Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Broken Neighborhoods: A Hierarchical Spatial Analysis of Assault and Disability Concentration in Washington, DC

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

This study seeks to better understand the relationship between neighborhood disability concentration and police calls for assault with a deadly weapon. Is this relationship the result of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, or does disability act independently of other ecological characteristics associated with high crime rates?

Methods

The authors combine Census and other neighborhoodlevel data from Washington, DC to test a one-level random intercept hierarchical multiple regression model using Census tracts as a grouping variable. Disability concentration is measured by the percent of disabled residents living in a block group. Concentrated disadvantage is a composite measure including percent households below poverty line, percent families on public assistance, percent African American, percent female-headed households with children, and percent unemployed. Assault with a deadly weapon is a rate per 1,000 of police calls for assault in 2005–2006.

Results

The effect of disability concentration is partially mediated by other ecological factors, but remains a significant predictor of neighborhood rates of reported assault. Each one-unit increase in percent disabled increased police calls for assault by 0.14 %.

Conclusions

The results of the analyses suggest that although concentrated disadvantage does affect the relationship between disability concentration and crime, it exerts an independent effect on neighborhood rates of assault with a deadly weapon.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Our first approach was first order spatial autoregressive modeling with first order autoregressive disturbances. Although this seemed like the ideal approach to address our research questions, this technique does not provide the best measure of how larger geographic units contribute to what goes on at the local level. Additionally, our final model controlled for all spatial error, leaving only a weak (1 %) spatial lag effect.

References

  • Agnew SE, Powell MB (2004) The effect of intellectual disability on children’s recall of an event across different question types. Law Hum Behav 28(3):273–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alesina A, La Ferrara E (2000) Participation in heterogeneous communities. Quant J Econ 115:847–904

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen B (2005) Foucault’s nominalism. In: Tremain S (ed) Foucault and the government of disability. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, pp 93–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Almgren G, Guest A, Immerwahr G, Spittel M (1998) Joblessness, family disruption, and violent death in Chicago, 1970–1990. Soc Forces 76(4):1465–1493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anselin L (1995) Local indicators of spatial association—LISA. Geogr Anal 27(2):93–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anselin L (2005) Exploring spatial data with GeoDA: a workbook. Spatial Analysis Laboratory. Department of Geography, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL

  • Beard JR, Blaney S, Cerda M, Frye V, Lovasi GS, Ompad D, Rundle A, Vlahov D (2009) Neighborhood characteristics and disability in older adults. J Gerontol Soc Sci 64(2):252–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellair PE (1997) Social interaction and community crime: examining the importance of neighbor networks. Criminology 35(4):677–703

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block RL, Block CR (1995) Space, place and crime: hot spot areas and hot places of liquor related crime.”. In: Eck JE, Weisburd D (eds) Crime and place: crime prevention studies, vol 4. Criminal Justice Press, Monsey, pp 145–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Bones PDC (2013) Perceptions of vulnerability: a target characteristics approach to disability, gender, and victimization. Deviant Behav 34(9):727–750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Booth A, Johnson DR (1994) Declining health and marital quality. J Marriage Fam 56:218–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brantingham PJ, Brantingham PL (1984) Patterns in crime. MacMillan Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brault MJ (2008) Americans with disabilities: 2005. Current populations reports. US Census Bureau. Accessed 10 Mar 2012. https://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p70-117.pdf

  • Brault MJ (2012) Americans with disabilities: 2010. Current populations reports. US Census Bureau. Accessed 10 Mar 2012. http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-131.pdf

  • Brooks-Gunn J, Duncan GJ, Klebanov PK, Sealand N (1993) Do neighborhoods influence child and adolescent development? Am J Sociol 99(2):353–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks-Gunn J, Duncan G, Aber JL (eds) (1997a) Neighborhood poverty: vol. I: context and consequences for children. Sage, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks-Gunn J, Duncan G, Aber JL (eds) (1997b) Neighborhood poverty: vol. II: policy implications in studying neighborhoods. Sage, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Chainey S, Ratcliffe J (2005) GIS and crime mapping. Wiley, Chichester

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Champion HLO, Foley KL, Durant RH, Hensberry R, Altman D, Wolfson M (2004) Adolescent sexual victimization, use of alcohol and other substances, and other health risk behaviors. J Adolesc Health 35(4):321–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charles KK, Stephens M Jr (2004) Job displacement, disability, and divorce. J Labor Econ 22(2):489–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa DL, Kahn ME (2003) Understanding the American decline in social capital, 1952–1998. Kyklos 9:17–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutrona CE, Russell DW, Hessling RM, Brown PA, Murry V (2000) Direct and moderating effects of community context on the psychological well-being of African American women. J Pers Soc Psychol 79:1088–1101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dear MJ, Wolch JR (1987) Landscapes of despair: from deinstitutionalization to homelessness. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Eck J, Weisburd D (1995) Crime places in crime theory”. In: Eck J (ed) Crime and place. Criminal Justice Press, Monsey, pp 1–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein V (2001) A personal journey into disability politics. The Disability Studies Archive UK, Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds. Accessed 24 July 2013. www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/archframe.htm

