Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Literature Review

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Micro-Place Homicide Patterns in Chicago

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Criminology ((BRIEFSPOLICI))

  • 104 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter reviews some of the history of Chicago homicide research, as well as the relevant criminological theories that are directly related to the evolution of our micro place homicide analysis. The history and issue of gang activity and public housing are introduced, including how both are related to Chicago homicides. This chapter explains why micro places and crime trajectory analysis was used to illustrate the long-term stability in Chicago’s homicide patterns. The chapter concludes with a review of the historical research on crime clustering and how previous research guided the methods and analyses that were conducted in our 53-year study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allison, P. (1978). Measures of inequality. American Sociological Review, 43(6), 865–880.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andresen, M. A., Curman, A. S., & Linning, S. J. (2016). The trajectories of crime at places: Understanding the patterns of disaggregated crime types. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. Online First.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernasco, W., & Block, R. L. (2010). Robberies in Chicago: A block-level analysis of the influence of crime generators, crime attractors, and offender anchor points. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 48(1), 33–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernasco, W., & Steenbeek, W. (2017). More places than crimes: Implications for evaluating the law of crime concentration at place. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 33(3), 451–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block, R. L. (1977). Violent crime: Environment, interaction and death. Boston: D.C. Heath.

    Google Scholar 

  • Block, R. L. (1979). Community, environment, and violent crime. Criminology, 17(1), 46–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block, R. L. (2000). Gang activity and overall levels of crime: A new mapping tool for defining areas of gang activity using police records. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 16(3), 369–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block, R. L. (2017). The Chicago School of Sociology Maps Crime 1895-1931. In C. Bijleveld & P. van der Laan (Eds.), Liber Amicorum Gerben Bruinsma. Den Haag: Boom Criminologie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Block, C. R., & Block, R. L. (1993) Street gang crime in Chicago. National Institute of Justice, Research in brief. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Block, R. L., & Block, C. R. (1995). Space, place, and crime: Hot spot areas and hot places of liquor-related crime. Crime Prevention Studies, 4, 145–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Block, R. L., & Davis, S. (1996). The environs of rapid transit stations: A focus for street crime or just another risky place. Crime Prevention Studies, 6, 237–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braga, A. A., Papachristos, A. V., & Hureau, D. M. (2010a). The concentration and stability of gun violence at micro places in Boston, 1980-2008. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 26(1), 33–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braga, A. A., Hureau, D. M., & Papachristos, A. V. (2010b). The relevance of micro places to citywide robbery trends: A longitudinal analysis of robbery incidents at street corners and block faces in Boston. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 48(1), 7–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braga, A. A., Turchan, B. S., Papachristos, A. V., & Hureau, D. M. (2019). Hot spots policing and crime reduction: An update of an ongoing systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 15, 289–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brantingham, P. L., & Brantingham, P. J. (1995). Criminality of place. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 3(3), 5–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brantingham, P. J., Tita, G. E., Short, M. B., & Reid, S. E. (2012). The ecology of gang territorial boundaries. Criminology, 50(3), 851–885.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruhn, J. (2018). Crime and public housing: A general equilibrium analysis. Available at SSRN 3064909.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, E. W. (1925). The growth of the city: An introduction to a research project. In R. E. Park, E. W. Burgess, & R. D. McKenzie (Eds.), The city. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bursik, R. J., & Webb, J. (1982). Community change and patterns of delinquency. American Journal of Sociology, 88(1), 24–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalfin, A., Kaplan, J., & Cuellar, M. (2020). Re-examining the law of crime concentration: Between-and within-city evidence. Available at SSRN 3423065.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44(4), 588–608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, R., & Wainer, H. (2012). A century and a half of moral statistics in the United Kingdom: Variations on Joseph Fletcher’s thematic maps. Significance, 9(3), 31–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curiel, R. P., Delmar, S. C., & Bishop, S. R. (2018). Measuring the distribution of crime and its concentration. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 34(3), 775–803.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curman, A. S., Andresen, M. A., & Brantingham, P. J. (2015). Crime and place: A longitudinal examination of street segment patterns in Vancouver, BC. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 31(1), 127–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eck, J. E., & Weisburd, D. (1995). Crime places in crime theory. Crime Prevention Studies, 4, 1–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eck, J. E., Clarke, R. V., & Guerette, R. T. (2007). Risky facilities: Crime concentration in homogeneous sets of establishments and facilities. Crime Prevention Studies, 21, 225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Favarin, S. (2018). This must be the place (to commit a crime). Testing the law of crime concentration in Milan, Italy. European Journal of Criminology, 15(6), 702–729.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrandino, J. (2017). Endemic, outbreak or epidemic? Geographies of affliction, exposure and homicide immunity in Chicago. Journal of Crime and Justice. Online First.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischel, W. A. (2015). Zoning rules! The economics of land use regulation. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friendly, M. (2007). A.-M Guerry’s moral statistics of France: Challenges for multivariable spatial analysis. Statistical Science, 22(3), 368–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, C., Wooditch, A., & Weisburd, D. (2017). Testing the “law of crime concentration at place” in a suburban setting: Implications for research and practice. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 33(3), 519–545.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D. (2016). Criminal careers: Discrete or continuous. Journal of Life Course and Developmental Criminology, 2(1), 5–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths, E., & Chavez, J. M. (2004). Communities, street guns and homicide trajectories in Chicago, 1980-1995: Merging methods for examining homicide trends across space and time. Criminology, 42(4), 941–978.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groff, E. R., Weisburd, D., & Yang, S. M. (2010). Is it important to examine crime trends at a local “micro” level?: A longitudinal analysis of street to street variability in crime trajectories. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 26(1), 7–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haberman, C. P., Sorg, E. T., & Ratcliffe, J. H. (2017). Assessing the validity of the law of crime concentration across different temporal scales. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 33(3), 547–567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagedorn, J., & Rauch, B. (2007). Housing, gangs, and homicide: What we can learn from Chicago. Urban Affairs Review, 42(4), 435–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hipp, J. R., & Kim, Y. A. (2016). Measuring crime concentration across cities of varying sizes: Complications based on the spatial and temporal scale employed. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. Online First.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, D. B. (2009). Blueprint for disaster. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hyndman, R. J. (1996). Computing and graphing highest density regions. The American Statistician, 50(2), 120–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, J. (1992). The death and life of great American cities. New York: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulldorff, M., Athas, W., Feuer, E., Miller, B., & Key, C. (1998). Evaluating cluster alarms: A space-time scan statistic and brain cancer in Los Alamos. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 1377–1380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y., & Eck, J. E. (2019). Comparing measures of the concentration of crime at places. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 21(4), 269–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y., Eck, J. E., SooHyun, O., & Martinez, N. N. (2017). How concentrated is crime at places? A systematic review from 1970 to 2015. Crime Science, 6(1), 6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin, A., Rosenfeld, R., & Deckard, M. (2017). The law of crime concentration: An application and recommendations for future research. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 33(3), 635–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loftin, C. (1986). Assaultive violence as a contagious social process. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 62(5), 550–555.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohler, G., Brantingham, P. J., Carter, J., & Short, M. B. (2019). Reducing bias in estimates for the law of crime concentration. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 35(4), 747–765.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morenoff, J. D., & Sampson, R. J. (1997). Violent crime and the spatial dynamics of neighborhood transition: Chicago, 1970-1990. Social Forces, 76(1), 31–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morenoff, J. D., Sampson, R. J., & Raudenbush, S. W. (2001). Neighborhood inequality, collective efficacy, and the spatial dynamics of urban violence. Criminology, 39(3), 517–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, D. T. (2019). The action is everywhere, but greater at more localized spatial scales: Comparing concentrations of crime across addresses, streets, and neighborhoods. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 56(3), 339–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papachristos, A. V. (2013). 48 years of crime in Chicago: A descriptive analysis of serious crime trends from 1965 to 2013. Yale, Institution for Social and Policy Studies working paper. Obtained from http://images.politico.com/global/2013/12/15/48yearsofcrime_final_ispsworkingpaper023.pdf on 5/21/2017

  • Papachristos, A. V., Smith, C. M., Scherer, M. L., & Fugiero, M. A. (2011). More coffee, less crime? The relationship between gentrification and neighborhood crime rates in Chicago, 1991 to 2005. City & Community, 10(3), 215–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papachristos, A. V., Hureau, D. M., & Braga, A. A. (2013). The corner and the crew: Influence of geography and social networks on gang violence. American Sociological Review, 78(3), 417–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papachristos, A. V., Brazil, N., & Cheng, T. (2018). Understanding the crime gap: Violence and inequality in an American city. City & Community, 17(4), 1051–1074.

    Google Scholar 

  • Periera, D. V. S., Mota, C. M. M., & Andresen, M. A. (2017). The homicide drop in Recife, Brazil: A study of crime concentrations and spatial patterns. Homicide Studies, 21(1), 21–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popkin, S. J., Rich, M. J., Hendey, L., Hayes, C., Parilla, J., & Galster, G. (2012). Public housing transformation and crime: Making the case for responsible relocation. City, 14(3), 137–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quetelet, A. (1984). Research on the propensity for crime at different ages. Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rey, S. J. (2004). Spatial analysis of regional income inequality. Spatially Integrated Social Science, 1, 280–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, P. L., Boscardin, W. J., George, S. M., Teklehaimanot, S. T., Heslin, K. C., & Bluthenthal, R. N. (2009). The effect of urban street gang densities on small area homicide incidence in a large metropolitan county, 1994-2002. Journal of Urban Health, 86(4), 511–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J. (2011). Great American City: Chicago and the enduring neighborhood effect. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277(5328), 918–924.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1969). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas: A study of rates of delinquency in relation to differential characteristics of local communities in American cities (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L. W., & Weisburd, D. (1995). General deterrent effects of police patrol in crime “hot spots”: A randomized, controlled trial. Justice Quarterly, 12(4), 625–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L. W., Gartin, P. R., & Buerger, M. E. (1989). Hot spots of predatory crime: Routine activities and the criminology of place. Criminology, 27(1), 27–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skardhamar, T. (2010). Distinguishing facts and artifacts in group-based modeling. Criminology, 48(1), 295–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. M. (2014). The influence of gentrification on gang homicides in Chicago neighborhoods, 1994 to 2005. Crime & Delinquency, 60(4), 569–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, W. R., Frazee, S. G., & Davison, E. L. (2000). Furthering the integration of routine activity and social disorganization theories: Small units of analysis and the study of street robbery as a diffusion process. Criminology, 38(2), 489–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spelman, W. (1995). Criminal careers of public places. Crime Prevention Studies, 4, 115–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • St Jean, P. K. (2008). Pockets of crime: Broken windows, collective efficacy, and the criminal point of view. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stults, B. J. (2010). Determinants of Chicago neighborhood homicide trajectories: 1965-1995. Homicide Studies, 14(3), 244–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R. B. (1997). Social order and disorder of street blocks and neighborhoods: Ecology, microecology, and the systemic model of social disorganization. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 34(1), 113–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R. B. (2015). Community criminology: Fundamentals of spatial and temporal scaling, ecological indicators, and selectivity bias. New York: NYU Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R. B., Koons, B. A., Kurtz, E. M., Greene, J. R., & Perkins, D. D. (1995). Street blocks with more nonresidential land use have more physical deterioration: Evidence from Baltimore and Philadelphia. Urban Affairs Review, 31(1), 120–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Twinam, T. (2017). Danger zone: Land use and the geography of neighborhood crime. Journal of Urban Economics, 100, 104–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valasik, M., Barton, M. S., Reid, S. E., & Tita, G. E. (2017). Barriocide: Investigating the temporal and spatial influence of neighborhood structural characteristics on gang and non-gang homicides in East Los Angeles. Homicide Studies, 21(4), 287–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandeviver, C., & Steenbeek, W. (2019). The (in) stability of residential burglary patterns on street segments: The case of Antwerp, Belgium 2005–2016. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 35(1), 111–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisburd, D. L. (2015). The law of crime concentration and the criminology of place. Criminology, 53(2), 133–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisburd, D. L., Bushway, S. D., Lum, C., & Yang, S. M. (2004). Trajectories of crime at places: A longitudinal study of street segments in the city of Seattle. Criminology, 42(2), 283–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, A. P. (2018a). Monitoring volatile homicide trends across U.S. cities. Homicide Studies, 22(2), 119–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, A. P. (2018b). The effect of 311 calls for service on crime in DC at microplaces. Crime & Delinquency, 64(14), 1882–1903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, A. P. (2019). Quantifying the local and spatial effects of alcohol outlets on crime. Crime & Delinquency, 65(6), 845–871.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, A. P., Worden, R. E., & McLean, S. J. (2016). Replicating group-based trajectory models of crime at micro-places in Albany, NY. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 32(4), 589–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, A. P., Silver, J. R., Worden, R. E., & Mclean, S. J. (2019). Mapping attitudes towards the police at micro places. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 1–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. J. (1990). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. Q., & Kelling, G. L. (1982). Broken windows. Atlantic Monthly, 249(3), 29–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ye, X., & Wu, L. (2011). Analyzing the dynamics of homicide patterns in Chicago: ESDA and spatial panel approaches. Applied Geography, 31(2), 800–807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeoli, A. M., Pizarro, J. M., Grady, S. C., & Melde, C. (2014). Homicide as infectious disease: Using public health methods to investigate the diffusion of homicide. Justice Quarterly, 31(3), 609–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Data Scientist, HMS, Irving, TX, USA

    Andrew P. Wheeler

  2. Department of Law & Police Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY, USA

    Christopher R. Herrmann

  3. Department of Sociology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Richard L. Block

Authors
  1. Andrew P. Wheeler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christopher R. Herrmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Richard L. Block
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Wheeler, A.P., Herrmann, C.R., Block, R.L. (2021). Literature Review. In: Micro-Place Homicide Patterns in Chicago. SpringerBriefs in Criminology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61446-1_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61446-1_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-61445-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-61446-1

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation