findings suggest that school locations play a minimal role in neighborhood crime production in Philadelphia. Details: Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2015. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: U of Penn, Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 2015-11.0 : Accessed August 19, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2641096 Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2641096 Shelf Number: 136454 Keywords: Charter SchoolsNeighborhoods and CrimeSchools and Crime Urban Neighborhoods |
Author: Ellen, Ingrid Gould Title: The Impact of Foreclosures on Neighborhood Crime Summary: In the last few years, mortgage foreclosures have uprooted millions of households, and many have expressed concern that the foreclosed homes they leave behind are increasing crime. The three papers that emerged from our project study this question by examining whether and how elevated foreclosures affect different types of crime in the immediately surrounding area, in five cities around the country. In our first paper, we use point-specific, longitudinal crime and foreclosure data from New York City to examine how foreclosures affect crime on the same blockface- an individual street segment including properties on both sides of the street. We compare changes in crime on blockfaces after homes on the blockface enter foreclosure to changes on other blockfaces in the same neighborhood that did not experience foreclosures during the same time period. To bolster our confidence in a causal relationship, we also estimate regressions that control for future foreclosure notices. These future foreclosures cannot affect crime today, but they help to capture unobserved differences in trends between those blockfaces where foreclosures occur and those where they do not. In brief, while much of the association between foreclosures and crime is explained by both occurring on similar blockfaces, we find that marginal foreclosures on a blockface lead to a small number of additional violent and public order crimes. Our results are robust to both OLS and negative binomial estimation. As expected, effects are largest for foreclosed properties that go all the way through the foreclosure process to an auction. The effects of foreclosure extend to crime on neighboring blockfaces, but these effects are attenuated. When estimating threshold-level models, we find that foreclosures have a larger effect on crime after there are three foreclosures on the block. In our second two papers we focus more on identifying mechanisms and also extend our analysis to four other cities to test for generalizability. Our second paper, focused on Chicago, finds similar results as we did in New York City: an increase in the number of properties that receive foreclosure notices appears to increase total, violent, and public order crime on blockfaces in Chicago. In addition, our estimates suggest that foreclosures change the location of crime. They increase crime that occurs inside residences, but if anything reduce crime outside on the street. Foreclosures are also associated with substantively large (but weakly estimated) effects on crime within vacant buildings. Finally, increases in foreclosures are associated with increases in the number of 311 calls made to the City of Chicago about problems such as vacant buildings, rodents, graffiti, and other types of physical disorder increase in the following quarter. This suggests that the crime increase may come from an increase in physical disorder. In our third paper, we explore the relationship between foreclosures and crime in five cities, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, and Philadelphia. Overall, we find that properties banks take over through foreclosure (real estate owned or REO) are associated with higher crime both in the census tract and on the blockface. However, once we control for the number of properties in the foreclosure process (which we can do in three cities), we find no evidence that the presence of REO properties increases crime. Rather, it is the properties on the way to foreclosure auctions that appear to elevate crime. In other words, the crime increases caused by foreclosures appear to be driven by the reduced maintenance and investment of 'limbo' properties that are in transition to bank ownership. Collectively, these results suggest that local law enforcement and housing agencies should track foreclosure notices and monitor properties as they go through the foreclosure process, as their owners have little incentive to maintain them. Details: Report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice, 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 21, 2015 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248653.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248653.pdf Shelf Number: 136845 Keywords: Economics and Crime Housing Foreclosures Mortgage ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeProperty Crimes Urban Areas and CrimeVacant Properties |
Author: Higgins, Andy Title: Safe as Houses? Crime an Changing Tenure Patterns Summary: The Police Foundation's Police Effectiveness in a Changing World project seeks to identify how the police, working with other agencies and the public, can effectively tackle crime at a time when both the context in which it occurs, and the resources available to address it, are changing rapidly. Working in Luton and Slough - two English towns that have felt the local impacts of global change acutely - the project aims to develop locally-tailored, evidence-based solutions to persistent crime problems, which are responsive to the local effects of socio-economic, technological and geo-political change. In doing so, it seeks to better understand the impacts these changes are having on public services tasked with tackling crime and associated social problems. The project has taken a problem-oriented approach. A preliminary scanning phase focused attention on two challenging neighbourhoods in each town and on the most relevant crime problems - violence in Slough and burglary in Luton - before a multi-method research and analysis phase sought out new insights and perspectives on these local issues, to inform new ways of responding to them. In both towns, analysis suggested that housing factors, particularly the prevalence of lower quality, privately rented accommodation, were relevant to understanding the contemporary drivers of the crime problems being faced. In Luton, higher rates of private renting were found to be associated with local area burglary rates. Although the predictive value is modest, over the longer term, the amount of private renting accounted for more of the variance in neighbourhood burglary rates than deprivation, employment, social renting or any of the other socio-demographic Census variables available for analysis. As well as deprivation and overcrowding, neighbourhood burglary rates were also found to correlate with population growth, the proportion of residents born outside of the UK and (negatively) with the proportion of households comprising families. These findings led us to consider whether there were deficits of home security at the lower-cost end of the local private rented sector and whether these transient areas with 'churning' tenant populations might lack the community resources to resist criminal predation. In Slough, analysis drew attention to the sizable proportion of violent crime that, although not domestic violence, occurred within residential dwellings. In one neighbourhood this was found to be associated, in part, with the proliferation of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), leading to the hypothesis that the particular stresses and insecurities of living in low-quality, crowded accommodation, with shared facilities and little or no choice of co-habitees, may increase the risk that incidents of violent crime occur. These considerations prompted a number of questions as the project turned to designing new crime reduction initiatives; how could Luton's private landlords be encouraged to invest in proper home security for their properties? Could anything be done to persuade landlords to value longer-term tenancies so that tenants stay in an area for longer and communities might establish firmer roots and become more resilient? How could 'tinder-box' conditions inside Slough's HMOs be defused and landlords encouraged to take more interest in - and responsibility for - what goes on within their properties and the local neighbourhood? The lack of encouraging answers, and the paucity of options available to local community safety partners faced with the task of mitigating the harmful by-products of some elements of the private rented sector (PRS), provide the 'jumping off point' for this paper. Details: London: The Police Foundation, 2015. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Police Effectiveness in a Changing World Project: Accessed September 30, 2015 at: http://www.police-foundation.org.uk/uploads/holding/projects/housing_and_crime_final.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.police-foundation.org.uk/uploads/holding/projects/housing_and_crime_final.pdf Shelf Number: 136896 Keywords: Crime PreventionEvidence-Based PracticesHousing and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimePolice EffectivenessProblem-Oriented PolicingSocioeconomic Conditions and Crime |
Author: Spader, Jonathan Title: Fewer Vacants, Fewer Crimes? Impacts of Neighborhood Revitalization Policies on Crime Summary: The relationship between neighborhood physical environment and social disorder, particularly crime, is of critical interest to urban economists and sociologists, as well as local governments. Over the past 50 years, various policy interventions to improve physical conditions in distressed neighborhoods have also been heralded for their potential to reduce crime. Urban renewal programs in the mid-20th century and public housing redevelopment in the 1990s both subscribed to the idea that signs of physical disorder invite social disorder. More recently, the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) provided funding for local policymakers to rehabilitate or demolish foreclosed and vacant properties, in order to mitigate negative spillovers-including crime-on surrounding neighborhoods. In this paper, we investigate the impact of NSP investments on localized crime patterns in Cleveland, Chicago and Denver. Results suggest that demolition activity in Cleveland decreased burglary and theft, but do not find measurable impacts of property rehabilitation investments-although the precision of these estimates are limited by the number of rehabilitation activities. Details: Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2015-088: Accessed October 28, 2015 at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/feds/2015/files/2015088pap.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/feds/2015/files/2015088pap.pdf Shelf Number: 137163 Keywords: Broken Windows TheoryHousing ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeVacant Properties |
Author: Webster, Colin Title: Poverty and Crime Review Summary: This review of the literature about how and why poverty and crime influence one another, and the benefits to crime reduction of reducing poverty, looks at the implications for practical policies and strategies. Methods The review gathered and reviewed 173 of the most cited and/or important articles and monographs published mostly between 1980 and 2013 that directly or indirectly tested the poverty and crime (P‐C) link in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe. The start date 1980 reflects a growing interest in the impact of poverty on crime, coinciding with steep rises of poverty and unemployment at a time that began to see steep rises in the crime rate too. In marshalling studies about crime and poverty, various methodological and substantive blind‐spots in the criminological literature needed to be taken into account and overcome. Large national studies of poverty and crime in Britain, like studies of crime and class, are absent, despite a widespread impression that crime is prevalent among the poor and lower social classes. In Britain, neither criminal nor prison statistics control for poverty or socioeconomic status, made all the more remarkable when proxies for poverty such as employment status at arrest and conviction are taken into account, which show the majority of those arrested and imprisoned having experienced poverty. Further, changes in British Crime Survey (BCS) sampling and changes in the availability of data have made analysis of the impact of poverty on crime impossible. The overall method was to triangulate different approaches, methods and data so that the weaknesses of one might be compensated by the strengths of another. To discover what the cumulative effects of growing up poor might be on engaging in criminal activity we gathered studies that looked at processes of persistent or recurring childhood and family poverty, linked to crime, using longitudinal cohort studies. Associations, correlations and causes in poverty‐crime relationships were sort using cohort and time series data as well as cross sectional studies. As Valdez et al (2007:595) tell us, any poverty and crime link'...involves a complex interrelationship among mediating individual and community‐level variables'. Another aspect of our methods was to capture the different levels and scales of data and analysis - individual, household and neighbourhood - in poverty and crime relationships. We looked at smaller, local studies as well as national studies using aggregate data. Finally we examined quantitative and qualitative approaches to the impact of poverty on crime. Details: York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2014. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Anti-Poverty Strategies for the UK: Accessed November 28, 2015 at: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/71188/1/JRF_Final_Poverty_and_Crime_Review_May_2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/71188/1/JRF_Final_Poverty_and_Crime_Review_May_2014.pdf Shelf Number: 137357 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePovertySocioeconomic Conditions and CrimeSocioeconomic Status |
Author: Goodison, Sean Title: The Undiscovered County: Homicide, Dynamic Change, and Deterrence in Washington, D.C. Neighborhoods, 1998-2006 Summary: Studies examining homicide rates often have two limitations. First, there is a lack of rich, dynamic data to account for change, and second, no consideration of formal social controls at the neighborhood-level. To address these limitations, longitudinal data from Washington, D.C. was collected at the neighborhood level. This homicide incident and neighborhood demographic data, which spans from 1998-2006, allow for a test of two theoretical perspectives within a classical/social control sphere, namely social disorganization and deterrence. This work poses two main questions: Do dynamic structural factors influence homicide rates across neighborhoods? Does aggregate deterrence influence homicide rates across neighborhoods? Results suggest that dynamic structural factors predict homicide rates better than static factors, though deterrence results are insignificant. Implications and avenues for future research are also discussed. Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland, College Park, 2014. 176p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed January 13, 2016 at: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/15812/Goodison_umd_0117E_15567.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/15812/Goodison_umd_0117E_15567.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 137566 Keywords: Homicides Neighborhoods and CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Ueberall, Stephanie Title: Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews. Volume 3: Responding to the Problem Summary: The success or failure of community strategies to address the youth gun violence crisis is often attributed in part to how well the problem is understood and diagnosed. With support from The New York Community Trust, the Crime Commission has undertaken an analysis of youth gun violence and crew activity - violent turf rivalries among less-organized, smaller and normally younger groups than traditional gangs - in select New York City communities. Our initial findings from available data, existing research, and interviews with stakeholders are presented in a series of papers titled, "Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews". This research and fieldwork demonstrated that crews - and not traditional, hierarchical gangs - are a major part of violent crime statistics and analysis. Crews actually account for a great deal of youth criminal activity, especially violent crime - and without proper interventions for this type of activity, we will not be able to adequately address what has been a persistent public safety and criminal justice issue for New York City. In order to develop more effective responses to crews it is essential for stakeholders to acknowledge the victimization of those involved, understand their underlying needs, and identify the neighborhood conditions that impact them. Executive Summary New York City has famously experienced unprecedented, sustained reductions in crime over the last 25 years. Areas once so dangerous that they resembled foreign war zones now are home to some of the most desirable real estate in the country. We proudly and rightfully point to our success, calling ourselves the "safest big city in America". But there are places and people that have been left behind. There are areas which have not seen violent crime rates drop to nearly zero - as others have - or anywhere close. Certain races and age groups are also still far more likely to become victims and be responsible for violent crime than others. The root causes of violent crime have not changed either - and the circumstances under which crime is committed sound eerily familiar to the high-crime New York of 25 years ago that we now refer to as the "bad old days". Therefore, in order to make real strides in improving the quality of life amongst these persistently hardest-hit groups, we must address the root causes of why youth become involved in gun violence and crews. The NYPD publically acknowledged that youth "gangs" are becoming more organized and more violent, finding that more than a third of all shootings in New York City now involve what the NYPD calls "crews". In order to truly identify how youth are involved in organized activity (gangs, crews, etc.) and gun violence, the Crime Commission researched legal and intelligence definitions and conducted fieldwork with community residents, service providers, and policymakers. Although there have been significant recent investments by policymakers and funders - ranging from organizing task forces and work groups, to deploying new law enforcement strategies, to implementing programmatic interventions - New York City's ability to fully understand and diagnose its crew problem is hindered by a lack of data and coordination. While the NYPD collects data on crew members and related criminal activity, law enforcement data are typically insufficient to inform comprehensive responses because it is collected for the purpose of informing suppression and investigation strategies. At the same time, community-based organizations collect a range of data about the underlying needs of the individuals involved, but often lack the capacity to analyze and communicate these data to inform policy and programming decisions. Further, the City lacks a collaborative effort among stakeholders dedicated to addressing this problem. Preventing crew violence cannot be accomplished by a single agency or organization. Effective solutions require the combination of insight, hard work, and dedication from a wide variety of organizations and stakeholders. New York City should immediately mobilize stakeholders to take steps toward developing a comprehensive strategy to address the city's crew violence problem. The Crime Commission's Assessment offers the following recommendation: 1. Implement a cooperative approach 2. Better collect and share data 3. Coordinate a continuum of interventions Details: New York: Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, 2015. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2016 at: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/CCC-Crews-Vol3-RespondingToTheProblem.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/CCC-Crews-Vol3-RespondingToTheProblem.pdf Shelf Number: 137683 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Neighborhoods and CrimeViolent CrimeYouth Violence |
Author: Billings, Stephen B. Title: Partners in Crime: Schools, Neighborhoods and the Formation of Criminal Networks Summary: Why do crime rates differ greatly across neighborhoods and schools? Comparing youth who were assigned to opposite sides of newly drawn school boundaries, we show that concentrating disadvantaged youth together in the same schools and neighborhoods increases total crime. We then show that these youth are more likely to be arrested for committing crimes together - to be "partners in crime". Our results suggest that direct peer interaction is a key mechanism for social multipliers in criminal behavior. As a result, policies that increase residential and school segregation will - all else equal - increase crime through the formation of denser criminal networks. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2016. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper Series: Working Paper 21962: Accessed February 24, 2016 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21962.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21962.pdf Shelf Number: 137957 Keywords: Criminal NetworksNeighborhoods and CrimeSchoolsSocioeconomic Conditions and Crime |
Author: Reichert, Jessica Title: Male Survivors of Urban Violence and Trauma: A qualitative analysis of jail detainees Summary: Urban violence is a major public health concern and at epidemic levels in some neighborhoods, directly impacting the mental health of its residents (Morris, n.d.). The rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among urban populations is estimated to be around 31 percent, higher than the PTSD rate among returning Iraq war veterans of 17 percent (Donley et al., 2012; Hoge, Terhakopian, Castro, Messer, Engel, 2007). Research has found traumatic events in urban neighborhoods can be associated with later criminal activity and substance use (Breslau, Chilcoat, Kessler, & Davis, 1999; Breslau, Davis, & Andreski, 1995; Scott, 2010; Widom & Maxfield, 2001). An estimated 6.3 million people in the United States are in need of PTSD treatment, with higher proportions of sufferers concentrated in urban cities (Norris & Slone, 2013).The cost of gun violence is estimated at $174 billion including loss of work productivity, medical care, pain and suffering, insurance, and criminal justice expenses (Miller, 2012). Researchers from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (Authority) and WestCare Foundation Illinois documented self-reported characteristics, experiences, and backgrounds of male survivors of urban violence. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with six men receiving substance abuse treatment while in custody at Cook County jail. All showed symptoms of mental health issues, trauma histories, and/or PTSD. The interviews focused on the men's life stories, traumas they experienced, and their coping mechanisms. Some may assume these men were street savvy, immune to the continuous violence around them and to blame for their circumstances, but the research revealed the men were profoundly negatively affected by their experiences in their homes and neighborhoods. All men said their neighborhoods were dangerous growing up and that crime and gunfire were common. All had been shot at and physically assaulted. Most had been robbed at gunpoint and stabbed. Most had witnessed someone's murder or someone being seriously injured. Three experienced the sudden loss of a family member who was murdered; all thought at least once they would be killed or seriously injured. Trauma occurred early. By the age of five, half of those interviewed had already experienced a traumatic event. Domestic disruption and violence was common - three saw their fathers physically abuse their mothers as children and all were either separated from, or abandoned by, a parent. Half of the interviewees were sexually abused or experienced unwanted sexual contact. Half had periods of homelessness. Two interviewees had been diagnosed with a mental illness, one had attempted suicide, and one had serious physical health issues. Their reactions to traumatic experiences varied. All said they used alcohol or drugs as a way to cope. Five began using drugs and/or alcohol during early adolescence. Four reported nightmares and decreased intimacy or trust in others. Three suffered physical responses to stressful events, including anxiety, cold sweats, and difficulty concentrating. Two noticed impaired relationships with family or friends. Details: Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2015. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 2, 2016 at: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/assets/articles/MALE%20SURVIVORS%20OF%20URBAN%20VIOLENCE%20AND%20TRAUMA%20report%20FINAL.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/assets/articles/MALE%20SURVIVORS%20OF%20URBAN%20VIOLENCE%20AND%20TRAUMA%20report%20FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 138014 Keywords: Cycle of ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimePosttraumatic Stress DisorderUrban Areas and CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: National Crime Prevention Centre (Canada) Title: The Achievers: Politive Alternatives to Youth Gangs (PAYG) Summary: Toronto's Jane-Finch community suffers from one of the highest violent crime rates in the province of Ontario and is widely acknowledged as one of the most socially and economically disadvantaged communities in Canada. It is believed that the Jane-Finch community has the highest concentration of youth gangs in Canada, with well-known gangs such as the Bloods and Crips. Researchers from the University of Toronto and officials from the City of Toronto have developed the Youth Crime Risk Index, a tool to identify neighbourhoods with a high risk of youth gang activity. The index demonstrates that Jane-Finch has the highest risk score in Toronto. This indicates that the community suffers from high crime rates, socio-economic disadvantage, and residents have limited access to community programs for youth. Given all of these risk factors, youth who grow up in this community are especially vulnerable to gang membership. In 1999, there were a few local programs that dealt with gang members and gang-related issues, but no programs were available for middle-school youth. Details: Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2014. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Evaluation Summaries ES-2014-40: Accessed march 14, 2016 at: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/payg/payg-eng.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/payg/payg-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 138221 Keywords: At-Risk YouthGangsHigh Crime AreasNeighborhoods and CrimeSocioeconomic Conditions and CrimeUrban GangsYouth Gangs |
