cjrc-sponsored research

  • Project:
  • Segregation and Local Crime: An Integrated Spatial Analysis

  • Investigator:
  • Christopher R. Browning (Sociology)
  • Catherine A. Calder (Statistics)
  • Lauren J. Krivo (Sociology & CJRC)
  • Mei-Po Kwan (Geography)
  • Ruth D. Peterson (Sociology & CJRC)

  • Sponsor:
  • National Science Foundation (funded, 2005-2008)

  • Abstract:
  • Urban areas in the U.S. are characterized by the uneven distribution of social groups across geographic space as evidenced in pervasive levels of residential segregation by race, ethnicity, and economic status. This segregation is associated with crime and other deleterious conditions for communities with high concentrations of disadvantaged and minority residents, but carries benefits for more advantaged and White localities. These differential outcomes of segregation have been interpreted as evidence that the spatial isolation of minority neighborhoods produces social problems by creating and reinforcing social and structural isolation (Massey & Denton 1993; Wilson 1987, 1996). However, most crime studies rely on measures that do not take into account the location of segregated areas relative to one another (Reardon & O’Sullivan 2004; Wong 2002). As such, they leave unanswered the question of how the inherently spatial nature of segregation is connected with the geographic distribution of criminal activity.

  • The segregation and local crime project develops and analyzes a model that brings space into the analysis of crime to address the broad question of: How does racial, ethnic, and associated economic segregation affect the geographic distribution of crime? To answer this general question, the researchers: (1) develop refined spatially-based measures of locally segregated areas (along a variety of dimensions) using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data and techniques; (2) identify aspects of the physical infrastructure of local communities that affect crime; (3) determine how the effects on crime of nearby localities vary across neighborhoods within cities; and (4) evaluate how the effects of local segregation on neighborhood crime varies across cities. The research relies on crime and sociodemographic data from the National Neighborhood Crime Study for a subsample of large U.S. cities for circa 2000, along with GIS data on digital transportation networks and parcel- and building-level land use, and other public sources. State-of-the-art GIS analyses and hierarchical Bayesian spatial statistical modeling techniques are used to evaluate the theoretical models.

  • Products:
  • Peterson, Ruth D., Lauren J. Krivo, and Christopher R. Browning. 2006. "Segregation and Racial/Ethnic Inequality in Crime: New Directions." Pp. 169-187 in Taking Stock: The Status of Criminological Theory, Volume 15 of Advances in Criminological Theory, edited by Francis Cullen, John Wright, and Kristie Blevins. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press.

  • Browning, Christopher R., Reginald A. Byron, Catherine A. Calder, Krivo, Lauren J., Mei-Po Kwan, Jae Yong Lee, and Ruth D. Peterson. 2007. "Commercial Density, Residential Concentration, and Crime: Land Use Patterns and Violence in Neighborhood Context.” Under Review.

  • Krivo, Lauren J., Reginald A. Byron, Catherine A. Calder, Ruth D. Peterson, Christopher R. Browning, Mei-Po Kwan, and Jae Yong Lee. 2007. "Patterns of Local Segregation: Do They Matter for Neighborhood Crime?" Under Review.