Crime Prevention and Community Safety

, Volume 20, Issue 2, pp 84–98 | Cite as

The impact of population and economic decline: examining socio-demographic correlates of homicide in Detroit

Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between neighborhood social ecology and homicide in Detroit, Michigan. Additionally, the research examined the influence of recent population decline in Detroit on homicides through a focus on localized population change at the census tract level. The study findings reveal that the traditional social ecological predictors of crime continue to operate in similar ways to previous studies. However, when the population change variable is introduced to the model, the traditional social ecological predictors are no longer significant. This indicates that population change might be a driving feature of the high homicide rate in Detroit. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.

Keywords

Social ecology Homicide Population change Social disorganization 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Akins, S., R.G. Rumbaut, and R. Stansfield. 2009. Immigration, economic disadvantage, and homicide: A community-level analysis of Austin, Texas. Homicide Studies 13 (3): 307–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Alaniz, M.L., R.S. Cartmill, and R.S. Parker. 1998. Immigrants and violence: The importance of neighborhood context. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science 20: 155–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Anderson, E. 1978. A Place on the Corner. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  4. Anderson, E. 1999. Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City. New York, NY: Norton.Google Scholar
  5. Baller, R.D., L. Anselin, S.F. Messner, G. Deane, and D.F. Hawkins. 2001. Structural covariates of U.S. county homicide rates: Incorporating spatial effects. Criminology 39 (3): 561–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Block, E. 1979. Early Warning System for Street Gang Violence Crisis Areas: Automated Hot Spot Identification in Law Enforcement. Chicago, IL: Criminal Justice Information Authority.Google Scholar
  7. Boessen, A., and J.R. Hipp. 2015. Close-ups and the scale of ecology: Land uses and the geography of social context and crime. Criminology 53 (3): 399–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Brown, M.A. 1982. Modelling the spatial distribution of suburban crime. Economic Geography 58 (3): 247–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Brunson, R.K. 2007. “Police don’t like black people”: African–American young men’s accumulated police experiences. Criminology and Public Policy 6 (1): 71–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Carr, P.J., L. Mapolitano, and J. Keating. 2007. We never call the cops and here is why: A qualitative examination of legal cynicism in three Philadelphia neighborhoods. Criminology 45 (2): 445–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Cooney, M. 1998. Warriors and Peacemakers: How Third Parties Shape Violence. New York, NY: New York University Press.Google Scholar
  12. Curry, G.D., and I. Spergel. 1988. Gang homicide, delinquency, and community. Criminology 26: 381–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. DeVellis, R.F. 2012. Scale Development: Theory and Applications. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
  14. Fisher, D. 2012. Detroit tops the 2012 list of America’s most dangerous cities. Forbes Magazine online. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2012/10/18/detroit-tops-the-2012-list-of-americas-most-dangerous-cities/.
  15. Fisher, D. 2015. America’s most dangerous cities—Detroit can’t shake number one spot. Forbes Magazine online. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2015/10/29/americas-most-dangerous-cities-detroit-cant-shake-no-1-spot/.
  16. Griffiths, E. 2013. Race, space, and the spread of violence across the city. Social Problems 6 (4): 491–512.Google Scholar
  17. Hagan, J., and A. Palloni. 1999. Sociological criminology and the mythology of Hispanic immigration and crime. Social Problems 46: 617–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Kline, P. 2000. The Handbook of Psychological Testing, 2nd ed. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  19. Krivo, L.J., and R.D. Peterson. 1996. Extremely disadvantaged neighborhoods and urban crime. Social Forces 75 (2): 619–648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Krivo, L.J., and R.D. Peterson. 2000. The structural context of homicide: Accounting for racial differences in process. American Sociological Review 65 (4): 547–559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Kubrin, C.E., and R. Weitzer. 2003. New directions in social disorganization theory. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 40 (4): 374–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Lee, M.R. 2000. Concentrated poverty, race, and homicide. Sociological Quarterly 41: 189–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Lee, M.T., and R. Martinez Jr. 2002. Social disorganization revisited: Mapping the recent immigration and black homicide relationship in Northern Miami. Sociological Focus 35: 363–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Lee, M.T., R. Martinez Jr., and R. Rosenfeld. 2001. Does immigration increase homicide? Negative evidence from three border cities. Sociological Quarterly 42: 559–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. MacDonald, J., and R.J. Sampson. 2012. The world in a city: Immigration and America’s changing social fabric. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 641 (1): 6–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Martinez Jr., R. 1996. Latinos and lethal violence: The impact of poverty and inequality. Social Problems 43: 131–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Martinez Jr., R. 1997. Homicide among the 1980 Mariel refugees in Miami: Victims and offenders. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 19: 107–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Martinez Jr., R. 2000. Immigration and urban violence: The link between immigrant Latinos and types of homicide. Social Science Quarterly 81: 363–374.Google Scholar
  29. Martinez Jr., R. 2002. Latino Homicide: Immigration, Violence, and Community. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  30. Martinez Jr., R. 2003. Moving beyond black and white violence: African American, Haitian, and Latino homicides in Miami. In Violent Crime: Assessing Race and Ethnic Differences, ed. D.F. Hawkins, 22–43. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Martinez Jr., R. 2010. Policy essay: Economic conditions and racial/ethnic variations in violence: Immigration, the Latino paradox and future research. Criminology and Public Policy 9 (4): 707–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Martinez Jr., R. 2014. Latino Homicide: Immigration, Violence, and Community, 2nd ed. New York City: Routledge Press.Google Scholar
  33. Martinez Jr., R., and M.T. Lee. 2000. Comparing the context of immigrant homicides in Miami: Haitians, Jamaicans, and Mariels. International Migration Review 34: 794–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Martinez Jr., R., and J.I. Stowell. 2012. Extending immigration and crime studies: National implications and local settings. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 641 (1): 174–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Martinez Jr., R., J. Stowell, and M.T. Lee. 2010. Immigration and crime in an era of transformation: A longitudinal analysis of homicides in San Diego neighborhoods, 1980-2000. Criminology 48 (3): 797–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. McNulty, T.L. 2001. Assessing the race–violence relationship at the macro level: The assumption of racial invariance and the problem of restricted distributions. Criminology 39: 467–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Mencken, F.C., and C. Barnett. 1999. Murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, and spatial autocorrelation in mid-south counties. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 15 (4): 407–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Merton, R.K. 1938. Social structure and anomie. American Sociological Review 3: 672–782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Messner, S., and K. Tardiff. 1986. Economic inequality and levels of homicide: An analysis of urban neighborhoods. Criminology 24: 297–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Morenoff, J.S., and R.J. Sampson. 1997. Violent crime and the spatial dynamics of neighborhood transition: Chicago, 1970–1990. Social Forces 76 (1): 31–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Morenoff, J.S., R.J. Sampson, and S.W. Raudenbush. 2001. Neighborhood inequality, collective efficacy, and the spatial dynamics of urban violence. Criminology 39: 517–559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Osgood, D.W. 2000. Poisson-based regression analysis of aggregate crime rates. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 16: 21–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Osgood, D.W., and J.M. Chambers. 2000. Social disorganization outside the metropolis: An analysis of rural youth violence. Criminology 38: 81–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Park, R.E., and E.W. Burgess. 1925. The City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  45. Peterson, R.D., and L.J. Krivo. 1993. Racial segregation and urban black violence. Social Forces 71: 1001–1026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Peterson, R.D., and L.J. Krivo. 2005. Macrostructural analyses of race, ethnicity, and violent crime: Recent lessons and new directions for research. Annual Review of Sociology 31: 331–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Peterson, R.D., and L.J. Krivo. 2010. Divergent Social Worlds: Neighborhood Crime and the Racial–Spatial Divide. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
  48. Roncek, D.W. 1981. Dangerous places: Crime and residential environment. Social Forces 60 (1): 74–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Roncek, D.W., and P.A. Maier. 1991. Bars, blocks, and crimes revisited: Linking the theory of routine activities to the empiricism of hot spots. Criminology 29 (4): 725–753.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Sampson, R.J. 1985. Neighborhood and crime: The structural determinants of personal victimization. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 22: 7–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Sampson, R.J. 1986. Neighborhood family structure and the risk of criminal victimization. In The Social Ecology of Crime, ed. J. Byrne, and R.J. Sampson. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
  52. Sampson, R.J. 1987. Urban black violence: The effect of male joblessness and family disruption. American Journal of Sociology 93: 348–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Sampson, R.J. 2004. The community. In Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control, ed. J.Q. Wilson, and J. Petersilia. Oakland, CA: ICS Press.Google Scholar
  54. Sampson, R.J. 2012. Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Sampson, R.J., and W.J. Wilson. 1995. Toward a theory of race, crime, and urban inequality. In Crime and Inequality, ed. J. Hagan, and R.D. Peterson, 37–54. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
  56. Sampson, R.J., S.W. Raudenbush, and F. Earls. 1997. Neighborhoods and violent crime. Science 277: 918–924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. Sauter, M.B., Stebbins, S., and T.C. Frohlich. 2016. The most dangerous cities in America. USA Today online. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2016/10/01/most-dangerous-cities-america/91227778/.
  58. Shaw, C., and H. McKay. 1969. Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  59. Shihadeh, E.S., and R.E. Barranco. 2013. The imperative of place: Homicide and the new Latino migration. The Sociological Quarterly 54: 81–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Smith, D.R., and G.R. Jarjoura. 1988. Social structure and criminal victimization. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 25 (1): 27–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  61. Sugrue, T.J. 2005. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  62. Tavakol, M., and R. Dennick. 2011. Making sense of Cronbach’s alpha. International Journal of Medical Education 2: 53–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Taylor, R.B., and J. Covington. 1988. Neighborhood changes in ecology and violence. Criminology 26 (4): 553–589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  64. Thomas, J.M. 2013. Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer City in Postwar Detroit. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
  65. Wilson, W.J. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  66. Wilson, W.J. 1996. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Texas State UniversitySan MarcosUSA

Personalised recommendations