Author: Males, Mike Title: Is Proposition 47 to Blame for California's 2015 Increase in Urban Crime? Summary: In November 2014, nearly 60 percent of California's electorate voted to pass Proposition 47. This proposition made substantial sentencing reforms by reducing certain nonviolent, non-serious offenses, such as minor drug possession and shoplifting, from felonies to misdemeanors (CJCJ, 2014). Because the changes made by the new law applied retroactively, incarcerated people serving felony sentences for offenses affected by Proposition 47 were eligible to apply for resentencing to shorten their sentences or to be released outright. Those who already completed felony sentences for Proposition 47 offenses could also apply to change their criminal records to reflect the reforms. Critics of Proposition 47 contended it would increase crime by releasing those convicted of dangerous or violent felonies early. Opponents also suggested that reducing the severity of sentences for certain felonies would fail to deter people from committing crimes or completing court-ordered probation requirements. In the initial months following the passage of Proposition 47, California's jail population dropped by about 9,000 between November 2014 and March 2015 (the most recent date for which county jail figures are available at this time) (BSCC, 2016). State prisons reported over 4,500 releases attributed to Proposition 47 (CDCR, 2016), for a total incarcerated population decline of more than 6 percent - a substantial decrease. Similar to the initial year after Public Safety Realignment took effect, January-June 2015 saw general increases in both violent and property crime in California's cities with populations of 100,000 or more (Table 1). During this period, homicide and burglary showed slight declines, while other Part I violent and property offenses experienced increases. Is Proposition 47 to blame for the increases in reported urban crimes? This report tests this question by comparing changes in crime rates, from January-June 2014 and January-June 2015, in California's 68 largest cities to changes in: (a) county jail populations and (b) Proposition 47-related discharges and releases from prison to resentencing counties. Details: San Francisco: Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 2016. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 29, 2016 at: http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/proposition_47_and_urban_crime_2015.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/proposition_47_and_urban_crime_2015.pdf Shelf Number: 138458 Keywords: Crime RatesCrime StatisticsNeighborhoods and CrimeProposition 47Urban Crime |
Author: McMurtry, Roy Title: The Review of the Roots of Youth Violence: Volume 1: Findings, Analysis and Conclusions Summary: Ontario is at a crossroads. While it is a safe place for most, our review identified deeply troubling trends in the nature of serious violent crime involving youth in Ontario and the impacts it is having on many communities. Those trends suggest that, unless the roots of this violence are identified and addressed in a coordinated, collaborative and sustained way, violence will get worse. More people will be killed, communities will become increasingly isolated and disadvantaged, an ever-accelerating downward cycle will ensue for far too many, and our social fabric as a province could be seriously damaged. To open the door for this kind of review required wisdom and foresight. We commend Premier Dalton McGuinty for asking the bold questions that led to these conclusions. In an era when many seek short-term political gain by simply calling for more law enforcement, despite chiefs of police stressing that "we cannot arrest our way out of this problem," the Premier took a different approach. He gave us a wide mandate and full independence to look at where the violence is coming from, and to identify ways to address its roots, in order to advance the health, safety and long-term prosperity of Ontario. This has been a most challenging assignment. Ontario is a large and diverse province. The issues are interconnected and controversial. Time was limited, and both the pressures and expectations have been high. We nonetheless thank the Premier for the opportunity he gave us to explore the deep and complex issues that lie behind the roots of violence involving youth. We describe in our report the process we followed to understand those issues. In a little over 10 months, we or our staff met with over 750 people, whether in their individual capacities or as representatives of organizations. We met with more than a dozen Ontario deputy ministers, several on more than one occasion. We met with Ontario's Poverty Reduction Committee and its political and public service staff, and separately with certain Cabinet ministers. And, as directed in our mandate, we established a strong working relationship with the City of Toronto and the United Way, whose leadership on these kinds of issues is well-known. We also commissioned a youth-led neighbourhood insight process to delve, as deeply as time permitted, into the issues facing eight neighbourhoods in the province. We engaged the Grassroots Youth Collaborative, a consortium of highly diverse youth-led organizations, to help us hear youth voices in Toronto that might otherwise not have come to our attention. We also engaged the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres to bring us the views of urban Aboriginal youth from across the province. As well, we commissioned five major research papers and two comprehensive literature reviews, obtained 11 background papers from Ontario ministries, provided provincewide access to our work via a website, an online survey and a 1-800 number, and travelled to England to better understand some particularly relevant approaches there. Nonetheless, we do not profess to have studied all that could have been studied, nor to have met with all who could have helped us with our task. We have almost certainly not done full justice to the work of all who shared their ideas and insights with us and may have failed to fully credit everyone whose ideas inspired us. In all of our work, we joined a conversation rather than started one. We have been encouraged by the large number of people, most certainly including youth, who are bringing expertise and energy to bear on the issue of violence in Ontario. They include people within all orders of government, in community agencies and organizations, and in communities themselves. We have also been encouraged by the commitment the Premier has shown to addressing some key aspects of this issue in recent initiatives such as full-day learning for four- and five-year-olds and the appointment of a Cabinet committee to develop "a focused poverty reduction strategy with measures, indicators and reasonable targets by the end of 2008." For reasons we discuss in our report, we focused on the most serious violence involving youth. We also address the other forms of violence that can be its precursors, but consider the heart of the matter to be those youth who are so alienated and disconnected from our society that they carry guns and often use them in impulsive ways, demonstrating indifference to the consequences and placing no value on human life. We inquired into the mindset of those youth and, from that analysis, we identified the immediate risk factors for their behaviour. This then led us to the roots of those factors and to actions to address those roots. We found the roots to be extensive and pervasive. They permeate society, but are intertwined and particularly virulent in certain neighbourhoods, and made worse everywhere when they include racism. Our core finding can be simply stated: neither the breadth nor the depth of the roots is taken into account in shaping public policy in Ontario. The initiatives underway to address various aspects of them are largely inadequate for the task, and there is no structure to give coherence to those initiatives. Overall, Ontario has not recognized how vital it is to the health of this province to put an aligned and sustained approach to the roots of violence involving youth at the heart of the government's agenda. In reaching these conclusions, we did not adopt a rigid definition of youth. The roots of the immediate risk factors can take hold even before birth and continue to pose threats all through a child's life. Similarly, there is no accepted upper limit on who should be considered a youth, and we do not propose to create one. Certainly, the definition should go beyond the age limit for the Youth Criminal Justice Act (18), up to some point in a youth's early to mid-20s, but there is no benefit in trying to be more precise than that in looking at violence involving youth and considering actions to address its roots. In approaching our work, we were asked not to reinvent the wheel. We found little need to do so. Good work and good ideas abound. To work with that metaphor, we found many excellent "wheels." The problem, however, is that they are not all connected to the same vehicle, and those that are on the same vehicle frequently have separate steering systems and often separate drivers with different ideas of what the destination is and how to get there. That is why we give the highest priority to governance, and otherwise tend to provide more advice than recommendations. What matters most is getting the wheels onto vehicles that are following an agreed-upon map to a shared destination. We are confident that the destination we describe in our report is the right one. It focuses on repairing a social context that is broken for many youth; strengthening neighbourhoods and community agencies; establishing clear outcome goals for initiatives for youth; providing youth with engagement, hope and opportunity; and aligning the provincial ministries to deliver a coordinated, collaborative agenda of change over the long term, including by working effectively with other orders of government and community residents. Having described that destination, we are largely content to leave the details to the planning process we describe in the balance of this report. We do not make a lot of detailed recommendations because so doing would suggest that there are neat, discrete solutions to problems that are deep and intertwined. In our view, only an integrated, collaborative and sustained approach to the roots will succeed. That is why we propose a body at the centre of government with the mandate and resources to consider our advice, situate it within the context of the balance of the government"s agenda, determine priorities, make linkages among ministries and with other governments, and manage a process of both building and being responsive to communities across the province. Only this kind of body and approach will be able to produce a coherent, long-range plan for the province, set agendas for ministries individually and collectively, establish overall and interim targets and monitor work towards them to ensure an aligned and sustained response. We are confident that, with this kind of strong coordination and leadership, we can rely upon Ontario's ministries and their partners to do the detailed planning required to respond to the advice we offer throughout our report. This need not be a lengthy exercise, but it will call for a major focus from many ministries. Given that focus and the leadership structure we propose, we believe that the planning exercise can be completed, and the plans made public, by May 2009. In the result, the recommendations we make to the Premier emphasize the need to recognize the breadth of the issues and to address them by creating significant new governance mechanisms to coordinate the energy and capacity that are waiting and eager to take on the work that must be done. Details: Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2008. 458p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 1, 2016 at: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/youthandthelaw/roots/volume1/chapter01_intro.aspx Year: 2008 Country: Canada URL: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/youthandthelaw/roots/volume1/chapter01_intro.aspx Shelf Number: 138524 Keywords: Juvenile Delinquents Juvenile Offenders Neighborhoods and Crime Violent CrimeYouth Violence |
Author: Sandler, Danielle H. Title: Externalities of Public Housing: The Effect of Public Housing Demolitions on Local Crime Summary: This paper evaluates the potential for negative externalities from public housing by examining crime rates before and after demolition of public housing projects in Chicago between 1995 and 2010. Using data on block-level crimes by type of crime merged to detailed geographic data on individual public housing demolitions, I find evidence that Chicago's public housing imposed significant externalities on the surrounding neighborhood. Using a difference in difference approach comparing neighborhoods around public housing projects to nearby neighborhoods I find that crime decreases by 8.8% after a demolition. This decrease is concentrated in violent crime. I use an event study to show that the decrease occurs at the approximate date of the eviction of the residents and persists for at least 5 years after the demolition. Neighborhoods with large demolitions and demolitions of public housing that had been poorly maintained display the largest crime decreases. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies, 2016. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 27, 2016 at: ftp://ftp2.census.gov/ces/wp/2016/CES-WP-16-16.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: ftp://ftp2.census.gov/ces/wp/2016/CES-WP-16-16.pdf Shelf Number: 138826 Keywords: Crime Rates Neighborhoods and CrimePublic Housing Urban Areas Violent Crime |
Author: McMurtry, Roy Title: The Review of the Roots of Youth Violence: Volume 2: Executive Summary Summary: When Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty asked us to undertake this review in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of a high school student at school, he had the wisdom not to simply ask for short-term ideas about how to deploy yet more law enforcement resources to try to suppress this kind of violence. Instead, he asked us to spend a year seeking to find out where it is coming from - its roots - and what might be done to address them to make Ontario safer in the long term. This turned out to be a most challenging assignment. Ontario is a large and diverse province. The issues are complex and controversial. Time was limited, and both the pressures and expectations have been high. We nonetheless thank the Premier for this opportunity and commend him for the initiative he took in placing the focus on the long-term well-being of Ontario and its residents. In undertaking this work, we joined a conversation rather than starting one. Our work, although focusing on a more fundamental analysis than has often been the case, did not begin in a vacuum. In provincial and other governments and, perhaps most importantly, in communities across this province, many individuals have combined compassion with passion to help address the violence in our society. However, we found no overall policy in place to guide this work and no structures to coordinate the efforts of those doing it. We found a focus on problems rather than on the roots of problems, and on interventions once the roots had taken hold rather than on actions to prevent that happening. Overall, our analysis brought to light a number of underlying issues that call for attention in a structured and sustained way. While this "roots" analysis has by definition caused us to focus on often very deep and sometimes divisive problems and has perhaps in some areas given our report a negative tone, we believe that our plan for the future is positive. With good communications and sustained and visible commitment, it will earn and receive significant public support. Details: Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2008. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 4, 2016 at: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/english/documents/topics/youthandthelaw/rootsofyouthviolence-vol2.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Canada URL: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/english/documents/topics/youthandthelaw/rootsofyouthviolence-vol2.pdf Shelf Number: 138926 Keywords: Juvenile Delinquents Juvenile Offenders Neighborhoods and Crime Violent Crime Youth Violence |
Author: Painter, Anthony Title: Safer Together: Policing a global city in 2020 Summary: 'Safer together: policing a global city in 2020' is an analysis based on an extensive consultation, wide-ranging research, and the RSA's public service and institutional reform specialisms. It is an ambitious set of proposals to generate a public conversation about the future of London's safety - a critical component of its success as a global city. Following an extensive engagement with 500 of the most senior Met officers and others throughout the service and a consultation involving more than seventy external organisations, Safer Together establishes a shared mission. This mission involves public agencies, the voluntary sector, companies, the public and the police themselves. In a context of severe budgetary constraints and a changing pattern of crime, which is becoming more complex, the risk for London is that all those involved in its safety could be overwhelmed. The report outlines an approach that relies on deeper co-operation, better use of information and 'what works' analysis, and more extensive engagement of the police with London's communities and members of the public who need its support. The RSA proposes: - A Community Safety Index for London that will combine objective measures of crime and incidence of risk and harm with subjective measures such as feelings of safety, absence of anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood quality. - A London Policing Impact Unit that would combine operational, academic, and strategic knowledge. The Impact Unit would analyse data and learn from on-the-ground experience of 'what works'. These lessons would then be applied in the Met. A representative Citizens' Panel would inform its work. - New forms of collective impact to focus on particular challenges should be extended. These will broaden and widen the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub approach where agencies work in close cooperation. This means a permanent engagement on shared issues of concern such as domestic violence, mental health, or anti-social behavior. - A deepening of the Met's engagement with victims and witnesses, for example through greater deployment of restorative justice and greater analysis of victim needs and more continuous communication with them. Only through devolution of more powers over the criminal justice system to London can this take place convincingly. And there is a need for deeper community engagement - especially through the Safer Neighbourhood Boards and through the smart use of social media. 'Safer Together' is a considered yet ambitious response to the challenges of next few years in London. It provides a wider lens for current concerns on the future of public services and the public's relationship with them. It will be of interest to all those involved in changes to the public sector and those who rely on these changes succeeding - the public themselves. Details: London: RSA Action and Research Centre, 2015. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 5, 2016 at: https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/reports/safer-together-policing-a-global-city-in-2020/ Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/reports/safer-together-policing-a-global-city-in-2020/ Shelf Number: 138955 Keywords: Community ParticipationCrime PreventionNeighborhoods and CrimePolice EffectivenessPolicingPublic SafetyUrban Areas |
Author: McNeeley, Susan M. Title: Street Codes, Routine Activities, Neighborhood Context, and Victimization: An Examination of Alternative Models Summary: According to Elijah Anderson's Code of the Street (1999), individuals in disadvantaged communities adopt a set of oppositional values, partly because demonstrating these values allows them to avoid victimization. However, the empirical evidence on the effect of the street code on victimization is mixed, with several studies finding that those who adhere to the values provided in the code are at greater risk for victimization. This study incorporates lifestyle-routine activities theory in order to better understand the relationships between subcultural values, opportunity, and victimization. Specifically, three theoretical models are tested. In the first model, the main effects of code-related beliefs are examined, net of activities. The second model proposes an indirect effect of subcultural values on victimization through an increase in public activities or lifestyle. The third model is interactive in nature; one's beliefs and activities may interact to increase the chances of experiencing victimization, with adherence to subcultural values affecting victimization to a greater extent for those who more often engage in public activities. Additionally, the extent to which the effects of subcultural values in the form of street codes and public activities vary by neighborhood context is examined. Using survey data from approximately 3,500 adults from 123 census tracts in Seattle, Washington, multilevel models of crime-specific victimization were estimated. The findings revealed that both public lifestyles and adherence to the street code were positively related to violent and breaking and entering victimization. In addition, the effect of the street code on both types of victimization was moderated by public activities; code-related values contributed to greater risk of victimization for those with more public lifestyles, but were protective for those who did not spend as much time in public. Implications for policy and theory that arise from these findings are discussed, as are suggestions for future research. Details: Cincinnati: School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, 2013. 145p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 16, 2016 at: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ap/10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:ucin1382951840 Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ap/10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:ucin1382951840 Shelf Number: 139041 Keywords: Code of the StreetCommunities and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeRoutine ActivitiesVictimization |
Author: Apraxine, Pierre Title: Urban Violence and Humanitarian Challenges Summary: This second colloquium organised jointly by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) aimed to present the causes and humanitarian consequences of urban violence, as well as related trends and challenges for the European Union and humanitarian actors. Two case studies have been selected, focusing on different types of violence affecting urban environments. The first case study examines pilot projects to address humanitarian needs arising from organised crime and gang violence in megacities; the second is an analysis of the humanitarian challenges emerging from urban violence in the context of uprisings, referring specifically to the lessons learned from the protests in the Arab world. Urban violence represents numerous challenges for policy makers and humanitarian actors alike. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities and it appears that urban centres will absorb almost all new population growth in the coming decades. It has therefore become increasingly important to understand the dynamics of violence in an urban setting. By bringing together experts, academics and representatives from various relief organisations, the ICRC and the EUISS hope to have contributed to the debate and spurred further interest in this increasingly important issue. The present publication includes summaries of both the presentations provided by the speakers and the discussions held during the colloquium. Details: Paris: EU Institute for Security Studies, 2012. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2016 at: http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/Urban_violence_and_humanitarian_challenges.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Europe URL: http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/Urban_violence_and_humanitarian_challenges.pdf Shelf Number: 125774 Keywords: Gang ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeOrganized CrimePublic DisorderUrban Areas and CrimeUrban Violence |
Author: Johnson, Christopher M. Title: "We're from the Favela but "We're Not Favelados": The intersection of race, space, and violence in Northeastern Brazil Summary: In Salvador da Bahia's high crime/violence peripheral neighbourhoods, black youth are perceived as criminals levying high social costs as they attempt to acquire employment, enter university, or political processes. Low-income youth must overcome the reality of violence while simultaneously confronting the support, privileged urban classes have for stricter law enforcement and the clandestine acts of death squads. As youth from these neighbourhoods begin to develop more complex identities some search for alternative peer groups, social networks and social programmes that will guide them to constructive life choices while others consign themselves to options that are more readily available in their communities. Fast money and the ability to participate in the global economy beyond 'passive' engagement draws some youth into crime yet the majority choose other paths. Yet, the majority use their own identities to build constructive and positive lives and avoid involvement with gangs and other violent social groups. Drawing from Brazil's racial debates started by Gilberto Freyre, findings from this research suggest that while identity construction around race is ambiguous, specific markers highlight one's identity making it difficult to escape negative associations with criminality and violence. The discourse surrounding social capital suggests that such individuals can rely on it to overcome these problems. However social capital is used more often as a tool to spatially and socially segregate and consolidate power and opportunity among the powerful and well-connected. That race does not contribute significantly to the debate misses key elements in how social relationships develop and are maintained. This research was conducted over the period of ten months in a peripheral neighbourhood in Salvador through a community social development programme. The study used a mixed qualitative methodology that was part ethnographic examining social networks and protective factors that assist young people at risk from becoming involved in crime or violence. Details: London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 2012. 299p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 26, 2016 at: http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/390/ Year: 2012 Country: Brazil URL: http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/390/ Shelf Number: 139161 Keywords: FavelasNeighborhoods and CrimeSlumsSocioeconomics Conditions and CrimeViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Vandenberg, Layne Title: Police Pacification of Rio de Janeiro Favelas in the Context of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Summary: In 2006, FIFA announced Brazil as the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. To heighten security measures for the Cup, the Rio de Janeiro state government created the Unidade de Policia Pacificadora (Police Pacification Unit or UPP) to regain territorial control of poor communities - called favelas - that were governed by criminal groups in the government's absence. The UPPs diverge from traditional policing practices as they utilize proximity policing in favelas to create a more permanent presence with the hope of eliminating drug traffickers and generating trusting relationships with the communities they serve. The implementation of the UPP has failed because UPPs decrees conceptualize the program within existing police structures and rely on the same policing methods used in the past. While the UPPs have successfully fulfilled their goal to reduce some forms of lethal violence in favelas, it has been unsuccessful in establishing positive relationships between residents and police that allow for the complete integration of favelas into Rio de Janeiro society. Despite this imperfect and incomplete integration, favela residents have made their voices heard, thus increasing their participation in civil society and opening a necessary social discourse about police expectations and inequality. I argue that the UPPs, although a short-term strategy, must implement stronger institutional organization and social programming to change policing methods and positively impact the favela communities. Details: Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 2015. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 26, 2016 at: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/112118/laynevdb.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2015 Country: Brazil URL: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/112118/laynevdb.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 139229 Keywords: FavelasNeighborhoods and CrimePolicingSlumsSporting Events |
Author: Berkmann von der Wehl, Candice Title: The Impact the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) have on Rio de Janeiro's favelas Summary: Historically, many types of public security reform policy have been tried and implemented in Brazil, ranging from demilitarizing the police; new penal codes; strengthening internal accountability systems, and restructuring police forces; but so far, seemingly the most promising and popular approach has been community oriented policing (COP). Leaving behind the more traditional, militaristic styles of policing that dominate police discourse throughout the region of Latin America, COP is a preventive approach based on the idea that society is the first line of defence against crime and insecurity. It focuses on the causes of crime, which can motivate citizens, to engage in police community partnerships, and it attempts to use crime statistics more effectively. The focal points of this paper, therefore, is to investigate community oriented policing in Brazil, known as Unidade de Policia Pacificadora (UPP), and to critically assess its strengths and weaknesses in the context of urban landscapes of Rio de Janeiro in the 21st Century. The paper will seek to compare public security reform critiques, as well as make an in depth analysis of what factors determine the success or failures of police reform endeavours, particularly, those in El Salvador and Brazil. Theses critiques are centred around short term initiatives that fail to identify the main problems inherent with police in Latin America; the international community's requirements for 'democratic police'; and the states' inability to alter the culture of 'non-questioning military hierarchy. Details: Leiden, NETH: Leiden University, 2016. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 27, 2016 at: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/38205/The%20Impact%20the%20Pacifying%20Police%20Units%20have%20on%20Rio%20de%20Janeiro%27s%20favelas.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2016 Country: Brazil URL: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/38205/The%20Impact%20the%20Pacifying%20Police%20Units%20have%20on%20Rio%20de%20Janeiro%27s%20favelas.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 139233 Keywords: FavelasNeighborhoods and CrimePolicingPublic SecuritySlumsViolent Crime |
Author: Aqil, Nauman Title: Residents' perceptions of neighborhood violence and communal responses: the case of two neighborhoods in Lahore, Pakistan Summary: The preponderance of violence in metropolises has been a persistent concern for successive governments in Pakistan. However, it is pertinent to remark that there are often significant variations in the occurrence of violence between physically and socially similar neighborhoods in a single city. I set out to study one more violent and one less violent neighborhood in Lahore, Pakistan, to try to understand how community organizations, physical characteristics and the residents' strategies for crime prevention and control are related to different levels of criminal violence. A qualitative approach was used (in-depth interviews were conducted with community residents in each neighborhood). I found that spatial dynamics, population heterogeneity, and a lack of social cohesion were important predictors of criminal violence. It was noted that patterns of social interaction among neighbors have undergone significant change over the past few decades. In addition, local strategies of informal social control were limited to random vigilance, settlement of sporadic disputes within community settings, and surveillance of children's activities. I concluded that indigenous means of informal social control can help prevent, or at least control, criminal violence in neighborhoods Details: Beilefeld, Germany: Universitat Bielefeld, 2015. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Violence Research and Development Project, Papers, no. 1: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/icvr/docs/aqil.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Pakistan URL: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/icvr/docs/aqil.pdf Shelf Number: 139374 Keywords: Communities and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeSocial CohesionUrban CrimeViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Denman, Kristine Title: Evaluation of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Area Project Safe Neighborhoods Summary: Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a violent crime reduction initiative sponsored by the Department of Justice (DOJ). It has been in operation for over a decade and has been implemented in jurisdictions throughout the country. It began with a focus on firearm crimes, and in 2006, expanded to include gang crimes. The current initiative is intended to address violent crime, gun crime, and gang crime in Bernalillo County and the surrounding Native American communities, including Isleta Pueblo and To'hajiilee. Across the country, United States Attorney's Offices (USAO) coordinate PSN efforts in their respective districts. The USAO designates a Task Force Coordinator (also referred to herein as the "law enforcement coordinator") whose charge is to convene a PSN Task Force that brings together representatives from law enforcement and prosecution at all jurisdictional levels (local, tribal, state, and federal), as well as community leaders, research partners, and others. These Task Force meetings are a venue for planning, reporting on, and refining PSN activities and initiatives. In addition to managing these efforts, the PSN Task Force Coordinator reports to the Department of Justice regarding the implementation and short-term success of local PSN efforts. New Mexico has had the opportunity to engage in a number of Project Safe Neighborhoods projects in a variety of locations throughout the state. This PSN effort intended to build on those prior initiatives by engaging with established partners, utilizing strategic efforts developed previously, and using other proven resources and strategies developed previously through other efforts like Weed & Seed. This PSN project intends to expand on prior efforts by addressing the concerns of nearby Native American communities, particularly with respect to the transference of criminal activity and values across jurisdictional boundaries, and by addressing the impact of violent crime on urban Native Americans both as victims and offenders. As part of the research support and evaluation efforts for this PSN project, the New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center (NM SAC) at the University of New Mexico's Institute for Social Research has contracted with the New Mexico Department of Public Safety to conduct a process evaluation. Besides documenting project activities, this evaluation focuses on documenting the activities and collaboration that occurred, the perceived impact and success of the initiative, facilitators and barriers to implementation, and directions for future growth. Details: Albuquerque: New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center, 2016. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 23, 2016 at: http://isr.unm.edu/reports/2016/evaluation-of-bernalillo-county-metropolitan-area-psn.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://isr.unm.edu/reports/2016/evaluation-of-bernalillo-county-metropolitan-area-psn.pdf Shelf Number: 139804 Keywords: Gang ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeProject Safe NeighborhoodsViolenceViolence PreventionViolent Crime |
Author: Shjarback, John Title: Cops, Culture, and Context: The Integration of Structural and Cultural Elements for Explanations of Police Use of Force Summary: This dissertation integrates concepts from three bodies of literature: police use of force, neighborhood/ecological influence on police, and police culture. Prior research has generally found that neighborhood context affects police use of force. While scholars have applied social disorganization theory to understand why neighborhood context might influence use of force, much of this theorizing and subsequent empirical research has focused exclusively on structural characteristics of an area, such as economic disadvantage, crime rates, and population demographics. This exclusive focus has occurred despite the fact that culture was once an important component of social disorganization theory in addition to structural factors. Moreover, the majority of the theorizing and subsequent research on police culture has neglected the potential influence that neighborhood context might have on officers' occupational outlooks. The purpose of this dissertation is to merge the structural and cultural elements of social disorganization theory in order to shed light on the development and maintenance of police officer culture as well as to further specify the relationship between neighborhood context and police use of force. Using data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN), I address three interrelated research questions: 1) does variation of structural characteristics at the patrol beat level, such as concentrated disadvantage, homicide rates, and the percentage of minority citizens, predict how an officer views his/her occupational outlook (i.e., culture)?; 2) do officers who work in the same patrol beats share a similar occupational outlook (i.e., culture) or is there variation?; and 3) does the inclusion of police culture at the officer level moderate the relationship between patrol beat context and police use of force? Findings suggest that a patrol beat's degree of concentrated disadvantage and homicide rate slightly influence officer culture at the individual level. Results show mixed evidence of a patrol beat culture. There is little support for the idea that characteristics of the patrol beat and individual officer culture interact to influence police use of force. I conclude with a detailed discussion of the methodological, theoretical, and policy implications as well as limitations and directions for future research. Details: Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University, 2016. 280p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed August 26, 2016 at: https://repository.asu.edu/items/39457 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://repository.asu.edu/items/39457 Shelf Number: 140045 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePolice AccountabilityPolice CulturePolice DiscretionPolice Use of Force |
Author: Aliprantis, Dionissi Title: Human Capital in the Inner City Summary: This paper quantitatively characterizes the "code of the street" from the sociology literature, using the nationally-representative National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 data set to investigate how black young males alter their behavior when living in violent neighborhoods. An astounding 26 percent of black males in the United States report seeing someone shot before turning 12. Conditional on reported exposure to violence, black and white young males are equally likely to engage in violent behavior. Black males' education and labor market outcomes are much worse when reporting exposure to violence; these gaps persist in estimated models controlling for many patterns of selection. Details: Cleveland, OH: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, 2014. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, working paper no. 13-02R. Accessed August 31, 2016 at: https://www.clevelandfed.org/newsroom-and-events/publications/working-papers/2014-working-papers/wp-1302r-human-capital-in-the-inner-city.aspx Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://www.clevelandfed.org/newsroom-and-events/publications/working-papers/2014-working-papers/wp-1302r-human-capital-in-the-inner-city.aspx Shelf Number: 140107 Keywords: Code of the StreetHuman CapitalInterpersonal ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Kane-Willis, Kathleen Title: Hidden in Plain Sight: Heroin's Impact on Chicago's West Side Summary: The West side of Chicago may be mentioned in media reports, but in passing -- a place where suburban or increasingly rural users travel to in order to purchase heroin. However, Chicago's West side has not been spared from the health consequences of the heroin crisis, which are severe, significant and mostly silent. While the focus remains on suburban and rural users, the majority of hospitalizations for opioids (including heroin) and publicly funded treatment admissions data paint a different picture: In 2013, 80% of the State's heroin treatment admissions occurred in the Chicago Metro Area; Analysis of Illinois Department of Public Health Data indicate that the majority (67%) of total Illinois hospitalizations for opioids, including heroin, occurred in Chicago (2010 data) and 79% occurred in Cook County, while about 3% occurred in DuPage county (2,711) in the same period; West side hospitalizations for opioids, including heroin, comprised nearly 1 out of 4 opioid hospitalizations for the entire State (23%); West side hospitalizations make up 35% of the Chicago's total, compared to 7% for the North Side, and 20% for South side of Chicago; The majority of those hospitalized for opioids on Chicago's West side were Black (83%). Diminishing Capacity Illinois publicly funded treatment capacity has declined rapidly. This decline in funding impacts those across the state but particularly those in the Chicago Metro Area, and may have a disparate impact on Black individuals - especially those in areas like the West side -- who are attempting to gain access to treatment. For example: In just 5 years, from 2009 to 2013, the Chicago Metro Area lost 61% of its publicly funded treatment capacity compared to a state decline of 54%; Blacks entering publicly funded treatment for heroin from the Chicago Metro Area comprised 58% of the Chicago Metro Areas treatment episodes for heroin; The only area with a larger change in treatment episodes occurred in the Bloomington Metro area which experienced a 63% reduction in capacity from 2009 to 2013, while rural areas decreased by 39% and Peoria Metro remained stable. Mortality The image presented in news media and other forums suggests that heroin overdose is primarily a white problem, but analysis of Illinois Public Health data sets paints a different picture: The heroin overdose mortality rate was significantly higher for African Americans (8.94 per 100,000) than for whites (5.86). Latino deaths were too low to calculate a significant rate, but both white deaths and Black deaths increased rapidly between 2013 and 2014; Fifty-seven percent of overdoses among Blacks were due to heroin, while 37% of whites died from heroin overdoses. Chicago had the highest rate of heroin overdose (7.42 per 100,000) significantly higher than Suburban Cook (4.73), Will (5.42), Lake (5.55), McHenry (5.53), DuPage (4.72), Kane (2.86). Arrests and Neighborhood Disparity The majority of the attention paid to the West side in regard to the heroin crisis and use is policing, arrest and incarceration rather than health based solutions for heroin use disorders. These policy and policing decisions have an impact on not only the community but on our spending for the state. Even as arrests for heroin possession declined by 30 percent from 2010 to 2015 across the City of Chicago, the West side neighborhoods of West and East Garfield Park experienced an increase in the heroin possession arrest rate from 2010-2015; The four Chicago neighborhoods with the highest rates of arrest for heroin possession in 2015 include West Garfield Park (2,983 arrests per 100,000), East Garfield Park (1,925 arrests per 100,000), North Lawndale (1,375.58 arrests per 100,000) and Humboldt Park (per 100,000), which all located on the West side of Chicago compared to a City rate of 141 per 100,000; To put these arrest rates in context, the rate for heroin possession arrests in West Garfield Park (2,983 per 100,000) was more than 20 times higher than the rate for the city as a whole (141 per 100,000), East Garfield Park's was about 13 times higher than the citys rate, North Lawndale 9 times higher and Austin (642 per 100,000) 4 times the city's rate; West Garfield Park's rate was 2,000 times higher than Lincoln Park's arrest rate (1.56 per 100,000) and compared to Hyde Park, West Garfield Park's rate of arrest was 766 times higher than Hyde Park's rate (3.89 per 100,000). In five areas of Chicago, no arrests for heroin possession occurred during 2015. Incarcerating individuals costs $25,000 per year, while jail time costs about $150 a day. As the state reconsiders its policies regarding both crime reduction, cost savings and reducing prison populations, it is important to recognize that providing treatment, such as methadone, returns $12 for every dollar spent. Imprisoning individuals with heroin use disorders, a health condition, is neither cost effective nor as effective as treatment in the community. Treatment in the community returns significant savings to taxpayers and societyi in public health and economic savings. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Increase Community Based Treatment Capacity - Particularly Medication Assisted Treatment According to analysis, Cook County has high treatment need and not enough providers for opioid use disorders, for example: In Illinois, for everyone 1,000 residents 3.8 people has opioid use disorders than could be treated under the current system. Currently Cook County can only treat about 15,000 individuals but the need is much higher than the system can accommodate currently. Create a Misdemeanor Classification for Small Amounts of Drugs Heroin and other opioids, no matter the amount, are currently felonies in Illinois but this is inconsistent with federal law, and many other states have created misdemeanors for personal use, for small amounts of drugs other than cannabis. Illinois policymakers have introduced legislation to reduce amounts under 1 gram from a felony to a misdemeanor. According to polling of Illinois residents, 78% of Illinoisan believe in reclassifying small amounts of drugs from a felony to a misdemeanor. Not only would this policy change help prevent the collateral consequences of felony convictions on those with substance use disorder, but it would yield a cost savings of $58M over three years according to a fiscal impact analysis conducted by the Sentencing Policy Advisory Council. Provide Methadone and/or Buprenorphine Maintenance in Cook County Jail and Create Linkages to Treatment Providers There exist a number of models, like the Riker's Island model in New York City, where individuals who are addicted to heroin or other opioids are provided with opioid agonist (e.g. methadone, buprenorphine) treatment in jail and then are linked to continuing methadone or buprenorphine treatment providers in the community. These programs have demonstrated great success in both lowering crime and retaining individuals in treatment - which is one of the biggest predictor of treatment success; Research demonstrates that methadone maintenance yielded better results than counseling alone for detainees in terms of one month and yearly relapse rates. Naloxone Dispensing in Different Environments Researchers have consistently demonstrated that more naloxone distributed in the community lowers the fatal overdose rate overall. In order to ensure that persons who are at high risk for overdose have access to naloxone (which is now covered by Medicaid as private insurance under Public Act 099‐0480), it is essential to ensure that it is more widely distributed under "standing orders," in the following settings: In the Emergency Department, hospitals should prescribe or distribute naloxone to individuals who have experienced overdose; In Treatment Centers and after Detox , according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, naloxone education and distribution programs should be incorporated into the treatment system; In Cook County Jail, Cook County Jail is now launching a pilot to ensure that individuals have access to opioid overdose education and naloxone. This program should be expanded. Increase Access to Harm Reduction Practices Harm reduction practices are an excellent way to bridge the gap to reduce the health consequences of heroin use. Harm reduction practices include the following: Syringe exchange, including cookers, cottons and needles to stop the spread of blood borne pathogens and naloxone distribution; Housing First initiatives, which do not require complete abstinence from substances, before being housed; Safe use and consumption facilities, staffed with medical professionals to ensure that overdoses can be reversed as safe consumption facilities also reduce fatal overdoses in the community. Details: Chicago: Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, 2016. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 15, 2016 at: https://www.roosevelt.edu/CAS/CentersAndInstitutes/IMA/ICDP.aspx Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.roosevelt.edu/CAS/CentersAndInstitutes/IMA/ICDP.aspx Shelf Number: 147875 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersHeroinHeroin AddictsNeighborhoods and crime |
Author: Ojebode, A. Title: Explaining the Effectiveness of Community-Based Crime Prevention Practices in Ibadan, Nigeria Summary: The problem of ineffective policing still persists in post-colonial Africa and as a result, both donors and governments are seeking non-state alternatives or complements to the state apparatuses. These alternatives include private sector provision, donor-driven interventions and community-based or community-driven crime prevention practices. There is no shortage of community-based crime prevention (CBCP) practices in Africa and they come in a variety of forms and models: neighbourhood watches, vigilantes, religious and ethnic militias, and neighbourhood guards. However, the effectiveness of CBCP practices is still a subject of controversy despite the widespread prevalence of these practices. This study looks at the effectiveness of CBCP practices, considers possible reasons for their effectiveness or ineffectiveness, and on the basis of the research, makes some policy recommendations. Details: Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies, 2016. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: IDS Working Paper 479: Accessed October 6, 2016 at: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/12192/Wp479.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2016 Country: Nigeria URL: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/12192/Wp479.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 147819 Keywords: Crime PreventionNeighborhood WatchNeighborhoods and CrimeVigilantes |