  • Fowles R, Merva M (1996) Wage inequality and criminal activity: an extreme bounds analysis for the United States, 1975 to 1990”. Criminology 34:163–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman VA, Grafova IB, Schoeni RF, Rogowski J (2008) Neighborhoods and disability in later life. Soc Sci Med 66(11):2253–2267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gidycz CA, Hanson K, Layman MJ (1995) A prospective analysis of the relationships among sexual assault experiences: an extension of previous findings. Psychol Women Q 19:5–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman N (1993) Marriage selection and mortality patterns: inferences and fallacies. Demography 30:189–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodley D (2001) ‘Learning difficulties’, the social model of disability and impairment: challenging epistemologies. Disabil Soc 16(2):207–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grattet R, Jenness V (2001) Examining the boundaries of hate crime law: disabilities and the ‘dilemma of difference’. J Crim Law Criminol 31(3):653–698

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green L (1995) Cleaning up drug hot spots in Oakland, California: the displacement and diffusion effects. Justice Q 12:737–754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guralnik JM, Fried LP, Salive ME (1996) Disability as a public health outcome in the aging population. Annu Rev Public Health 17:25–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrell E (2012) Crimes against persons with disabilities, 2009–2012—statistical tables. Bureau of Justice Statistics. US Department of Justice. Accessed 10 Mar 2013. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/capd0911st.pdf

  • Heinemann AW, Goranson N, Ginsburg K, Schnoll S (1989) Alcohol use and activity patterns following spinal cord injury. Rehabil Psychol 34(3):191–205

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones SE, Lollar DJ (2008) Relationship between physical disabilities or long-term health problems and health risk behaviors or conditions among US high school students. J Sch Health 78(5):252–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawachi I (2003) Neighborhoods and health. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kelling G, Coles C (1996) Fixing broken windows: restoring order and reducing crime in our communities. Free Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly M (2000) Inequality and crime. Rev Econ Stat 82:530–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krotoski D, Margaret M, Nosek A, Turk MA (1996) Women with physical disabilities, achieving and maintaining health and well-being. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Marge DK (2003) A call to action: ending crimes of violence against children and adults with disabilities. SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse

    Google Scholar 

  • Markowitz FE, Bellair PE, Liska AE, Liu J (2001) Extending social disorganization theory: modeling the relationships between cohesion, disorder, and fear. Criminology 39(2):293–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marmot M (2001) Inequalities in health. N Engl J Med 345:134–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey DS (1980) Residential segregation and spatial distribution of a non-labor force population: the needy and elderly disabled. Econ Geogr 56(3):190–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKinnon J (2001) The black population: 2000. Census 2000 Brief. Accessed 25 Feb 2013. http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-5.pdf

  • McMahon BT, West SL, Lewis AN, Armstrong AJ, Conway JP (2004) Hate crimes and disability in America. Rehabil Couns Bull 47(2):66–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metraux S, Caplan JM, Klugman D, Hadley TR (2007) Assessing residential segregation among Medicaid recipients with psychiatric disability in Philadelphia. J Commun Psychol 35(2):239–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miethe TD, Meier RF (1994) Crime and its social context: toward an integrated theory of offenders, victims, and situations. State University of New York Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  • Morenoff JD, Sampson RJ (1997) Violent crime and the spatial dynamics of neighborhood transition: Chicago, 1970–1990. Soc Forces 76(1):31–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morenoff JD, Sampson RJ, Raudenbush SW (2001) Neighborhood inequality, collective efficacy, and the spatial dynamics of homicide. Criminology 39(3):517–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan C, McKinzie K, Fearon P (2008) Society and psychosis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Msall ME, Avery RC, Msall ER, Hogan DP (2007) Distressed neighborhoods and child disability rates: analysis of 157,000 school-age children. Dev Med Child Neurol 49:814–817

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neufeldt AH (1991) Empirical dimension of discrimination against disabled people. Health Hum Rights 1(2):174–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norris J (1994) Alcohol and female sexuality. Alcohol Health Res 18(3):197–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver M (1992) Changing the social relations of research production. Disabil Handicap Soc 7(2):101–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perreault S (2009) Criminal victimization and health: a profile of victimization amongst persons with activity limitations or other health problems. Can Cent Justice Stat Profile Ser 21:1–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson RD, Krivo LJ, Harris MA (2000) Disadvantage and neighborhood violent crime: Do local institutions matter? J Res Crime Delinq 37:31–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrocelli JV (2003) Hierarchal multiple regression in counseling research: common problems and possible remedies. Meas Eval Couns Dev 36(1):9–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Pruchno RA, Wilson-Genderson M, Cartwright FP (2012) The texture of neighborhoods and disability among older adults. J Gerontol Ser B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 67(1):89–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rand MR, Harrell E (2009) Crimes against people with disabilities, 2007. Bureau of Justice Statistics: Special Report

