The Changing Morphology of Suburban Crime

Abstract

This paper examines the spatial dynamics of suburban crime. Four hypotheses are developed postulating a decreasing central city-su burb disparity in crime rates, persistence in the relative crime rates of individual suburbs, a growing heterogeneity in the levels of crime faced by individual suburbs, and an increasing regionalization of suburban crime. The hypotheses are tested through a case study of the Chicago metropolitan area. Property and violent crime rates are studied separately, and the time frame is 1972 to 1981. Central city and suburban crime rates are found to be converging in Chicago and the United States as a whole. Persistence in the relative crime rates of individual Chicago suburbs is significant but weak. Socioeconomic status dominates the process of change in the relative safety of suburbs-not suburban age, as anticipated. Low status suburbs tend to have high-crime rates, and their relative security is worsening over time; the opposite is true of high-status jurisdictions. This process of consolidated advantage is also occurring in a spatial sense; over time, suburban regions with initially safe environments appear able to reinforce their early advantage.Social scientists have accumulated considerable evidence with which to explain the spatial distribution of crime within metropolitan areas of the United States. However, most previous research has examined crime a t only one point in time (Harries, 1976; Mladenka and Hill, 1976). As a result, little is known about the spatial dynamics of urban crime. This paper develops a set of interrelated hypotheses concerning the changing morphology of suburban crime. It does this by drawing upon two literatures: one on the urban geography of crime and the other on the evolution of suburban residential populations and economic activities. The former identifies those land uses and demographic subgroups which coincide with high-crime rates, and the latter suggests how these landuse and demographic traits change through time. Together they lead to four hypotheses which postulate (1) a decreasing city-suburb disparity in crime rates, (2) persistence in the relative crime rates of individual municipalities within a suburban ring, (3) a growing heterogeneity in the levels of crime faced by individual suburbs, and (4) an increasing regionalization of crime within suburbia.The hypotheses are tested through a case study of the Chicago metropolitan area. Property crime and violent crime are studied separately, and the time frame is 1972 to 1981.The paper begins by reviewing the literature on the spatial distribution o f urban crime. It proceeds to intertwine this literature with knowledge of how residential and economic activities are redistributed through time, thereby generating four hypotheses. The research design is then described and the results presented. The paper concludes with a discussion.

Socioeconomic Correlates of Increasing Crime Rates in Smaller Communities

“…Shaw and McKay consider poverty to be the most important determinant of variations in delinquency rates. Studies by geographers and other social scientists have generated considerable supporting evidence on the distribution and spatial dynamics of metropolitan crime (Brantingham and Brantingham 1980;Harries 1980;Rengert 1980;Brown and Oldakowski 1986;Bursik and Grasmick 1993). Findings re-veal that higher than average rates of crime are disproportionately concentrated in areas with high rates of unemployment and poverty, large amounts of physical deterioration, and concentrations of minorities and youth (Harries 1974;Rengert 1977;Kohlfeld and Sprague 1988).…”

The spread of crime to smaller Ohio cities and the spatial distribution of crime in Lima, Ohio

“…Additional inquiry has focused on the suburbanization of crime (Brown 1982;Brown and Oldakowski, 1986 has examined the discriminatory power of variables related to crime for different cities (Land, McCall, & Cohen, 1991). However, previous research has concentrated almost entirely on crime in large cities.…”

Nusikaltimų erdvinės struktūros Klaipėdoje ir jų vertinimas socialiniu geografiniu požiūriu

“…The crime studies by geographers and other social scientists have generated considerable supporting evidence on the distribution and spatial dynamics of crime (Brantingham and Brantingham, 1980;Brown and Oldakowski, 1986;Bursik and Grasmick, 1993). Their findings reveal that higher than average rates of crime are disproportionately concentrated in areas with high rates of unemployment and poverty, large amounts of physical deterioration, and concentration of ethnic or racial minorities and youth (Harries, 1974;Ackerman, 1976;Rengert, 1981;Kohlfeld and Sprague, 1988).…”