Author: Hillier, Bill Title: An evidence based approach to crime and urban design: Or, can we have vitality, sustainability and security all at once? Summary: It is generally agreed that a key priority in the design of cities is, insofar as it is possible, to make life difficult for the criminal. But is that really possible? Different crimes, after all, are facilitated by very different kinds of spaces: picking pockets is easier in crowded high streets, street robbery is easier when victims come one at a time, burglary is helped by secluded access, and so on. In inhibiting one crime, it seems, we might be in danger of facilitating another. Even so, the sense that some environments are safe and others dangerous is persistent, and inspection of crime maps will, as often as not, confirm that people's fears are not misplaced. So is it possible to make environments generally safer? Strangely, although it is now widely believed that it is, there are two quite different schools of thought about how it should be done. The first is traceable to Jane Jacobs book 'The Death and Life of the Great American Cities' in 1962, and advocates open and permeable mixed use environments, in which strangers passing through spaces, as well as inhabitants occupying them, form part of an 'eyes on the street' natural policing mechanism which inhibits crime. The second, traceable to Oscar Newman's book Defensible Space in 1972, argues that having too many people in spaces creates exactly the anonymity that criminals need to access their victims, and so dilutes the ability of residents to police their own environment. Crime can then be expected to be less in low density, single use environments with restricted access to strangers, where inhabitants can recognise strangers as intruders and challenge them. We could call these the 'open' and 'closed' solutions, and note that each in its way seems to be based on one kind of commonsense intuition, and each proposes a quite precise mechanism for maximizing the social control of crime through design. Yet each seems to imply design and planning solutions which are in many ways the opposite of each other. The problem is further complicated by sustainability. To minimise energy consumption, we are said to need denser environments, which are easier to move about in under personal power, and with more mixing of uses to make facilities more easily accessible. This implies permeable environments in which you can easily go in any direction without too long a detour. From this point of view, the way we expanded towns in the later part of the twentieth century, with large areas of hierarchically ordered cul de sacs in relatively closed-off areas, made trips longer and so more car dependent. So if it were criminogenically neutral, the open solution would be preferable. But its critics say it is not. The open solution, they argue, will facilitate crime and so create a new dimension of unsustainability. So what does the evidence say? The fact is that on the major strategic design and planning questions it says precious little. The points at issue were recently summarised by Stephen Town and Randall O'Toole (Town & O'Toole 2005) in a table of six points where the 'open' position, which they say is preferred by Zelinka & Brennan in their book 'new urbanist' book 'Safescape' (Zelimka & Brennan 2001), is contrasted to the closed 'defensible space' position, which has dominated most thinking until quite recently. Details: London: Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London, 2008. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 13, 2016 at: http://spacesyntax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hillier-Sahbaz_An-evidence-based-approach_010408.pdf Year: 2008 Country: International URL: http://spacesyntax.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hillier-Sahbaz_An-evidence-based-approach_010408.pdf Shelf Number: 145537 Keywords: Crime PreventionDesign Against CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Design |
Author: Prairie Sky Consulting Title: North Central Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) Final Report Summary: The North Central Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) project is a partnership with the City of Regina, the North Central Community Society, the Public School Board, Regina Police Service, and North Central residents. The project funding is provided by the City, with volunteer services and in-kind services from the partners, and overseen by a steering committee. Prairie Sky Consulting coordinated the safety audits with volunteers, entered and analyzed the data, and compiled this report. CPTED - pronounced sep-ted - is a tool that deals with the design, planning and structure of cities and neighbourhoods. CPTED brings together local residents to examine how an area's physical features, such as lighting, trees and roadways, can influence crime and the opportunities for committing crime. It has been successfully applied in a number of Canadian cities and contexts. North Central, located northwest of the city's downtown, is home to 6% of Regina's population. Overall, the population tends to be younger than the rest of Regina. It is ethnically diverse, with 35% aboriginal. The housing consists of older homes, most built in the first half of the 20th century. Property values are the lowest in the city. About half the residents are renters. Although the area is sometimes singled for crime and social problems, some residents feel it is unfairly stigmatized. Many speak with pride about the neighbourhood they call home. The project collected data in two ways. Safety audits, designed much like surveys, provided quantitative data for streets, parks and alleys. These were completed by about 40 residents - a thorough mix by age, gender and ethnicity - who volunteered for the CPTED process. Additional data was included from focus group discussions with the auditors, data on service calls to the City, and Regina Police Service statistics on "hot spots" in the area. The audits are a snapshot of people's impressions, at a specific date and time, of a certain street, alley or park. What they see and record can vary between auditors and may differ from the experiences of residents who live on a street or next to a particular park. Details: Calgary: Prairie Sky Consulting, 2004. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 15, 2016 at: http://www.regina.ca/opencms/export/sites/regina.ca/residents/social-grants-programs/.media/pdf/north_central_cpted_project_report.pdf Year: 2004 Country: Canada URL: http://www.regina.ca/opencms/export/sites/regina.ca/residents/social-grants-programs/.media/pdf/north_central_cpted_project_report.pdf Shelf Number: 140761 Keywords: CPTEDCrime HotspotsCrime PreventionDesign Against CrimeHigh Crime AreasNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Tam, Christina Title: Behind the Model Minority: An Examination of Ethnicity, Place, and Arrests among Asian Youth in Los Angeles Neighborhoods Summary: Background and Aims. Asian ethnic groups are accompanied by diverging migration histories, cultural values, and lived experiences, and these factors play a role in their children's juvenile justice involvement. While immigrant groups initially settled in ethnic enclaves, they will relocate to ethnoburbs as they achieve higher socioeconomic status. Ethnic enclaves may protect ethnic minority youth against delinquency, but it is currently unknown if residing in an ethnoburb is related to offense type. First, this study determined whether these two ethnic neighborhoods can be differentiated for five Asian ethnic groups. Guided by the spatial assimilation model, I then explored the relationship between ethnicity, ethnic neighborhood, and offense type. Methods. This study employed secondary data analysis of administrative data from the Los Angeles Probation Department and the American Community Survey collected by the United States Census Bureau. Primary individual interviews confirmed the locations of ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. The sample consisted of 980 youth nested within 183 zip codes. Multinomial regression models assessed key relationships; a multilevel approach was used for investigating neighborhood-level effects. Results. Ethnic enclaves and ethnoburbs were classified with a categorical tree using percent ethnicity, percent poverty, and population density, and key informants confirmed these neighborhoods for their respective ethnicities. Koreans have the highest probability of being arrested for a violent crime, Chinese for weapons, Southeast Asian for property, and Japanese for substance and other types of offenses. Compared to living in non-ethnic neighborhoods, living in an ethnoburb was associated with higher risks of being arrested for weapons and substance offenses relative to violence. Finally, youth who live in ethnoburbs that match their ethnicity are at higher risk for being arrested for a weapons offense. Conclusions. That there are ethnic differences in offense type speak to the cultural underpinnings that are associated with each group within the Asian racial category, thus challenging the model minority stereotype that Asians are free of social problems. Because living in an ethnoburb was related to offense type, and especially for youth whose ethnicity matches that of the neighborhood, future research should explore the mechanisms that may explain this association. Details: Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, 2016. 177p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 26, 2016 at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8ss3n7x6 Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8ss3n7x6 Shelf Number: 146017 Keywords: AsiansEthnic GroupsEthnicity and CrimeJuvenile OffendersMinority YouthNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Mattila, Meri-Tuuli Title: The Boys of Icehearts and the 'Hood: A perspective on the everyday realities of growing up in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Finland Summary: The Boys of Icehearts and the 'Hood: A perspective on the everyday realities of growing up in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Finland. The premise of this thesis is to present the case of young boys growing up in a relatively disadvantaged neighborhood fairly typical of its kind in contemporary suburban Finland. It aims to give a voice to the everyday realities and lived experience of its target group through ethno-methodological descriptions of young boys growing up in the suburb of Mikkola in northeastern Vantaa in the capital city region, and the exposure method created in the context of diaconal community development work in mainland Europe. Moreover, the Icehearts method is explored in as much depth as is feasible within the scope of a Bachelor's Thesis in Social Services from a University of Applied Science. The key concepts of validation and acceptance, and disadvantaged childhood with its everyday realities are explored from the perspective of the integral theory in social work and critical theory in social science research. The Icehearts method, simultaneously applied in school work, free time activities and hobbies, can act as a mediator bridging communication and cooperation between schools and homes, acting as a local force for change and a channel of communication between a given neighbourhood, the district social services and school boards, municipal government as well as national politics. It is a cross-functional multi-professional approach for bringing together the needs of local children and families, and the objectives of schools as well as national social policies implemented on the municipal level, whose common goal is often underscored by voluminous legislation and massive bureaucracy coupled with the scarcity of available resources. The findings suggest that in countries with a highly developed welfare infrastructure, such as Finland, team sports have consistently been gaining ground as a social work method for children that brings social work to the neighbourhood level, close to the families, schools and communities. Sports can be therapeutic, sports can be used as a tool for democracy, and sports can be, and are used as a method in social work worldwide. Details: Helsinki, Finland: Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, 2014. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed November 8, 2016 at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/82368/Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2014 Country: Finland URL: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/82368/Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 146290 Keywords: At-Risk YouthCrime PreventionDelinquency PreventionDisadvantaged NeighborhoodsNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Dustmann, Christian Title: The Effect of Local Area Crime on Mental Health Summary: This paper analyses the effect of local crime rates on residents' mental health. Using longitudinal information on individuals' mental well-being, we address the problem of sorting and endogenous moving behaviour. We find that crime causes considerable mental distress for residents, mainly driven by property crime. Effects are stronger for females, and mainly related to depression and anxiety. The distress caused by one standard deviation increase in local crime is 2-4 times larger than that caused by a one standard deviation decrease in local employment, and about one seventh of the short-term impact of the 7 July 2005 London Bombings. Details: London: Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration Department of Economics, University College London , 2014. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: CReAM Discussion Paper Series, no. 28/14: Accessed November 17, 2016 at: http://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_28_14.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_28_14.pdf Shelf Number: 144855 Keywords: Communities and CrimeCrime RatesFear of CrimeMental HealthNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Schwartz, Amy Ellen Title: The Academic Effects of Chronic Exposure to Neighborhood Violence Summary: We estimate the causal effect of repeated exposure to violent crime on test scores in New York City. We use two distinct empirical strategies; value-added models linking student performance on standardized exams to violent crimes on a student's residential block, and a regression discontinuity approach that identifies the acute effect of an additional crime exposure within a one-week window. Exposure to violent crime reduces academic performance. Value added models suggest the average effect is very small; approximately -0.01 standard deviations in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. RD models suggest a larger effect, particularly among children previously exposed. The marginal acute effect is as large as -0.04 standard deviations for students with two or more prior exposures. Among these, it is even larger for black students, almost a 10th of a standard deviation. We provide credible causal evidence that repeated exposure to neighborhood violence harms test scores, and this negative effect increases with exposure. Details: Syracuse, NY: Center for Policy Research, the Maxwell School, 2016. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series, no. 195: Accessed November 28, 2016 at: https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/uploadedFiles/cpr/publications/working_papers2/wp195.pdf#page=3 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/uploadedFiles/cpr/publications/working_papers2/wp195.pdf#page=3 Shelf Number: 147916 Keywords: Children and ViolenceExposure to ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Ghosh, Arindam Title: The Geography of Crime in Rochester -- Patterns over Time (2005-2011) Summary: This paper provides maps of all FBI part 1 crimes which were reported in Rochester, New York from 2005 through 2011. The goal of the paper is to examine the patterns of reported crime over a time and space within the City. The offense definitions used here are from the official measure of crime known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). The FBI’s UCR Program is a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of law enforcement agencies across the country (nearly 18,000 of them) voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention. In this case, the data was obtained from the Rochester Police Department, which is collected by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (NYSDCJS) and reported to the FBI. The data spanned a time period of over 7 years, from 2005-2011. This paper contains the crime density maps for the Part I crimes occurring in Rochester over the same time period. We will start with a warning to the reader. This paper contains a large number of maps and a smaller number of charts. For us, these are important as ways of displaying the data, but they have been important to our analytic processes as well. We have found them to be useful in guiding our own thoughts and discussions about the problem of crime in Rochester. We hope they are useful to others in both trying to understanding that problem and in addressing it. Even with this hope, however, we recognize that this is a lengthy set of maps and other data displays. So we want to start with a few general statements from the data that we think will summarize key points that may not be entirely obvious, and that we hope will tempt you to struggle through the rest of the paper. First, it is important to note the trends shown in the data. Reductions in crime are shown for five of the eight categories of Part 1 crimes including murder, rape, robbery, arson, motor vehicle theft and larceny. Levels for aggravated assault and generally flat while burglary levels show a slight upward trend. Taken together, these data show that over 127,000 part 1 crimes were reported in Rochester for the seven years from 2005 through 2011. An important point to be made, however, is that much of the information we get from official crime statistics, particularly when overall crime level or rate is discussed, is dominated by facts about larceny, the crime of lowest seriousness and highest frequency. In Rochester larceny (theft) accounts for nearly 60% of all Part 1 offenses. Combining crime number, then, can lead to confusion. For example, due to the way official crime measures are aggregated, crime index totals count each shoplifting the same as each murder. If you are not careful, such things can mask or distort the reality of crime as it is experienced within the community. Also, bear in mind that these are reported crimes, and as we know, there are many crimes which go unreported, so this does not tell is the whole story – only part of it. While serious violent crime is less frequent than the aggregated data may initially suggestwith the exception of rape, it is highly concentrated geographically and those concentrations persist over time. These are the most important facts about the distribution of serious crime. And, there are important implications to them. First and foremost, it should be clear that, across this community, people have very different experiences with crime in general, with the risk of becoming a victim in particular, and also with the criminal justice system as it responds to crime. We may live very different lives as a result. Recognizing that, it should also be apparent that seeing beyond the chasm that crime can create, in order to better understand one another, is both a difficult and important task. But there are also more specific implications of these crime patterns. They crystalize the community’s responsibility for addressing them. Their persistence demands action. That action can take many forms. It includes the work of individuals and organizations which seek to mitigate the pain implicit in these patterns, and to reduce or prevent violence. It also includes the focus and concentration of appropriate government resources, including the police. Their work is shaped by these patterns. The distribution of serious violence makes them a salient part of the lives of those most affected by crime. And, these facts make clear the great value to be found in strong relationships between the police and the community where crime is highest. Details: Rochester, NY: Center for Public Safety Initiatives, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2012. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper, August 2012-10: Accessed December 15, 2016 at: http://www.rit.edu/cla/criminaljustice/sites/rit.edu.cla.criminaljustice/files/docs/WorkingPapers/2012/2012-10.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.rit.edu/cla/criminaljustice/sites/rit.edu.cla.criminaljustice/files/docs/WorkingPapers/2012/2012-10.pdf Shelf Number: 146163 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime PatternsGeographical AnalysisNeighborhoods and crime |
Author: Grace, Anita Title: Organized Urban Violence: An Examination of the Threat of Organized Armed Groups to Urban Environments Summary: This research contributes to the assessment of urban violence by developing a category of urban violence, namely organized urban violence (OUV), defined as that which is generated by urban non-state organized armed groups (OAGs) who exert territorial and social control in urban areas. Through detailed examination of academic and policy literature, this thesis explores the types of non-state OAGs involved in urban violence – such as private security companies (PSCs), vigilantes, gangs, and organized crime groups – their characteristics and their impacts on urban environments. The category of OUV is further developed through two case studies: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Cape Town, South Africa – cities which have a proliferation of urban non-state OAGs and high levels of urban violence. Details: Ottawa: Saint Paul University, 2011. 158p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed December 23, 2016 at: https://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/20009 Year: 2011 Country: International URL: https://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/20009 Shelf Number: 147787 Keywords: Gang-Related ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeOrganized CrimeUrban Areas and CrimeViolence |
Author: Butts, Jeffrey A. Title: Local Measures: The Need for Neighborhood-Level Data n Youth Violence Prevention Initiatives Summary: The data infrastructures available for tracking youth violence in the United States do not provide a clear view of neighborhood-level change. Effective strategies for dealing with youth violence inevitably focus on small areas like neighborhoods, and they involve partnerships with community organizations, local schools, hospitals, housing agencies, and organizations in the cultural and recreational sectors. This small-area focus makes it essential to measure the effects of violence prevention efforts at the neighborhood level. At best, however, national data systems track violence at the level of entire cities. Violent crime in the U.S. fell sharply after the mid-1990s and it remains at historically low levels. Some cities and specific neighborhoods within cities, however, are still beset with violence. In an attempt to assist local jurisdictions with violence prevention, the U.S. Department of Justice and a number of other federal agencies launched the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention in 2010. More than a dozen cities participated in the National Forum, collaborating to increase the effectiveness of their local strategies for reducing youth violence. The Department of Justice asked John Jay College of Criminal Justice to monitor and assess the outcomes of the National Forum beginning in 2011. The assessment was not designed to attribute cause-and-effect relationships to activities undertaken by participating cities. The study mainly investigated the accomplishments and perceptions of the leadership networks in each city. Conducting a more rigorous evaluation of the National Forum was not feasible because a multi-city network of neighborhood-level data about youth violence and its correlates does not exist in the United States. Steps are being taken, however, that may eventually lead to better data resources. This report describes some of the most promising resources and suggests the type of work needed to provide communities with accurate, localized crime trend data with which to judge the effects of multi-jurisdictional violence prevention initiatives. Details: New York: John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Research and Evaluation Center, 2017. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 18, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/250534.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/250534.pdf Shelf Number: 146681 Keywords: Crime StatisticsDelinquency PreventionNeighborhoods and CrimeViolence PreventionYouth ViolenceYouthful Offenders |
Author: McGarrell, Edmund F. Title: Saginaw Community Survey: Patterns of Victimization and Methodological Experiments: Technical Report Summary: With the support of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Michigan Justice Statistics Center conducted a survey of residents of Saginaw, Michigan as a way of learning about the victimization experiences as well as the perceptions of residents about their neighborhoods and the police. The survey employed a randomly selected, address-based sample of Saginaw residents. Multiple methods of survey administration were used resulting in a final sample of 829 completed surveys. In addition to greater understanding of resident's victimization experiences and perceptions, the survey also tested several different strategies intended to increase response rates and to increase the number of respondents completing the survey through more cost-efficient web-based survey technology. The current technical report presents details on the survey methodology as well as basic findings on levels of household and personal victimization. It also presents the results of the embedded methodological experiments. A series of articles and reports will follow this report and present in greater detail the findings in terms of victimization experience as well as perceptions of crime, the neighborhood, and the police. Among the key findings presented in this report are the following: • There were no differences in households from the more affluent west side of Saginaw and those on the east side in terms of violent crime victimization. This was unexpected given that neighborhood levels of economic disadvantage typically result in higher levels of violent crime victimization. This will be examined in greater detail in future analyses of the survey results. • West side households reported higher levels of property crime victimization. • Households headed by someone described as white had slightly higher levels of victimization than households headed by someone described as black. The results should be interpreted cautiously, however, due to a modest number of households where this information was missing or classified as "other." • Rental households were more likely to experience victimization in comparison to owner-occupied households. • Men were more likely to experience violent and property crime victimization. Women were more likely to experience sexual assault. • Consistent with the household findings, whites were slightly more likely to report being victimized than were blacks. Caution in interpreting these findings is suggested, however, because the group most likely to report being victimized reported their race as "other." • Overall, Saginaw residents were much more likely to prefer completing the survey through a paper and pencil mail survey. This is the least cost-efficient mode for conducting this type of survey. The embedded experiment suggested that presenting the survey options in varying ways and providing an incentive-based "nudge" to complete the survey on the web can increase the number of respondents utilizing the more cost-efficient web-based technology. Details: East Lansing: Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan Justice Statistics Center, 2016. 91p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 27, 2017 at: http://www.jrsa.org/member-spotlight/files/mi-saginaw-victimization.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.jrsa.org/member-spotlight/files/mi-saginaw-victimization.pdf Shelf Number: 144849 Keywords: Crime StatisticsNeighborhoods and CrimeVictimization SurveyVictims of Crime |