  • Ratcliffe JH (2004) The hotspot matrix: a framework for the spatio-temporal targeting of crime reduction. Police Pract Res 5(1):5–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe JH, McCullagh MJ (1999) Hotbeds of crime and the search for spatial accuracy. Geogr Syst 1(4):385–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roman CG, Reid SE, Bhati AS, Tereshchenko B (2008) Alcohol outlets as attractors of violence and disorder: a closer look at the neighborhood environment. Urban Institute Justice Policy Center

  • Romley JA, Cohen D, Ringel J, Sturm R (2007) Alcohol and environmental justice: the density of liquor stores and bars in urban neighborhoods in the United States. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 68(1):48–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson RJ (2001) How do communities undergird or undermine human development? Relevant contexts and social mechanisms. In: Booth A, Crouter N (eds) Does it take a village? Community effects on children, adolescents, and families. L Erlbaum, Mahwah, pp 3–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson RJ, Raudenbush SW (1999) Systematic social observation of public spaces: a new look at disorder in urban neighborhoods. Am J Sociol 105(3):603–651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson RJ, Raudenbush SW (2004) Seeing disorder: neighborhood stigma and the social construction of ‘broken windows’. Soc Psychol Q 67(4):319–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson RJ, Raudenbush SW, Earls F (1997) Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science 277:918–924

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson RJ, Morenoff JD, Gannon-Rowley T (2002) Assessing ‘neighborhood effects’: social processes and new directions in research. Annu Rev Sociol 28:443–478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scribner RA, MacKinnon DP, Dwyer JH (1995) The risk of assaultive violence and alcohol availability in Los Angeles County. Am J Public Health 85(3):335–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seff MA, Gecas V, Ray MP (1992) Injury and depression: the mediating effects of self-concept. Sociol Perspect 35(4):573–591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw CR, McKay HD (1969) Juvenile delinquency and urban areas. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman LW, Gartin PR, Buerger ME (1989) Hot spots of predatory crime: routine activities and the criminology of place. Criminology 27:27–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Short MB, Brantingham PJ, Bertozzi AL, Tita GE (2010) Dissipation and displacement of hotspots in reaction-diffusion models of crime. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107(9):3961–3965

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solis S (2006) I’m ‘coming out’ as disabled, but I’m ‘staying in’ to rest: reflecting on elected and imposed segregation. Equity Excell Educ 39(2):146–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffensmeier D, Allan E (1996) Gender and crime: toward a gendered theory of female offending. Annu Rev Sociol 22:459–487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taniguchi TA, Rengert GF, McCord ES (2009) Where size matters: agglomeration economies of illegal drug markets in Philadelphia. Justice Q 26:670–694

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Temkin J (1994) Disability, child abuse, and criminal justice. Mod Law Rev I 57(3):402–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson-Hoffman S, Storck IF (1991) Demographic characteristics of the disabled population. Disability in the United States: a portrait from national data. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner RJ, Lloyd DA, Taylor J (2006) Physical disability and mental health: an epidemiology of psychiatric and substance disorders. Rehabil Psychol 51(3):214–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyiska CG (2001) Working with victims of crime with disability. National Organization for Victim Assistance. Accessed 10 July 2012. https://www.ncjrs.gov/ovc_archives/factsheets/disable.htm

  • Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics (2013) Estimated crime in 2000. Accessed 25 Feb 2013. http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/

  • U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division (2001) Census block groups: cartographic boundary files descriptions and metadata. Cartographic Products Management Branch. Accessed 24 Mar 2013. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/bg_metadata.html

  • Waldrop J, Stern SM (2003) Disability status: 2000. Census 2000 Brief. Accessed 13 Mar 2013. www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-17.pdf

  • Weisburd D, Wyckoff WA, Ready J, Eck JE, Hinkle J, Gajewski F (2006) Does crime just move around the corner? A controlled study of spatial displacement and diffusion of crime control cenefits. Criminology 44:549–592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitley R (2011) Social defeat or social resistance? Reaction to gear of crime and violence among people with severe mental illness living in urban ‘recovery communities’. Cult Med Psychiatry 35(4):519–535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitley R, McKenzie K (2005) Social capital and mental health. Harv Rev Psychiatry 13:71–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson R, Picket K (2009) The spirit level why equality is better for everyone. Penguin Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson JQ, Kelling G (1982) The police and neighborhood safety: broken windows. Atl Mon 127:29–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolch JR, Philo C (2000) From distributions of deviance to definitions of difference: past and future mental health geographies. Health Place 6:137–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editorial staff for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. This project was partially funded by the Harold G. Grasmick Summer Research Fellowship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Oklahoma, 780 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

    Paul D. C. Bones & Trina L. Hope

Authors
  1. Paul D. C. Bones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Trina L. Hope
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul D. C. Bones.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bones, P.D.C., Hope, T.L. Broken Neighborhoods: A Hierarchical Spatial Analysis of Assault and Disability Concentration in Washington, DC. J Quant Criminol 31, 311–329 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-014-9246-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-014-9246-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation