Past work has linked incivilities to fear of crime but has left open two questions: Do multilevel impacts of incivilities persist after simultaneously controlling for sociodemographics, perceptions of crime risk, neighborhood fabric, and violent crime? Is neighborhood fear spatially lagged, and if so, does controlling for nearby fear alter endogenous impacts on fear? Survey data from 45 Philadelphia neighborhoods showed that those perceiving more incivilities and more crime risk than their neighbors were more fearful. Furthermore, neighborhoods where residents on average saw more crime risk were on average more fearful, even after controlling for significantly auto-correlated nearby neighborhood fear. The results suggest that impacts of incivilities on fear at the individual level are not completely mediated by perceived risk and that average fear levels in nearby neighborhoods correlate significantly, suggesting that some localized processes are operating above the neighborhood level. What these are, and how they link to neighborhood- and individual-level dynamics, remains to be investigated.
Do police firearm arrests reduce later shootings in nearby locations and in the days immediately following the arrest? This question is examined at a more detailed level than in previous work in order to better describe the spatio-temporal dynamics linking these two event types. All firearm arrests (n = 5,687) and shootings (n = 5,870) analyzed using a modified Knox close-pair method. Following a firearm arrest shootings declined significantly, 28-47% up to a couple of blocks away. These significant declines, however, lasted for just a few days. Overall, results suggest police firearm suppression effects occur, may extend up to two blocks away from a firearm arrest, but also are short-lived. Potential implications for deterrence are discussed.
Most women in prison are poor and suffer from health problems prior to and during incarceration. Policies that impose inmate medical co-payment fees do not consider gender-specific health needs or other financial stressors faced by women in prison. We examine the financial needs and concerns of incarcerated women through the lens of gender and behavioral economics. We conducted individual interviews with 95 women incarcerated in a medium/maximum security prison in the United States. Women described several common financial stressors during confinement: paying for medical care, "working for pennies," staying in contact with loved ones, and relying on others. In an attempt to remain gender neutral, prison polices often do not consider gender-based differences between male and female prisoners. When gender neutrality is applied to financial policies surrounding access to healthcare, incarcerated women are profoundly disadvantaged and left to make consequential trade-offs with scarce financial resources. Our findings provide important insight into financial stressors facing incarcerated women and provide evidence to support the elimination of mandatory medical co-payment fees for incarcerated women.
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