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Neighborhood parks, evidence of guardianship, and crime in two diverse US cities

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Abstract

Research addressing the link between crime and parks has primarily focused on fear of crime with limited empirical research verifying or denying a crime-park relationship. This article examines the results of two nearly identical studies examining the relationship between neighborhood parks and crime, in two very dissimilar cities, Philadelphia, PA and Louisville, KY. These cities vary greatly in size, population density, median income, per cent minorities and per cent living in poverty, among other factors. Findings of the studies, which are grounded in theories of environmental criminology, show that neighborhood parks are associated with increased crime levels in their immediate surroundings. In addition, although characteristics of parks significantly related to crime levels in each city vary somewhat, findings clearly demonstrate the underlying importance guardianship plays is explaining the criminogenic nature of neighborhood parks.

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Notes

  1. The Louisville study originally identified 61 neighborhood parks but two separated by a small residential street were merged into one park for the analysis.

  2. In 2003, Jefferson County and its largest city, Louisville, merged and formed a single governmental agency, Louisville Metro. Several small communities within the county opted out of the agreement and continue to provide their own local government services, including police services. The LMPD was formed at the time of the merger and polices approximately 90 per cent of the population and area.

  3. The number of street corners selected for each city was based on the estimate by an online sample size calculator to ensure a minimum confidence level of 95 per cent and confidence interval of 5 per cent. These estimates were rounded up to the closest hundred cases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Justice Administration, University of Louisville, 2301 South Third St. 215 Brigman Hall, Louisville, 40292, KY, USA

    Eric S McCord

  2. Department of Law and Justice Studies, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Rd, Glassboro, 08028, NJ, USA

    Kimberly A Houser

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  1. Eric S McCord
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  2. Kimberly A Houser
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McCord, E., Houser, K. Neighborhood parks, evidence of guardianship, and crime in two diverse US cities. Secur J 30, 807–824 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2015.11

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