Author: Buitrago, Katie Title: Cycle of Risk: The Intersection of Poverty, Violence and Trauma Summary: People living in poverty are more likely to become victims of violent crime than higher income earners whether they live in cities, suburbs or rural areas, but the rural poor experience crime at higher rates, according to a Wednesday report by a Chicago research group. Chicago is currently facing a devastating surge in lethal violence in addition to staggering rates of poverty across Illinois. Policymakers and community leaders are struggling with finding short- and long-term solutions to stem the violence and allow neighborhoods to heal. In the meantime, communities are fearing for their own safety and grieving over lost parents, children, friends, and leaders every day. The stakes for getting the solutions right could not be higher. Poverty and violence often intersect, feed one another, and share root causes. Neighborhoods with high levels of violence are also characterized by high levels of poverty, lack of adequate public services and educational opportunity, poorer health outcomes, asset and income inequality, and more. The underlying socioeconomic conditions in these neighborhoods perpetuate both violence and poverty. Furthermore, trauma can result from both violence and poverty. Unaddressed trauma worsens quality of life, makes it hard to rise out of poverty by posing barriers to success at school and work, and raises the likelihood of aggressive behavior. In this way, untreated trauma - coupled with easy gun availability and other factors - feeds the cycle of poverty and violence. In last year's Report on Illinois Poverty: Racism's Toll (2016), we explored the persistent inequity caused by racially discriminatory policies and practices. Many of those themes are critically important to this discussion as well, especially given how the American justice system has been used to systemically deny opportunities and rights to people of color. A past and living legacy of segregation and the perpetuation of racial inequity today have led people and communities of color to experience poverty at higher rates than whites. The harmful policies and practices explored in last year's report have stripped resources and opportunities from many of the communities that are grappling with violence today. Through this report we make the case that, in addition to rapid responses, we must also take a long-term approach to reducing violence. The causes of violence are complex, systemic, and long-standing - and we must take a comprehensive approach to address them effectively. Importantly, we must be cautious that efforts at short- or long-term reform do not perpetuate the very inequities and conditions that have led to violence in our communities. Details: Chicago: Heartland Alliance, 2017. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2017 at: https://www.heartlandalliance.org/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/CycleofRisk2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.heartlandalliance.org/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/CycleofRisk2017.pdf Shelf Number: 144724 Keywords: Gun ViolenceHomicidesNeighborhoods and CrimePovertyRacial DiscriminationSocioeconomic Conditions and CrimeVictims of CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Olson, Eric L. Title: Improving Citizen Security in the Americas: Why Taking an Urban Approach is Warranted Summary: The urbanization of the world's population has been underway for many decades. In Latin America, over 75 percent of the population lives in cities, and this number is expected to reach approximately 90 percent by 2050 (Muggah 2014, 351). With urbanization has come a wide variety of challenges, including water and sanitation; urban planning and transportation; housing, education, and healthcare; and environmental concerns. It is not surprising, then, that cities and metropolitan areas also experience special challenges with crime and public security. This is especially the case in Latin America, a region that faces some of the highest rates of urban violence in the world (Muggah 2014, 351). According to one analysis, Latin America contains 43 of the world's 50 most violent cities (CCSPJP 2015). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) produces one of the most widely cited sources of information on homicides worldwide. While the UNODC offers data about urban homicide rates, most of the public debate centers around national-level figures expressed in terms of deaths per 100,000. In 2016, for example, El Salvador was reported as the country with the highest homicide rate-an alarming 81.2 homicides per 100,000 (Gagne 2017). At the regional level, Latin America also fared poorly: a UNODC report on global homicide stated that the Central and South American sub-regions experienced the second and third highest homicide levels, preceded only by Southern Africa (UNODC 2013). According to a criminality index generated by security consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, five of the ten countries with the highest risk for criminal violence are in Latin America: Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, and El Salvador. National and regional levels of homicide and crime, however, can actually paint a misleading picture of security at the local level. Many specific areas in the region, especially urban areas, experience rates of violence much higher (or lower) than average. For this reason, stemming urban violence at the local level and addressing the underlying factors driving this phenomenon has been an increasingly important policy concern for Latin American governments, the international donor community, and U.S. policymakers in particular. Security is a main concern for the public as well: in 2014, one out of every three adults in the Americas reported that crime, insecurity, or violence was the main problem facing their country (Zeichmeister 2014). In this paper, we seek to summarize some of the principal characteristics and drivers of urban violence in order to develop more targeted and effective policies to address it. First, we discuss how major structural problems like youth unemployment and inequality are related to common crime, organized crime, and violence. We emphasize the importance of understanding the local nature of urban violence and its tendency to occur and persist in specific geographic locations. Next, we look at some examples from the region that shed light on, and in some cases, confirm these ideas. Finally, we offer a series of policy options for addressing one of the region's most persistent and vexing challenges Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Latin American Program, 2017. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2017 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/citizen_security_policy_brief_final.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America URL: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/citizen_security_policy_brief_final.pdf Shelf Number: 144739 Keywords: Citizen SecurityHomicideNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas and CrimeUrban ViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Ellen, Ingrid Gould Title: Has Falling Crime Invited Gentrification? Summary: Over the past two decades, crime has fallen dramatically in cities in the United States. We explore whether, in the face of falling central city crime rates, households with more resources and options were more likely to move into central cities overall and more particularly into low income and/or majority minority central city neighborhoods. We use confidential, geocoded versions of the 1990 and 2000 Decennial Census and the 2010, 2011, and 2012 American Community Survey to track moves to different neighborhoods in 244 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) and their largest central cities. Our dataset includes over four million household moves across the three time periods. We focus on three household types typically considered gentrifiers: high-income, collegeeducated, and white households. We find that declines in city crime are associated with increases in the probability that high income and college-educated households choose to move into central city neighborhoods, including low-income and majority minority central city neighborhoods. Moreover, we find little evidence that households with lower incomes and without college degrees are more likely to move to cities when violent crime falls. These results hold during the 1990s as well as the 2000s and for the 100 largest metropolitan areas, where crime declines were greatest. There is weaker evidence that white households are disproportionately drawn to cities as crime falls in the 100 largest metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2010. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau, 2017. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper CES 17-27: Accessed April 29, 2017 at: https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2017/CES-WP-17-27.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2017/CES-WP-17-27.pdf Shelf Number: 145198 Keywords: Crime Rates Gentrification Neighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas and Crime |
Author: Dhondt, Geert Leo Title: The Relationship Between Mass Incarceration and Crime in the Neoliberal Period in the United States Summary: The United States prison population has grown seven-fold over the past 35 years. This dissertation looks at the impact this growth in incarceration has on crime rates and seeks to understand why this drastic change in public policy happened. Simultaneity between prison populations and crime rates makes it difficult to isolate the causal effect of changes in prison populations on crime. This dissertation uses marijuana and cocaine mandatory minimum sentencing to break that simultaneity. Using panel data for 50 states over 40 years, this dissertation finds that the marginal addition of a prisoner results in a higher, not lower, crime rate. Specifically, a 1 percent increase in the prison population results in a 0.28 percent increase in the violent crime rate and a 0.17 percent increase in the property crime rate. This counter-intuitive result suggests that incarceration, already high in the U.S., may have now begun to achieve negative returns in reducing crime. As such it supports the work of a number of scholars (Western 2006, Clear 2003) who have suggested that incarceration may have begun to have a positive effect on crime because of a host of factors. Most of the empirical work on the question is undertaken at an aggregate level (county, state, or national data). Yet, criminologists (Sampson et al. 2002, Spelman 2005 and Clear 1996, 2007) have long argued that the complex intertwining of crime and punishment is best understood at the neighborhood level, where the impacts of incarceration on social relationships are most closely felt. This dissertation examines the question using a panel of neighborhoods in Tallahassee, Florida for the period 1995 to 2002. I find evidence to support the contention that the high levels of prison admissions and prison cycling (admissions plus releases) is associated with increasing crime rates in disadvantaged neighborhoods. This effect is not found in other neighborhoods. Looking more closely at the issues of race and class, I find that while marginalized neighborhoods experience slightly higher crime rates, they are faced with much higher incarceration rates. In Black neighborhoods in particular, prison admissions are an order of magnitude higher in comparison with non-Black neighborhoods even though underlying crime rates are not very different. If incarceration does not lower crime, then why did prison populations multiply seven-fold? This dissertation argues that mass incarceration is a central institution in the neoliberal social structures of accumulation. Mass incarceration as an institution plays a critical but underappreciated role in channeling class conflict in the neoliberal social structures of accumulation (SSA). Neoliberalism has produced a significant section of the working class who are largely excluded from the formal labor market, for whom the threat of unemployment is not a sufficient disciplining mechanism. At the same time, it has undermined the welfare systems that had managed such populations in earlier periods. Finally, the racial hierarchy essential to capitalist hegemony in the United States was threatened with collapse with the end of Jim Crow laws. This dissertation argues that mass incarceration has played an essential role in overcoming these barriers to stable capitalist accumulation under neoliberalism. Details: Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts - Amherst, 2012. 157p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 5, 2017 at: http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1637&context=open_access_dissertations Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1637&context=open_access_dissertations Shelf Number: 145323 Keywords: Crime Policy Crime Rates Economics of Crime Mass Incarceration Neighborhoods and CrimeSocioeconomic Conditions and Crime Unemployment and Crime |
Author: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) Title: New Energy for Urban Security: Improving Urban Security Through Green Environmental Design Summary: The joint UNICRI-MIT Senseable City Lab Report is a manual for a green and digitally enhanced environmental design that addresses issues related to cities. It provides an index of strategies, which have a direct or indirect impact on a city's image making it appear as a safer and more secure environment. Each section of the report identifies a particular urban challenge that needs to be addressed through environmental design, providing a set of guidelines that are both green and digitally enhanced to provide solutions to these challenges, and concludes with a list of actual or potential projects that deploy, in part, the proposed guidelines, demonstrating their prospective effectiveness. The Report analyses the inter-dependencies that exist between ecology, green urban design and security of both the citizen and the urban environment in general. The analysis commences by setting out CPTED theory, which, although currently adopted by municipalities, is not geared toward taking into account advances in technology and the ecological and the environmental impacts on urban life. The Report proposes a third generation of CPTED, designed to take into account the rapid development resulting from new technologies and the digital age - all of which signal revolutionising how we approach urban safety and security. Third-generation CPTED, as presented in the Report, envisages a green and sustainable approach to enhance the living standards of urbanites, as well as to improve the image of cities as user-friendly, safe, and secure. It focuses on a particular sort of spatial democracy and transparency, characterized by the use of solid infrastructures and solutions, along with situated technologies. Moreover, building on the potential of online social networks, third-generation CPTED aims to create a sense of belonging and membership to a greater community by soliciting citizen engagement and participation in improving urban living conditions. The revision of existing CPTED theory, i.e. the third generation CPTED - as set out in the report - proposes that the physical make-up of a city is designed according to the following recommendations: Integrating a sufficient amount of public spaces into the fabric of the city to provide appropriate settings for collective activities and gatherings; Integrating sufficient green spaces of various scales, including street vegetation, vertical green facades, green roofs, public gardens, and neighbourhood and city-scale parks; Fostering new developments that target mixed and balanced communities in terms of income level, social status, ethnicity, demographics, and tenure; Supporting new developments and revitalization projects that aim to create new spaces, or re-structure existing neighbourhoods as mixed-use instead of single-use; Optimizing the urban removal chain in terms of sewage management and garbage collection, taking into account technologies and cultural practices regarding recycling and grey water treatment; Enhancing natural surveillance by providing sufficient street lighting at night, securing the required level of occupation and usage at all times; Ensuring that no place in the city is a terrain-vague, i.e. a place with no institutional supervision; Promoting revitalization and redevelopment projects that focus on grey or brown sites - sites previously accommodating hazardous industries, or sites that are devastated by natural disasters or violent conflicts, or sites that have been previously occupied and are currently vacant due to economic or socio-cultural reasons; Providing sufficient and effective public transportation infrastructure that not only contributes to the well-being of citizens, but also traffic reduction, which has a direct impact on the psychological well-being of citizens; Allocating sufficient financial resources to the regular maintenance of civic spaces, including streetscapes and urban facades; Allocating sufficient financial and human resources for providing public education, particularly for the young urban population; Providing efficient regulations for the construction sector in terms of monitoring the structural integrity, energy efficiency, and quality of building proposals; Providing financial support and the macro and microeconomic infrastructure to assist the low-income urban population in home-ownership. The Report concludes by exploring the potential application of the proposed programme to crime prevention and the enhancement of the perception of safety in urban areas, which is identified as the third-generation of CPTED. Details: Torin, Italy: UNICRI, 2011. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 5, 2017 at: http://www.unicri.it/news/files/2011-04-01_110414_CRA_Urban_Security_sm.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.unicri.it/news/files/2011-04-01_110414_CRA_Urban_Security_sm.pdf Shelf Number: 145325 Keywords: CPTEDCrime PreventionCrime Prevention through Environmental DesignDesign against CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas |
Author: Martinez, Denis Roberto Title: Youth under the Gun: Violence, Fear, and Resistance in Urban Guatemala Summary: This study examines how violence affects youth in marginalized urban communities, focusing on the experiences of three groups of young people: gang members, activists, and the "jovenes encerrados", youth who live confined to their homes due to fear. Based on 14 months of ethnographic research in El Mezquital, an extensive marginalized urban area in Guatemala City, I explore the socio-economic conditions that trigger violence in these communities, the responses of young people and the community to violence, and the State's role in exacerbating violence in impoverished neighborhoods. In this dissertation I argue that gang members and activists are expressing a deep-seated social discontent against the exclusion, humiliation, and social stigmatization faced by young people in marginalized urban neighborhoods. However, the two groups express their discontent in significantly different ways. Initially, gangs used violence to express their discontent, but they gradually resorted to a perverse game of crime, in complicity with the police, and they distanced themselves from their own communities; in this work I analyze gangs' process of transformation and the circumstances that led to this change. Activists express their discontent through community art and public protest, but their demonstrations have limited social impact, since public attention continues to focus on gangs; here I examine activists' motivations, struggles, and obstacles. However, the vast majority of young people live in a state of fear, preferring to keep quiet and withdraw into their homes; here I show how violence, fear, and distrust affect the generation born into postwar Guatemala. This study illustrates the perverse role of the State in impoverished urban neighborhoods and its responsibility for the escalation of urban violence in Guatemala. On the one hand, the State shuns residents from these neighborhoods and systematically denies them basic services; it criminalizes and abuses young people, even forming social cleansing groups to eliminate gang members. On the other hand, the State fosters crime in these communities and acts as gangs' accomplice in extortions, drug trade, and robberies. As in many other Latin American countries, the Guatemalan State penalizes crime, but simultaneously encourages and benefits from it; the State is complicit in crime. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 2014. 263p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 27, 2017 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/28318/MARTINEZ-DISSERTATION-2014.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2014 Country: Guatemala URL: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/28318/MARTINEZ-DISSERTATION-2014.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 145831 Keywords: Fear of CrimeGang-Related ViolenceGangsNeighborhoods and CrimePovertySocioeconomic conditions and CrimeUrban Areas and CrimeViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Bania, Melanie L. Title: Don't Snitch: Responses to Neigbourhood Intimidation Summary: Community-wide intimidation refers to a general atmosphere of fear, silence, and non-cooperation with the police and criminal justice system within a particular neighbourhood or community affected by crime and violence. This is distinguished in the literature from individual-level intimidation: scare tactics and threats specifically targeted at one person or one small group of people following a specific incident. While the literature on individual-level intimidation is vast, much less is known about community-wide intimidation. Despite many anecdotal reports of community-wide intimidation, there is currently very limited reliable information on the prevalence and severity of community-wide intimidation in Canadian communities and elsewhere. In an attempt to explain the dynamics surrounding the causes of community-wide intimidation, existing studies point to a lack of informal social control in disenfranchised communities, strong messaging from the current 'snitch culture' surrounding gang activity, and gang stereotypes that portrait every possible gang-involved person as disproportionality violent. Regardless of potential causes, when deciding whether or not to report an incident to police, victims and bystanders generally consider whether the expected gains of reporting (the 'pros') will outweigh the costs of reporting, including the potential for retaliation (the 'cons'). When it comes to responses to community-wide intimidation, the literature refers to a variety of general suggestions, including: community outreach and education for residents; creating avenues for safe communication between community members and police; community policing; community-based prosecution strategies; civil injunctions targeting the activities of gang-involved persons; and inter-agency cooperation at the neighbourhood level. Only a few concrete examples of these approaches are provided in the literature, primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom. Most have not been well documented or evaluated for their impacts on communities. The most documented model is the Making WAVES program from the United Kingdom, which supports victims and witnesses in a variety of ways. An evaluation of the program showed promising results and emphasized the importance of interagency cooperation with community members. In Canada and Ottawa more specifically, efforts have focused on education and awareness campaigns for residents, and efforts to facilitate safe communication between residents and police. These initiatives have generally not been well documented, researched or evaluated for their effects and impacts on communities. Overall, there is a large gap in knowledge regarding community-wide intimidation of residents in vulnerable and marginalized neighbourhoods, and effective ways of addressing this concern. Further research is needed in order to understand the dynamics, prevalence, severity, and impacts of communitywide intimidation in neighbourhoods affected by crime and violence. Future attempts to address community-wide intimidation should be based on an indepth understanding of the complexity of the issue at the local neighbourhood level, and should be evaluated for their intended and unintended effects and impacts on the community. Finally, much of the literature on community-wide intimidation focuses solely on the challenges it creates for the functioning of the criminal justice system, particularly residents' willingness to report to and cooperate with the police. Very little attention is paid to the effects of intimidation and fear on the quality of life of residents in disenfranchised neighbourhoods. Yet for service providers, community workers, and residents themselves, quality of life issues are of primary importance. Various stakeholders touched by this issue, then, may have different definitions of what "success" looks like in attempts to address community-wide intimidation. Future research and initiatives related to addressing community-wide intimidation in neighbourhoods should therefore reflect carefully on the intended impact of the approach - what do we hope to see change? Should the focus be solely or mainly on reporting to police as a solution? Or are there other, more sustainable ways to meet resident needs and ultimately improve the quality of life of vulnerable and marginalized groups affected by community-wide intimidation? Details: Ottawa: Crime Prevention Ottawa, 2016. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 6, 2017 at: http://www.crimepreventionottawa.ca/Media/Content/files/Publications/Neighbourhoods/Don%20t%20snitch%20responses%20to%20Neighbourhoods%20Intimidation-EN-Final-Jan%202016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Canada URL: http://www.crimepreventionottawa.ca/Media/Content/files/Publications/Neighbourhoods/Don%20t%20snitch%20responses%20to%20Neighbourhoods%20Intimidation-EN-Final-Jan%202016.pdf Shelf Number: 145944 Keywords: Communities and CrimeIntimidationNeighborhoods and CrimeRetaliationSnitching |
Author: Helfgott, Jacqueline B. Title: Seattle Police Department's Micro-Community Policing Plans Implementation Evaluation: Final Report Summary: This report summarizes the results from a two-year implementation evaluation of the Seattle Police Department's Micro-Community Policing Plans (MCPP). The evaluation employed a mixed-method research design including participant observation, community focus groups, and the development and administration of the Seattle Public Safety survey. The results tell the story of the evolution of the Seattle Police Department's MCPP initiative and show how the collection of data on community perceptions of crime at the micro-community level provide a comprehensive assessment of the nature of crime in Seattle communities that can be used in conjunction with crime data to address public safety in Seattle. Implications for public safety and police-community engagement in Seattle and recommendations for further development of the SPD MCPP initiative are discussed. Details: Seattle: Seattle University Center for the Study of Crime and Justice, 2017. 158p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 12, 2017 at: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Police/Reports/SPD-MCPP-Implementation-Evauation-Final-Report.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Police/Reports/SPD-MCPP-Implementation-Evauation-Final-Report.pdf Shelf Number: 146068 Keywords: Community PolicingNeighborhoods and CrimePolice-Citizen InteractionsPolice-Community RelationsPublic Safety |
Author: Sana, Olang Title: Taking Stock of Socio-economic Challenges in the Nairobi Slums: An Inventory of the Pertinent Issues between January 2008 and November 2012 Summary: Kenya's post-2007 elections violence was a landmark event in the country's political history. The violence led to the death of over 1, 300 people, displacement of others, and destruction of property of unknown value especially in the then Nyanza, Western, Rift-valley and Coast provinces. Howevwer, the social cost of the violence was greater than the visible dislocations reported in the media and elsewhere. Over four and a half years after the violence, the social cost of the phenomenon still lives with the victims: survivors who suffered in not-so-visible ways, the internally displaced persons, people who lost property, victims of sexual assault, and people who sustained different kinds of physical and emotional injury. And whereas post -2007 elections crisis speeded up the pace of reforms in Kenya's body politic including the completion of the hitherto stalled constitutional review process, it is surprising that the Kenya government has made frail efforts to address the socio-economic needs of the communities and families affected by the scourge of violence. More surprisingly, very little attention to understand and act on the potential effects of post 2007 elections crisis on the forthcoming polls already slated for March 2013. The Nairobi slums are one area that was adversely affected by the December 2007-January 2008 post elections violence. The slums occupy one-eighth of the land space in Nairobi but host three-quarters of the city's population of four million people. Many factors combine to make the Nairobi slums the most violent and vulnerable neighborhoods in Nairobi. And as media reports indicate, post-election violence started in the Nairobi slums (Kibera) before it spread to other parts of the country. Consequently, the slums bore the heaviest brunt of the violence (relative to the up-market neighborhoods of Nairobi). A lot of information is still outside the public domain regarding how the violence erupted, immediate issues that provoked the violence, the ethnic character of the violence, the nature of disruptions wrought by the violence, and how various slum villages are coping with the trauma. Also outside the public domain is information regarding how the actual socio-economic conditions that prevail in the slums add to their violent character, and an exposition of some unresolved issues as well as emerging threats that could affect the stability of these neighborhoods both before and after the March 2013 polls. More importantly, there is an urgent need to re-examine the slums with reference to the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and other gains so far made towards the implementation of the Constitution. Can the (new) Constitution be used as a reference document for increasing service delivery, advancing rights protection, and laying the foundation for the rule of law in the lives of the three million slums dwellers? What can be done in the pre-and post-March 2013 elections to not only rid the slums of their violent character but also to initiate programmes geared towards changing the face of the slum permanently? The purpose of this booklet is to provide some insight into the concerns outlined above. The authors of the booklet note that there has been some good progress towards addressing some or a combination of the above concerns especially in the aftermath of the violence. However, the intellectual discourse about the slums and violence is as yet embryonic and far too incoherent to guide focused interventions before and after the forthcoming polls. Primarily, the booklet aspires to provoke some thought about the slums and slum dwellers with a view to encouraging government policy makers, the civil society, the international community, the academia and other actors to make informed interventions geared towards improving the physical conditions in the slums without depriving the dwellers of dignity and rights. Details: Nairobi, Kenya: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2012. Source: Internet Resource: accessed June 14, 2017 at: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/kenia/09860.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Kenya URL: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/kenia/09860.pdf Shelf Number: 146172 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePoverty and CrimeSlums (Nairobi, Kenya)Socioeconomic Conditions and CrimeVigilantismViolence |
Author: Irvin-Erickson, Yasemin Title: A Neighborhood-Level Analysis of the Economic Impact of Gun Violence Summary: National conversations on the economic costs of gun violence tend to focus on the health care costs faced by victims, lost productivity, and the financial burden of gun-related health care, enforcement, and correctional supervision costs on taxpayers. Despite broad interest in estimating the economic costs of gun violence at the national and individual levels, these conversations rarely address the impact of gun violence on the health of local economies. We know little about how local economies respond to increased gun violence, especially sharp and sudden increases (or surges) in gun violence. Do surges in gun violence slow business growth and lower home values, homeownership rates, and credit scores in communities? How do increases in gun violence shape local economic health over time? To answer these important questions, we assembled and analyzed newly available business establishment and credit score data, as well as gunshot and sociodemographic data by census tract, for six cities: Baton Rouge, LA; Minneapolis, MN; Oakland, CA; Rochester, NY; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, DC. Police departments in four of these cities (Minneapolis, Oakland, San Francisco, and Washington, DC) provided gun homicide data. Baton Rouge gun homicide data were retrieved from the Parish of East Baton Rouge Open Data Portal. Gun homicide data were not available for Rochester. Because the gun violence data and economic indicators did not cover the same time period in all six cities, we examined the relationship between gun violence and local economic health differently in different cities, considering the availability of data for each city. Our findings demonstrate that surges in gun violence can significantly reduce the growth of new retail and service businesses and slow home value appreciation. Further, higher levels of neighborhood gun violence can be associated with fewer retail and service establishments and fewer new jobs. Higher levels of gun violence were also associated with lower home values, credit scores, and homeownership rates. We interviewed homeowners, renters, business owners, and representatives of neighborhood associations and other nonprofit organizations in these six cities to see how they perceive and respond to gun violence. Business owners said they were determined to not allow hardships caused by gun violence to put them out of business, but they also detailed the significant costs they incur (in both security expenses and lost revenue) to stay open. Respondents of all types noted that gun violence has led to certain types of retail and service businesses moving out of the areas where they live and work. Across the board, they shared that gun violence hurts housing prices and drives people to relocate from or avoid moving to affected neighborhoods. Homeowners, like business owners, are also financially affected by gun violence and may be compelled to invest in security technologies to protect themselves, their homes, and their families. The data and research findings from this study can lend a new, economically driven lens to responses to gun violence. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2017. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 17, 2017 at: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/90671/eigv_final_report_1.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/90671/eigv_final_report_1.pdf Shelf Number: 146237 Keywords: Economic AnalysisEconomics of CrimeGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Christenson, Blake Richard Title: Assessing Foreclosure and Crime at Street Segments in Mecklenburg, County, North Carolina Summary: Foreclosures are potentially problematic for neighborhood crime rates by providing crime attractors to residential communities. In the past, like many criminogenic features, foreclosures were typically seen as an inner city problem; however, in the wake of the housing market collapse of 2008 precipitated by suspect banking practices, foreclosures were particularly impacting young and new middle class homeowners (i.e., people with little credit history or assets). This study improves upon past research in two areas. First, instead of using large heterogeneous units of analysis (e.g., block groups, tracts, counties), this study uses street blocks. Street blocks, here, are preferred because of their relative homogeneity, especially when compared to large aggregate areal units. Second, this study restricts crime to only those that occur in residential areas. The routine activities surrounding residential areas are substantially different from those surrounding other land uses. Chi-square results show a significant and positive relationship between foreclosure and crime. Moran's I shows a significant positive relationship between foreclosure and crime. LISA analysis additionally provides insight into the importance of locational characteristics that may further shed light on the foreclosure-crime relationship. Results here suggest further research of the foreclosure-crime relationship should utilize street segments as the base unit of analysis and control for crime location. Details: Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2013. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 26, 2017 at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1091/ Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1091/ Shelf Number: 146379 Keywords: ForeclosureHousing ForeclosuresNeighborhoods and CrimeProperty Crimes |
Author: Fraser, Jennifer Title: Engaging Local Businesses in Community Development and Crime Prevention: A Literature Review Summary: Crime Prevention Ottawa (CPO), in partnership with Ottawa's Community Development Framework, commissioned a literature review to discover what has been done to engage local businesses in community development and crime prevention initiatives. Covering research and examples from several countries, this review looks at why businesses should be involved in community development, the challenges of engaging businesses, examples of innovative approaches to engaging businesses, and some tools and processes that can help community groups engage businesses. Engaging businesses in community development and crime prevention work makes sense when the multiple risk factors for social problems are recognized. Businesses have a lot to offer community groups: resources, ideas from a fresh perspective, and specific skills honed in a business environment. Many businesses are now committing to social responsibility, but their involvement in community development also "makes good business sense" in improving their image, attracting customers, and retaining employees. Overall, pairing business development with community development can create business opportunities and improve the vibrancy of communities. Of course, engaging businesses in community development and crime prevention work can be challenging. Businesses and community groups tend to "speak different languages" - businesses work in a fast-paced, competitive environment toward specific, short-term goals, while community groups often work on long-term projects toward more abstract goals. Businesses may not see their role in community development and crime prevention and may be reluctant to participate in perceived "negative" issues. Community groups looking to engage businesses might want to consider picking specific components of a project in which a business can concretely participate; clearly establish expectations, roles, and timelines for all parties' involvement; and, frame their project in positive terms. Despite these challenges, there are many examples of innovative ways communities have engaged businesses in development and crime prevention work. Community groups have successfully worked with Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) or Districts (BIDs) in New York City, Baltimore, and Winnipeg. Innovative partnerships devoted to curbing alcohol-related violence in entertainment districts have been established in Montreal and Edmonton. Some Toronto-based projects have highlighted the importance of getting businesses to invest in youth and working on focused neighbourhood revitalization projects. Community-business partnerships have also been facilitated by governments in Vancouver and the United Kingdom. A number of tools exist to help community groups identify, approach, and maintain relationships with businesses they would like to engage in development and crime prevention work. For example, the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime and the Institute for the Prevention of Crime outline five steps for effective implementation of crime prevention initiatives and the Tamarack Institute has produced a six step process for obtaining business involvement as well as a "needs-features-benefits" tool for making the case for business involvement. This literature review shows that, despite challenges, community-business partnerships for community development and crime prevention initiatives can be advantageous for all stakeholders involved. Understanding what is already known about engaging businesses in community development and crime prevention is important for CPO and will help to inform future relationships among local business owners, community partners, and residents and to promote joint community development and crime prevention initiatives in the Ottawa region. Details: Ottawa: Crime Prevention Ottawa, 2012. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 26, 2017 at: http://www.crimepreventionottawa.ca/Media/Content/files/Publications/Neighbourhoods/Engaging%20Local%20Businesses.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Canada URL: http://www.crimepreventionottawa.ca/Media/Content/files/Publications/Neighbourhoods/Engaging%20Local%20Businesses.pdf Shelf Number: 146388 Keywords: Business Improvement DistrictsCommunity DevelopmentCrime PreventionCrime Prevention PartnershipsNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Eide, Stephen D. Title: Poverty and Progress in New York III: Crime and Welfare Enrollment One Year Into the de Blasio Administration Summary: Mayor Bill de Blasio assumed office in January 2014, promising to "take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities - [and] put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love." With respect to public safety, this promise translated into a determination to continue the low crime rates of recent years through a modified version of the Giuliani and Bloomberg approaches to policing. On welfare, de Blasio made a sharper break from the past. The overarching goals remain greater economic mobility and less government dependence. But these goals are to be achieved through a less "punitive" approach toward enforcing eligibility requirements and "more effective" employment programs that emphasize education and training over work experience. This paper is the third installment in a series that has been tracking the effect of de Blasio's policies at the neighborhood level. Focusing on the effect of initiatives on policing and public assistance, it examines how conditions in the poorest neighborhoods in the five boroughs have changed during 2014, the first year of the de Blasio administration. The paper also investigates citywide trends in arrests, data regarding potential racial bias in the police department, and rates of dependence on social assistance programs. Key Findings Welfare - New York City ended 2014 with more people on welfare than it began. Midyear, the Human Resources Administration (HRA) announced major changes to the city's public assistance program; by the end of 2014, enrollment had grown by about 16,000 since the HRA announcement. - This increase has come during a time of relative prosperity for the local economy, which added more than 90,000 jobs in 2014. Significant growth came in low-wage industries likely to hire welfare recipients. Throughout New York City's history, the general tendency has been for welfare enrollment to decline as job numbers grow. - Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) proved more responsive to improved economic conditions, steadily declining throughout 2014. - The number of public assistance recipients remains very low, by historical standards. Policing - The year 2014 saw annual declines in six out of seven major crime categories. Murders reached historical lows. - There are exceptions to the general good news on crime: 28 precincts saw at least one more murder in 2014 than in 2013; and total crime was up in 14 precincts. The lowest-income neighborhoods in the five boroughs remain far more dangerous than their high-income counterparts. - In the ten lowest-income neighborhoods in the five boroughs, eight saw two or three more murders in 2014 than in 2013. Two experienced more total crime in 2014 than in 2013. - Misdemeanor arrests, though higher than they were ten years ago, are currently on a downward trend. This includes arrests for many, though not all, "Broken Windows," or quality-of-life, offenses such as drug possession. - Civilian Complaint Review Board complaints and allegations of unnecessary or excessive use of force by police are trending down. The year 2014 saw fewer complaints against the NYPD than all but three of the last 16 years. - Use of force in making misdemeanor arrests is extremely rare (2.2 percent) and trending down. - With respect to allegations of racial bias, a comparison between victim-initiated and police-initiated misdemeanor arrests shows that police do not arrest minorities at a higher rate when acting on their own judgment than when responding to specific victim complaints. - Crime is overwhelmingly more of a problem for poor minority neighborhoods, where the greatest demand for policing, measured by 911 calls, is found. Details: New York: Manhattan Institute, 2015. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Civic Report no. 94: https://www.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/cr_94.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/cr_94.pdf Shelf Number: 146471 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePovertySocioeconomic Conditions and CrimeUrban Areas and CrimeWelfare |
Author: Autor, David H. Title: Gentrification and the Amenity Value of Crime Reductions: Evidence from Rent Deregulation Summary: Gentrification involves large-scale neighborhood change whereby new residents and improved amenities increase property values. In this paper, we study whether and how much public safety improvements are capitalized by the housing market after an exogenous shock to the gentrification process. We use variation induced by the sudden end of rent control in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1995 to examine within-Cambridge variation in reported crime across neighborhoods with different rent-control levels, abstracting from the prevailing city-wide decline in criminal activity. Using detailed location-specific incident-level criminal activity data assembled from Cambridge Police Department archives for the years 1992 through 2005, we find robust evidence that rent decontrol caused overall crime to fall by 16 percent-approximately 1,200 reported crimes annually-with the majority of the effect accruing through reduced property crime. By applying external estimates of criminal victimization's economic costs, we calculate that the crime reduction due to rent deregulation generated approximately $10 million (in 2008 dollars) of annual direct benefit to potential victims. Capitalizing this benefit into property values, this crime reduction accounts for 15 percent of the contemporaneous growth in the Cambridge residential property values that is attributable to rent decontrol. Our findings establish that reductions in crime are an important part of gentrification and generate substantial economic value. They also show that standard cost-of-crime estimates are within the bounds imposed by the aggregate price appreciation due to rent decontrol. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2017. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper No. 23914: Accessed October 9, 2017 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23914 Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23914 Shelf Number: 147613 Keywords: Economics of CrimeGentrificationNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Fontaine, Jocelyn Title: Mistrust and Ambivalence between Residents and the Police: Evidence from Four Chicago Neighborhoods Summary: Violence in Chicago has been national news as shootings and homicides have increased over the past year. Total homicides in 2016 reached levels the city has not experienced since the late 1990s (University of Chicago Crime Lab 2017); meanwhile, homicides in other large US cities have been declining or remaining steady (Freidman, Grawet, and Cullen 2016). Chicago residents have been demanding reforms to the ways police treat and interact with the public; this issue, which has been a persistent one particularly for residents of high-crime neighborhoods with heavy police presence, has been given renewed visibility after the release of video showing the killing of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer. A subsequent US Department of Justice investigation of the Chicago Police Department revealed the department has problems with use of force and accountability that contribute to a lack of community trust in the department (US Department of Justice and US Attorney"s Office 2017). These issues are no doubt related: community trust in the police is an important contributor to effective crime control. While this brief is not intended to weigh in on what caused the most recent crime spike in Chicago, it does present findings that show the fractured relationship between residents of high-crime neighborhoods and the police that serve those communities. The data are based on surveys collected before the recent crime spike from residents and officers living or working in four Chicago neighborhoods that have had consistently high crime rates relative to other parts in the city. Because of the sampling methodology used for this study, our findings provide new insights on a topic that has received much empirical scrutiny: the criticality of police-citizen relationships. This brief discusses the level of mutual mistrust between residents (including those recently involved with the criminal justice system) and police officers in Chicago's 5th, 10th, 15th, and 25th police districts. Drawn from surveys of both officers and residents, the data demonstrate ambivalence between the police and the residents they serve. While the results are generally sobering, we find some potential for repairing the mistrust and pathways for building stronger police-community relationships. This brief proceeds in four sections. First, we discuss the importance of strong police-resident relationships; then, we outline the study methodology and the demographic characteristics of the sampled groups. Next, we present key findings on residents' perceptions of procedural fairness of police and support for officer behavior and actions, residents' perceptions of unreasonable stops, residents' willingness to participate in crime control, and police officers' perceptions of community cooperation and community trust. A final section summarizes the key findings and discusses the implications of our findings for police-community relationships and crime control, which are most relevant for the people living in the neighborhoods we studied and executive staff and patrol officers in the Chicago Police Department. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2017. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2017 at: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/92316/2017.07.31_legitimacy_brief_finalized_0.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/92316/2017.07.31_legitimacy_brief_finalized_0.pdf Shelf Number: 148042 Keywords: HomicidesNeighborhoods and CrimePolice LegitimacyPolice-Citizen InteractionsPolice-Community RelationsViolent Crime |
Author: City of Saskatoon. Planning and Development Branch Title: Safe Growth and CPTED in Saskatoon. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Guidelines: An Illustrated Guide to Safer Development in Our Community Summary: This Guidebook provides site-planning design advice for seven major categories of urban development commonly found throughout Saskatoon: 1. multiple unit residential; 2. public places; 3. commercial / suburban commercial / power centres / town centres; 4. institutional; 5. public parks, recreational areas, and playgrounds, 6. surface parking; 7. walkways/linear parks. While this Guidebook does not focus on architectural or security hardware used in construction, such as window styles or types of closed circuit television (CCTV), it does provide guidelines for two important forms of design specifically related to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED): 1. lighting; and 2. landscaping. Therefore, this Guidebook offers a set of guiding principles for use in site and development planning. It is important to realize that no single design method will stop all forms of crime. That is why this Guidebook is not intended as a CPTED checklist. Instead, the guidelines provide design choices. In combination with a risk assessment of potential problems at a particular place, they are choices that will help create a safer Saskatoon in the years to come. Details: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: City of Saskatoon, 2010. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 15, 2017 at: https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/default/files/documents/community-services/planning-development/neighbourhood-planning/neighbourhood-safety/CPTED%20Guidelines_WEB.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Canada URL: https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/default/files/documents/community-services/planning-development/neighbourhood-planning/neighbourhood-safety/CPTED%20Guidelines_WEB.pdf Shelf Number: 148181 Keywords: CPTED Crime Prevention Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Design Against Crime Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Delgado, Sheyla A. Title: Denormalizing Violence: The Effects of Cure Violence in the South Bronx and East New York, Brooklyn Summary: New York City launched its first Cure Violence program - which uses community outreach to interrupt violence - in 2010 with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice. Today, there are 18 programs around the city. This report examines two of them: Man Up! Inc. in East New York, Brooklyn; and Save Our Streets South Bronx. Each of the two neighborhoods was compared with another neighborhood that had similar demographics and crime trends but no Cure Violence program. As detailed in this report, the comparisons provide promising evidence that the public health approach to violence reduction championed by Cure Violence may be capable of creating safe and healthy communities. The Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (JohnJayREC) began an evaluation of Cure Violence in 2012 with support from the New York City Council. Researchers visited program sites and interviewed staff about the Cure Violence model. They also assembled data about violent incidents in the city from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the New York State Department of Health (DOH). Between 2014 and 2016, the study team also conducted annual surveys of young men living in a dozen neighborhoods, some with and some without Cure Violence programs. During the study period, New York City's various Cure Violence programs received financial and administrative support from the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York City Council, New York State's Division of Criminal Justice Services, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation of Princeton, New Jersey. Cure Violence is a neighborhood-based, public-health oriented approach to violence reduction. The program relies on the efforts of community-based "outreach workers" and "violence interrupters" in neighborhoods that are the most vulnerable to gun violence. These workers use their personal relationships, social networks, and knowledge of their communities to dissuade specific individuals and neighborhood residents in general from engaging in violence. When Cure Violence strategies are implemented with high levels of fidelity, the program may theoretically begin to "denormalize" violence in entire communities (Butts et al. 2015). As of 2016, New York City's Cure Violence programs employed approximately 130 workers, including two dozen program managers and directors, at least 15 supervisors, and more than 80 front-line workers. Before joining Cure Violence, staff members typically undergo a 40-hour training workshop by the National Cure Violence training team, which is based in Chicago. Additional training sessions are provided in New York City by locally based trainers. During their training, Cure Violence workers learn about active listening, conflict mediation, suicide prevention, and motivational interviewing tactics as well as procedures for record keeping and database management. Staff members at some Cure Violence programs, including those operated by the Center for Court Innovation in New York City, receive additional training in human resources policy, organizational management, and staff supervision techniques. Details: New York, NY: Research & Evaluation Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2017. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 16, 2017 at: https://johnjayrec.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/CVinSoBronxEastNY.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://johnjayrec.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/CVinSoBronxEastNY.pdf Shelf Number: 148198 Keywords: Cure ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceNeighborhoods and CrimeViolent CrimeViolent OffendersYoung Adult Offenders |
Author: Shane, Jon M. Title: Abandoned Buildings and Lots Summary: Abandoned Buildings and Lots begins by describing the problem of abandoned buildings and vacant lots, factors that contribute to the problem, and who is responsible for the problem. It then presents a series of questions that will help you analyze the problem. Finally, it reviews several responses to the problem and what it is known from research, evaluation, and government practice. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, 2012. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Problem-Specific Guides Series Problem-Oriented Guides for Police, no. 64: Accessed January 30, 2018 at: https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p240-pub.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p240-pub.pdf Shelf Number: 130305 Keywords: Abandoned Buildings Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Fabusuyi, Tayo Title: East Liberty Crime Data Analysis Summary: Within a span of five years, 2008 to 2012, overall crime in the residential area of East Liberty has decreased by 49%, and residential property prices have doubled. These developments occurred in an environment where the median income stagnated and actually declined in real terms and where there was minimal change in the racial composition of the neighborhood. This crime reduction is significantly greater than what occurred in the City of Pittsburgh during that period, and is also larger than that observed for comparable neighborhoods in close proximity to East Liberty. A series of questions prompted by these developments are what informed this study. Numeritics, a Pittsburgh-based consulting practice, was approached by the real estate arm of East Liberty Development Incorporated (ELDI), to examine the linkages between these developments and ELDI initiatives. Numeritics was tasked with providing plausible reasons that explain these developments; examining the degree to which ELDI was responsible for them and documenting the process by which these outcomes were achieved while providing some formalism on the process. ELDI staff who live in or around East Liberty came to the realization that crime is a real estate problem and therefore requires a real estate solution. In their experience, most of the criminal activity emanated from or around nuisance properties typically owned by slumlords, an observation buttressed by existing "hot spot" literature on crime that shows that 3% of addresses are responsible for 50% of all service calls to the police. This prompted the decision to embark on targeted acquisition of these properties at scale - a strategy reminiscent of the hot spot theory. Decisions on which properties to target came out of a combination of approaches. Using a "boots on the ground" approach, ELDI staffers became intimately involved in the neighborhood. They listened to complaints from neighbors, talked to the police and examined crime statistics. As a result of this process, East liberty "hot spots" were identified, most of which were either slumlord or abandoned properties. These properties were then targeted for acquisition by ELDI. In total, more than 200 units were purchased, representing 3% of the total rental housing units within the neighborhood. Post-acquisition, effective property managers were put in place to regulate the conduct of the properties and to function as place-owners. This strategy of property acquisition and management was strengthened by a number of complementary initiatives that helped to increase neighborhood cohesiveness. Beginning in 1997, ELDI has been highly conscious of involving neighborhood residents in the planning, decisionmaking and redevelopment process. These efforts allowed for the rebuilding of neighborhood cohesion and trust; what some call "collective efficacy"; the willingness of neighbors to intervene on behalf of the common good. This side effect in turn increases informal social controls; or neighbors looking out for each other, with the result being a positive effect on crime rates. Details: Pittsburgh, PA: Numeritics, 2013. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 2018 at: http://helppgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Report_of_the_ELDI_Crime_Study.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://helppgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Report_of_the_ELDI_Crime_Study.pdf Shelf Number: 149026 Keywords: Collective EfficacyCrime AnalysisCrime HotspotsHotspotsHousing and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeResidential Areas and Crime |
Author: Henning, Kris Title: Community Attitudes Regarding Public Safety in Portland's Parkrose Neighborhood Summary: The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) is partnering with Portland State University (PSU) and neighborhood groups to develop new strategies for improving public safety and police-community relations. The current initiative seeks to provide residents with greater voice in where police work in their neighborhood, what problems they address, and how they intervene. We also hope to provide residents, businesses, and community organizations with data they can use to leverage additional resources for improving public safety in their neighborhood. This report focuses on the Parkrose neighborhood. Parkrose is located in the Northeast section of Portland (i.e. North of Burnside Ave. and East of the Willamette River). PSU's Population Research Center estimates that there were 6,363 residents living in the neighborhood in 2010, a 5.5% increase from 2000. For additional information on the neighborhood, contact the Parkrose Neighborhood Association. In July 2016 all households in the Parkrose neighborhood were mailed a letter inviting the adult occupants to participate in an online survey. Additional invitations were delivered in-person by PPB officers and the link to the online survey was in several newsletters and community-oriented websites. The questionnaire asked residents to identify their primary public safety concerns, whether they supported or opposed various actions the city might take in responding to these problems, and for ideas on improving police-community relationships. Three hundred and forty-nine surveys were submitted and analyzed for this report. Key Findings - Social disorder (e.g., noise, squatters, trespassing, panhandlers, and prostitution) property crime, and drugs/alcohol were the top public safety concerns identified by Parkrose residents completing the online survey. - Respondents to the survey demonstrated a high degree of agreement regarding the areas within their neighborhood that have public safety concerns. This includes the corridors running east to west surrounding NE Sandy Blvd and NE Prescott St. - People from Parkrose who completed the survey feel considerably less safe walking alone in their neighborhood than the average city resident. Moreover, the majority of survey respondents reported that public safety in Parkrose had declined over the past 12 months. - The majority of respondents expressed confidence with the Portland Police and felt the Portland Police treat people in the neighborhood with respect. People felt this could continue to be strengthened through non-investigatory foot patrols, community meetings, and expanded police participation in community events. Details: Portland, OR: Portland State University, 2017. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 16, 2018 at: https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/sites/www.pdx.edu.criminology-criminal-justice/files/PDF-Files/Research/PPB_PSU%20Public%20Safety%20Survey_Parkrose%202016_Final%20Report.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/sites/www.pdx.edu.criminology-criminal-justice/files/PDF-Files/Research/PPB_PSU%20Public%20Safety%20Survey_Parkrose%202016_Final%20Report.pdf Shelf Number: 149503 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePolice LegitimacyPolice-Community RelationsPublic AttitudesPublic Safety |
Author: Wilson, Andrew Title: Heroin and Crack Cocaine Markets in Deprived Areas: Seven Local Case Studies Summary: In November 2000, a research team consisting of Ruth Lupton and Dr Andrew Wilson of CASE and Paul Turnbull, Tiggey May and Hamish Warburton of the Criminal Policy Research Unit (CPRU) at South Bank University (SBU) was commissioned by the UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordination Unit (UKADCU) to undertake a short study of drug markets in deprived neighbourhoods in England. The study examined neighbourhood drug markets in the context of the new policy agenda for neighbourhood renewal, including the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy and New Deal for Communities. It sought to: identify the extent of drug market activity in deprived neighbourhoods and to describe its nature and scale. draw out any associations between types of area and types of drug market. understand how drug market activity impacts on disadvantaged neighbourhoods. find out how local agencies and local communities, working independently and in partnership, were tackling drug markets and with what effect. Between December 2000 and April 2001, we investigated drug markets in eight neighbourhoods of varying type, tenure, location and ethnic mix, and in six different regions of England. In each neighbourhood, we questioned front-line staff and residents about the drug market, its impact on the area (if any) and the responses being taken. We also interviewed a small number of drug users (between six and nine) in each area, and collected supporting documents and statistics. We focused on markets for heroin and crack cocaine (crack). Our report, entitled A Rock and a Hard Place: Drug Markets in Deprived Neighbourhoods, was published in January 2002 as a Home Office Research Study. This supplementary report contains the case studies on which the report was based. Seven of the eight neighbourhoods are included, since the local authority in one area felt that it would not be helpful for its case study to be published. Following the case studies, we have also included the summary from A Rock and a Hard Place, and a glossary of terms for readers unfamiliar with drug market terminology. We hope that the publication of the case studies will be useful both to policy makers and to practitioners, illuminating the detail of the problems faced, the perspectives of participants, and some examples of successful and less successful practice. To avoid creating or consolidating reputations for these areas as ones where drugs are available, we have given them false names. Details: London: Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2002. 92p. Source: Internet Resource: Supplement to Home Office Research Study 240, A Rock and a Hard Place: Drug Markets in Deprived Neighbourhoods: CASEreports, 19: Accessed March 20, 2018 at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27367/1/Heroin_and_crack_cocaine_markets_in_deprived_areas_%28LSERO_version%29.pdf Year: 2002 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27367/1/Heroin_and_crack_cocaine_markets_in_deprived_areas_%28LSERO_version%29.pdf Shelf Number: 118602 Keywords: Cocaine Drug Abuse and Crime Drug Markets Drug Offenders Neighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Gramckow, Heike P. Title: Addressing the Enforcement Gap to Counter Crime: Part 2: Options for World Bank Engagement with Police Summary: The first volume of this report examined the implications of socially disorganized communities on the continued spread of violence and crime, as well as the ways that police services can become engaged to rebuild their legitimacy, improve community safety, and restore support for the law. Criminologists have long recognized a connection between crime, violence, and social disorder on the one hand and marginalization on the other, whether of communities or individuals. Environmental theories of crime suggest that people who live in socially disorganized communities, where local informal social control has become frayed and the community is unable to effectively supervise individual behavior, are less able to address crime and disorder problems and must rely instead on the formal apparatus of the state, including the police and the wider justice system, to help protect community safety. Absent a constructive police response, however, these communities often spiral downward into more disorder and crime, sometimes leaving them controlled or overseen by criminal organizations or gangs and thus further undermining inclusive development and the rule of law. Research on police practices in these communities suggests that the police can exacerbate community problems by failing to support legitimate community leaders. They can also impede community building efforts by demonstrating indifference to community problems and/or participating in corrupt practices. Moreover, it is clear worldwide that poor communities in particular feel the brunt of crime and violence (Haugen and Boutros 2014) and that their vulnerability to crime and violence inhibits the very measures that would help pull these communities out of their desperate situation. Without safety and security interventions in violence-prone communities, other development assistance in sectors such as education, public health, and so forth are blunted by the all-consuming insecurity and fear of victimization that crime and violence cause. Recognizing the critical link between security and the ability to achieve its twin goals of eradicating extreme poverty and contributing to shared prosperity, the World Bank has increased efforts to support programs that aim to prevent violence and promote citizen safety. The 2011 World Development Report (WDR) already positioned security as a critical development issue, with a corresponding operationalization plan. Other corporate measures have included guidance for staff on the Bank's engagement in criminal justice activities; the creation of a Criminal Justice Resource Group (CJRG) that spans several Global Practices; and the generation of knowledge on various aspects of violence prevention and criminal justice reform. The extent of crime, violence, and corruption, as well as governments' capacities and efforts to deal with these issues, are all elements of the Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) for International Development Association (IDA) countries, and the cost of crime to the business community is weighed in the Bank's World Development Indicators. With an increasing focus on urbanization, and urban upgrading in particular, the World Bank's clients are demanding greater investment in violence prevention, urban safety, and citizen security. Not surprisingly, the Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCDs) of a number of Central American and other countries, including Liberia, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea, have recognized the substantial impediment to development that crime and violence represent. According to an informal 2013 portfolio review, the Bank's lending, technical assistance, and analytical services in citizen security and interpersonal violence prevention amounted to approximately US$276 million in that year. This spans activities ranging from violence monitoring and municipal planning to implement citizen security strategies, to crime prevention through urban upgrading, school-based violence prevention, and support for criminal justice reform. Added to this are the Development Policy Loans (DPLs) of US$2.7 billion that contain violence prevention and citizen security prior actions or policy pillars in Brazil, Colombia, and Honduras. This increasing demand, together with the restructuring of the World Bank into 14 Global Practices, provides an unprecedented opportunity to consolidate programming that addresses violence and citizen security into integrated strategic solutions rather than through sector-specific interventions. The 2012 legal opinion clarifying the scope of the Bank's criminal justice work in a development context has also created the necessary space for the Bank to engage in a wide range of interventions, with only a few exceptions, if the appropriate risk management approach is part of the design, that is, if one recognizes that sometimes the option not to engage can be even more harmful to the client country. Crime prevention activities, especially as part of broader sector work in urban planning and social development, have gained traction in the Bank's lending portfolio. The piece that is most often missing, however, is support for reform of policing efforts in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Details: Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2016. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2018 at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/196771468001493442/pdf/105089-WP-PUBLIC-Crime-and-Enforcement-Part-2.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/196771468001493442/pdf/105089-WP-PUBLIC-Crime-and-Enforcement-Part-2.pdf Shelf Number: 149568 Keywords: Crime Prevention Development and Crime Gangs Law Enforcement Neighborhoods and CrimePolice Reform Political Corruption Poverty Public Safety Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime Violence Violence Prevention |
Author: Morgan, Anthony Title: Reducing crime in public housing areas through community development: An evaluation of the High Density Housing Program in the ACT Summary: The High Density Housing Program (HDHP) is a collaborative program involving Reclink Australia, the Australian Capital Territory Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS), ACT Housing, ACT Health and ACT Policing. It involves the application of community development approaches to prevent crime and antisocial behaviour at Ainslie Avenue, a large public housing area in the ACT comprising six (previously seven) blocks. An on-the-ground manager (OTGM), employed by Reclink Australia, maintains a continuing presence across the site, coordinating existing services to residents and introducing new events, activities and programs that provide opportunities for resident interaction and relationship building and that address the needs of residents. The HDHP draws on Australian research evidence that showed social approaches to crime prevention, including community development, can improve neighbourhood cohesion and are associated with reduced crime (Samuels et al. 2004). The HDHP has four primary objectives. I t aims to promote community safety and security, prevent and reduce opportunities for crime in public housing sites and surrounding areas, develop pro-social and law abiding community engagement among residents and facilitate and support residents' access to health, mental health, education and employment services. The evaluation of the HDHP employed a rigorous quasi-experimental design which enabled changes in recorded assaults and property crime, disturbance incidents and ambulance attendances at Ainslie Avenue to be compared with those of another public housing area that shared similar characteristics. This component of the evaluation also examined whether there had been any displacement or diffusion of benefit to surrounding areas. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) compared the cost of the program with monetised benefits associated with changes in recorded crime rates. This was supported by analysis of data collected by the OTGM on program delivery and in-depth interviews with 15 residents about their experiences of the program and living at Ainslie Avenue. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2018. Source: Internet Resoruce: Research Report 06: Accessed May 7, 2018 at: https://aic.gov.au/publications/rr/rr6 Year: 2018 Country: Australia URL: https://aic.gov.au/publications/rr/rr6 Shelf Number: 150070 Keywords: Communities and CrimeCrime DisplacementCrime PreventionHousing DevelopmentsNeighborhoods and CrimePublic HousingPublic Safety |
Author: Billings, Stephen B. Title: Hanging Out With the Usual Suspects: Neighborhood Peer Effects and Recidivism Summary: Social interactions within neighborhoods, schools and detention facilities are important determinants of criminal behavior. However, little is known about the degree to which neighborhood peers affect successful community re-entry following incarceration. This paper measures the influence of pre-incarceration social networks on recidivism by exploiting the fact that peers may be locked up when a prisoner returns home. Using detailed arrest and incarceration data that includes residential addresses for offenders, we find consistent and robust evidence that a former inmate is less likely to reoffend if more of his peers are held captive while he reintegrates into society. Details: Unpublished paper, 2017. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3144020 Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3144020 Shelf Number: 150110 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePeer InfluenceRecidivismSocial Networks |
Author: Bradford, John Hamilton Title: The Surprising Link Between Education and Fatal Police Shooting Rates in the U.S., 2013-2016 Summary: This study analyzes county-level fatal police shooting rates from 2013 to 2016. Lasso regression, elastic net regression, cross-validated stepwise selection, all-subsets regression, partial least squares regression, as well as relative importance analysis are used to assess the best predictive models. The most surprising and robust finding is that standardized test scores for English/Language Arts (ELA) are negatively associated with rates of fatal police shootings across multiple geographical levels of aggregation, net of crime and other socioeconomic controls. The findings suggest that deadly encounters between civilians and police officers are more likely to occur in impoverished regions with high rates of violent crime, more police per capita, and low average verbal ability. In addition, fatal police shootings rates tend to be lower in more segregated areas with larger Black populations and higher in areas with larger Hispanic populations. Details: Unpublished paper, 2017. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2018 at: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/p93x4/download?format=pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/p93x4/download?format=pdf Shelf Number: 150183 Keywords: Black Lives Matter Deadly Force Neighborhoods and CrimeOfficer-Involved Shootings Police-Involved Fatalities |
Author: Moors, H. Title: Criminal families in North Brabant. An exploration of generation effects in organized crime - Criminele families in Noord-Brabant. Een verkenning van generatie-effecten in de georganiseerde misdaad. Summary: The association of North Brabant and organized crime is current. Almost weekly, pieces appear in the newspaper of sobre rolled up hemp nurseries, dumping of chemical waste from drug labs in the outlying area the on the city sewer, threats to the mayors and aldermen about how close the underworld and the upper world sometimes seem to be to each other. 'This is the situation: we are dealing with an unorganized government versus organized crime, 'said the King's commissioner Wim van de Donk in the Volkskrant note: 'Nosotros only catch the losers. I have heard from a few experts that it was not. ' Interestingly, organized crime is often also connected is brought with a criminal culture that would be typical of Brabant. It is then una vez mas una economia moral originates from an inward culture, from a feeling of orphan una cultura de la historia de Government but long-term social relations within villages, city neighborhoods, the familias are the main source of trust. De Brabander would be contrarian and silent because of the 'we know US '. And on that breeding ground the crime would thrive. Details: Amsterdam: Reed Business, 2017. 192p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 27, 2018 at: http://www.emma.nl/files/documenten/criminele_families.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Netherlands URL: http://www.emma.nl/files/documenten/criminele_families.pdf Shelf Number: 150719 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimeOrganized Crime |
Author: Ferrell, Christopher E. Title: Neighborhood Crime and Transit Station Access Mode Choice - Phase III of Neighborhood Crime and Travel Behavior Summary: This report provides the findings from the third phase of a three-part study about the influences of neighborhood crimes on travel mode choice. While previous phases found evidence that high levels of neighborhood crime discourage people from choosing to walk, bicycle and ride transit, consistent with the authors hypothesis, they also produced counterintuitive findings suggesting that in some cases, high crime neighborhoods encourage transit ridership at the expense of driving-the opposite of what common sense would suggest. Phase 3 tested possible explanations for these counter-intuitive findings with a series of methodological improvements. These improvements were: - Improvement 1: Used the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system's 2008 Station Profile Survey travel data set to replace the Bay Area Travel Survey (BATS) 2000 data used in previous phases. - Improvement 2: Separated drop-off and drive-alone modes in logit models. - Improvement 3: Variables at the corridor level replaced previous variables at the transportation analysis zone (TAZ) level. - Improvement 4: Average parcel size (APS) variable replaced the intersection density measure of urban design. - Improvement 5: Used nested logit modeling techniques. These yielded strong evidence supporting the hypothesis that high-crime neighborhoods encourage driving, and they generated none of the counter-intuitive findings from previous phases. Details: San Jose, CA: Mineta Transportation Institute, 2015. 110p. Source: Internet Resource: MTI Report 12-45: Accessed August 14, 2018 at: http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1197&context=mti_publications Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1197&context=mti_publications Shelf Number: 151132 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePublic Transportation Transit Crime Transit Security Transportation Security |
Author: Bartley, Wm. Alan Title: The Role of Gun Supply in 1980s and 1900s Youth Violence Summary: Youth violence, particularly among young black males, particularly in urban areas, increased radically in the late 1980s and early 1990s and then began to fall. One explanation for this has been the expansion of crack markets in the 1980s; to the degree that increased gun access among young black males was believed to play a role, the implicit assumption was there was a demand shock in gun markets. Using a novel data set of handgun prices for 1980-2000, combined with ATF data on US rearm production quantities, we document that in fact the prices for cheaper "entry-level" guns fell in this period, suggesting a positive supply shock for the bottom end of the market. We argue that in substantial part this was due to a major reduction in the resources and activities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) in the 1980s. This allowed substantially greater freedom among licensed gun dealers, a pattern which was reversed in the early 1990s (changes in manufacturing also appear to have played a role in the initial expansion). We document that the positive supply shock increased the availability of guns to criminally active youth and led to higher rates of gun access for young black men, particularly for 25 ACP, 380 ACP and 9mm autoloaders. The increase and decrease in gun violence among young black men can be matched to changes along this causal chain. Details: Lexington, KY: Transylvania University, 2016. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Conference Paper: Accessed August 27, 2018 at: www.aeaweb.org Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: www.aeaweb.org Shelf Number: 151263 Keywords: Gun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceHomicidesNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas and CrimeViolent CrimeYouth Violence |
Author: Fraser, Alistair Title: Community Experiences of Serious Organised Crime in Scotland Summary: This summary sets out key findings from a research project that aimed to explore the community experiences of serious organised crime (SOC) in Scotland. The study sought to answer the following questions: 1) What are the relationships that exist between SOC and communities in Scotland? 2) What are the experiences and perceptions of residents, stakeholders and organisations of the scope and nature of SOC within their local area? and 3) How does SOC impact on community wellbeing, and to what extent can the harms associated with SOC be mitigated? The work involved in-depth qualitative research, to understand both direct and indirect forms of harm. Key points pertaining to the research and its results are as follows: The study involved the selection of three community case study sites based on a typology of 'SOC-affected' communities. These sites were based in varying urban and semi-urban settings. The impact of SOC at a more 'diffuse' national level was explored via research in a range of smaller case study sites and via interviews with national stakeholders. This included a consideration of SOC impacts in rural and remote areas, and on populations that were not concentrated in any defined geographic community. The case study areas were selected on the basis of pre-existing academic and policy literature, an initial set of interviews with key experts, and on the basis of aggregated and anonymised intelligence summaries provided by Police Scotland. 188 individuals participated in the study, which mostly involved semi-structured qualitative interviews, but also a small number of focus groups, unstructured interviews and observational research. Interviews were conducted with residents, local businesses, service providers, community groups, and national organisations, as well as with a small number of individuals with lived experience of SOC. Interviews comprised of questions about: the relationship between SOC and communities; the experiences and perceptions of residents and local service providers as to the nature and extent of SOC; and the impact of SOC on community wellbeing. Preliminary findings were presented back to a sub-sample of 33 community residents and representatives, across three of the case study areas, through a feedback method called 'co-inquiry'. This involved the organisation of events designed to assess the integrity of the findings, and elicit reflections on the implications of the findings for potential actions. Key Findings Serious Organised crime in Scotland SOC is considered to have a significant impact on the wellbeing of Scottish communities. As well as economic costs, it is evident that there are broader social costs in community settings. The effects of SOC on Scottish communities are not evenly distributed, with impact varying in nature and severity across urban, semi-urban and rural areas. While certain forms of SOC have deep roots in territorially-defined communities, others have less visible and more diffuse and invisible forms of impact. In recent years SOC in Scotland has demonstrated both continuity and change, involving both neighbourhood-based criminality and more geographically diverse forms of activity. The case study areas had all experienced the consequences of the decline in Scotland's traditional industries, including coal-mining, fishing, and manufacturing. All could be characterised as experiencing significant social and economic disadvantage, with unemployment and underemployment a common concern. Participants identified poverty and inequality as key drivers of crime in their local areas, including SOC activity. While the case study areas had traits that were similar to other communities in Scotland, however, it should be noted that these findings should not be read as a generalised picture of SOC-community relations in Scotland. While these themes were evident across the various case study locations, it is notable that there were differences in intensity between urban, semi-urban, and rural contexts. The intensity was highest in the urban embedded context and least intense in the diffuse location. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research, 2018. 96p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 13, 2018 at: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00536071.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00536071.pdf Shelf Number: 151521 Keywords: Communities and Crime Neighborhoods and CrimeOrganized Crime |
Author: McNeeley, Susan M. Title: Does Neighborhood Context Moderate the Relationship between Criminal Propensity and Recidivism? Summary: This study examines whether the relationship between individual-level risk and recidivism varies according to ecological context, measured at the census tract level. It is hypothesized that high-risk offenders - as measured by MnSTARR 2.0 and LSI-R - will have elevated risk of recidivism when living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and lower risk of recidivism when living in affluent neighborhoods. These hypotheses are tested with hierarchical logistic models predicting rearrest and revocation for a technical violation among a sample of approximately 3,000 offenders released from Minnesota state prisons in 2009. Rearrest was positively related to neighborhood disadvantage and negatively related to neighborhood affluence, while revocation was positively related to neighborhood urbanism. Further, neighborhood disadvantage moderated the association between LSI-R and rearrest; however, this interaction was not in the hypothesized direction. The results contradict prior literature examining similar relationships at the county level. Details: St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2017. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 24, 2018 at: https://mn.gov/doc/assets/NeighborhoodModeration-Full_tcm1089-341787.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://mn.gov/doc/assets/NeighborhoodModeration-Full_tcm1089-341787.pdf Shelf Number: 153075 Keywords: Disadvantaged NeighborhoodsNeighborhoods and CrimeRecidivismUrban Areas |
Author: Haessler, Katherine Title: Foreclosures, Ownership and Crime: A Mixed Methods Case Study Summary: This dissertation examined whether or not foreclosed properties belonging to a large real-estate holding financial institution, termed Big Bank (BB), have a different structural or property crime environment than other foreclosed properties, termed Non-Big Bank (NBB). A convergent design case study method was employed. The case study utilized content analysis, ordinary least squares regressions, t-tests and chi square tables to understand the data. The study found statistically significant differences in crime and structural variables between properties of these two ownership groupings. Property crime in BB properties was 24% more likely than in NBB foreclosed properties. BB properties were also more likely to have a higher co-location with vacant properties, i.e., registered vacant building maintenance licensed (VBML) properties. Furthermore, BB properties also exhibited structural characteristics common to rental properties - e.g., higher bedroom, bathroom and total room counts - even though the homes from both groups are similarly sized, sited on similarly sized lots, from the same neighborhoods and similarly priced. A cluster analysis on the foreclosure data for Cincinnati, Ohio revealed that foreclosures intensely cluster within portions of the city. This clustering activity identified the potential for significant spatial bias to contaminate research results stemming from the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP). To assess the degree to which foreclosure data may become skewed through boundary selection, the same foreclosure data were aggregated to a block group and tract level, and population data were downloaded at the block group and tract level. Two ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were performed, one at the tract and one at the block level. The OLS results reported a change in statistical significance (from 0.006 to 0.318) and an adjusted R-square (from 0% to 2%) from the tract to block level, respectively. These changes occurred using the same data, and were a product solely of selecting two different geographic units (U.S. Census 2010 tracts and blocks) for analysis. These findings indicate the importance of considering spatiality and boundary selection in research with foreclosures, which can intensely cluster. This research contributes to policy considerations by indicating that treating foreclosures equally is inappropriate as foreclosures do not have an equal impact on their surrounding environment. The findings suggest that limited resources for treating foreclosures would best be allocated to those areas where concentrated foreclosures occur and those properties that are classed BB. Details: Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 2015. 658p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed December 10, 2018 at: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:ucin1445609057 Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:ucin1445609057 Shelf Number: 153952 Keywords: Design Against Crime Foreclosures Housing Neighborhoods and CrimeProperty Crimes Vacant Properties |
Author: Kalimer, Matthew Title: Art, Crime and the Image of the City Summary: This dissertation explores the symbolic structure of the metropolis, probing how neutral spaces may be imbued with meaning to become places, and tracing the processes through which the image of the city can come to be - and carry real consequences. The centrality of the image of the city to a broad array of urban research is established by injecting the question of image into two different research areas: crime and real estate in Washington, DC and the spatial structure of grassroots visual art production in Boston, Massachusetts. By pursuing such widely diverging areas of research, I seek to show the essential linkage between art and crime as they related to the image of the city and general urban processes of definition, distinction, and change. And yet, the research pursued here offers a mixed appraisal of strategies that pin urban prospects to image and image manipulation, from the great crime decline of the past two decades to the rise of the creative economy and application of urban branding campaigns. Across the analyses, I highlight tension between expectations of change and the essentially conservative forces of image. Far from rebranding the city, culture is shown to play a key role in locking in inequalities, undermining revitalization efforts, and generally explaining the reproduction and persistence of place over time, following the logic of the "looking glass neighborhood." Thus, culture is not nearly the tool to revalorize, relabel, and transform place so well depicted in studies nor do the buzz of cultural events shape markets and communities as effectively in "off-center" cities. Place is not fixed for good, and can be "re-accomplished," albeit through decades-long demographic, cultural, and political processes. Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2013. 122p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed Dec. 12, 2018 at: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/11744462/Kaliner_gsas.harvard_0084L_11306.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/11744462/Kaliner_gsas.harvard_0084L_11306.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 154010 Keywords: Art and Crime Crime and Place Neighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas and Crime |
Author: Perera, Jessica Title: The London Clearances: Race, Housing and Policing Summary: After the 2011 'riots' in England and Wales, prime minister David Cameron, London mayor Boris Johnson and Department, Works and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith laid the blame squarely on 'gangs', described as a 'major criminal disease that has infected streets and estates' and an obstacle to 'neighbourhood rejuvenation, community action and business development'. An existing discussion about what was to be done about London's so-called 'sink estates' was transformed overnight into a 'race' debate, underpinned as it was by a highly racialised alarmist language about 'gangs' and 'gang nominals' (today's equivalent of yesterday's muggers). A stigma began to be attached to black and multicultural neighbourhoods and council estates, linked now to dangerous black youth subcultures like Grime and Drill. All this happened at around the same time that the Home Office was introducing its Ending Gang and Youth Violence (EGYV) strategy, which provides local authorities financial incentives to gather data on young people in gangs or at risk of gang involvement. The Conservative government's existing Estate Regeneration Programme was also accelerated; involving the selling off of local authority-owned housing estates to private partnerships and the decanting of social housing tenants outside the capital in a process that has been described by Simon Elmer and Geraldine Dening as the 'London Clearances'. Politicians could have looked to the real causes of the riots, such as social pressures due to austerity-induced welfare benefit cuts, the closing of youth clubs, aggressive police operations and ill-thought out policies like the ending of the Educational Maintenance Allowance. Housing experts had long warned that the gradual social cleansing of London was eroding community bonds, leading to young people being dispossessed of family, community and social identity. Community workers like Stafford Scott and criminologists like Patrick Williams and Becky Clarke were charting the links between the criminalisation of young working-class BAME people in London and Manchester due to the joint enterprise doctrine, the Gangs Matrices and the moral panic around 'gangs'. Urbanisation scholars and housing activists were linking the social cleansing of the capital with the benefits accruing to another cohort of young people, this time middle-class gentrifiers. In The London Clearances: race, housing and policing the IRR seeks to build on the existing research in ways that foreground more emphatically the connections between urban policy, housing and policing. Our aim is to link knowledge which focuses on institutional racism in policing policy with that which focuses on housing dispossession, regeneration, inequality and exclusion. The purpose is not only to explore the connective tissue between housing and policing, but to develop a much-needed race and class perspective on these issues. After all, London has the largest BAME population in the country with that population predominantly concentrated in social housing. If we are to provide a wider evidence base for NGOs and community campaigns combating institutional racism in policing and/or resisting housing injustice and the race/ class social cleansing of the capital, it is ital that we examine issues of race and class simultaneously. Details: London: Institute of Race Relations, 2019. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 21, 2019 at: http://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wpmedia.outlandish.com/irr/2019/02/19145750/London-Clearances.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wpmedia.outlandish.com/irr/2019/02/19145750/London-Clearances.pdf Shelf Number: 154683 Keywords: GangsNeighborhoods and CrimeRace RelationsRacial BiasRacial DiscriminationRacial Profiling in Law EnforcementRiotsUrban Areas and Crime |
Author: Circo, Giovanni Title: Detroit Ceasefire: Final Evaluation Report Summary: Detroit Ceasefire has been a cornerstone of Detroit's violence reduction strategies. Ceasefire involves a focused deterrence model aimed at gang- and group- related violence. It involves direct communication of a deterrence message to high-risk individuals and groups, targeted enforcement and response to violent incidents, outreach and services, community partnerships and youth prevention. Detroit Ceasefire was initially developed and implemented in two East side precincts (5th and 9th). As the Ceasefire team developed expertise in the model, associated project management capacity, shared understanding and training in the model, and initial signs of success, Ceasefire expanded to West side precincts (6th, 8th, 12th) and more recently to the 4th and 7th precincts. This report describes the planning, development, initial implementation, and full implementation of Ceasefire and places the initiative in the context of national trends. This is followed by evaluation results at both the community and individual levels. Key findings include: - Detroit has experienced a significant decline in fatal and non-fatal shootings since the implementation of Ceasefire in 2013 and particularly since 2015 when Ceasefire received the support of a project management team and associated capacity building that strengthened implementation of the Ceasefire focused deterrence model. - These trends are particularly impressive when contrasted with national trends in violent crime and with trends in other large Midwestern cities. - The evaluation employed a state-of-the-art "synthetic control" design that compares trends in the Ceasefire precincts with comparable parts of the city that have not participated in Ceasefire. For the original east side Ceasefire precincts, we estimate an overall 13-14 percent decline in fatal and non-fatal shootings. For the specific age group of 15-24, the primary target for Ceasefire, the decline was 22 percent. - The trends in the West side precincts are more difficult to interpret. Simply observing the trends suggest declines following the implementation of Ceasefire. Yet, when using the synthetic controls we do not find evidence of declines. We suggest continued monitoring of the West side precincts to provide a longer implementation and observation period (as well as assessment of trends in the more recent 4th and 7th Ceasefire precincts). - Although Ceasefire clients had a very similar time until re-arrest as a matched comparison group of probationers and parolees, the Ceasefire clients had 23 percent fewer overall arrests and 23 percent fewer arrests for a violent offense. Ceasefire clients did have more arrests for weapons offenses but this may reflect increased scrutiny and surveillance of Ceasefire clients, particularly when they or their associates are involved in violence. Details: East Lansing: Michigan Justice Statistics Center, Michigan State University, 2018. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 21, 2019 at: https://cj.msu.edu/assets/MJSC-Detroit_Ceasefire_-Final_Report.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://cj.msu.edu/assets/MJSC-Detroit_Ceasefire_-Final_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 154684 Keywords: CeaseFire Crime PreventionGangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Neighborhoods and Crime Operation CeasefireViolence Prevention Violent Crime Youth Violence |
Author: Jacobs, Erin Title: Prisoner Reentry in Context: Labor Market Conditions, Neighborhoods, and the Employment and Recidivism Outcomes of Former Prisoners Summary: As incarceration rates in the United States have risen to historically unprecedented levels, so too has the number of individuals being released from prison. These individuals come disproportionately from already marginalized groups, and they average poor labor market and criminal justice outcomes. In this dissertation, I contribute to our understanding of the experiences of men released from prison by exploring the individual and contextual factors that shape their outcomes. I analyze data on 2,174 prisoners released between 2004 and 2008 to Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and New York, to study three related questions about which there is little empirical research for this population. First, I ask how post-prison employment experiences relate to the odds of arrest. I find that employment, particularly if it pays well, is negatively correlated with arrest, controlling for fixed differences between individuals. However, I and others find that few former prisoners obtain such well-paying employment. Second, I examine the importance of local labor market conditions. I find that unemployment rates are negatively associated with individual employment, as expected, but that the relationship between economic conditions and recidivism is complex. I estimate that an increasing unemployment rate is associated with lower odds of arrest, but higher odds of parole revocation. These results suggest that recessionary conditions may not lead to more crime among these men but they may make the transition from prison more difficult by reducing the odds of working and of successfully staying out of prison. Finally, I explore the importance of neighborhood context. I find that those living in highly disadvantaged and declining neighborhoods have poorer employment outcomes, but, surprisingly, I do not find a significant relationship between neighborhood characteristics and arrest. I also find that contextual characteristics and outcomes vary considerably by city, with Detroit as an extreme case of contextual disadvantage. This suggests that researchers should look beyond neighborhood and also consider city-level contextual factors in order to understand the outcomes of this population. These analyses extend our understanding of the factors that shape life chances among this highly disadvantaged group of men. Details: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 2013. 275p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 20, 2019 at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1022.2482&rep=rep1&type=pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1022.2482&rep=rep1&type=pdf Shelf Number: 155902 Keywords: Employment Ex-Offender Employment Labor Markets Neighborhoods and CrimePrisoner Reentry Recidivism |