NCJ Number
119835
Journal
Sociology and Social Research Volume: 73 Issue: 4 Dated: (July 1989), 185-188
Date Published
1989
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study examines the city of San Diego, California, compares it with Cleveland, Ohio, and reinforces the findings of previous research that town and city blocks with taverns and bars have substantially more crime than do blocks without taverns and bars.
Abstract
Social scientists have rediscovered the relation between crime and place, and they use crime statistics and computers to map crime areas in cities. Taverns and bars can generate both violent and property crimes. Using data from 1970, researchers studied all 4,598 residential city blocks in San Diego. In 1970, there were only 107 taverns on 99 residential city blocks in San Diego, a smaller percentage than in Cleveland. Among the 99 residential blocks with taverns, the most dangerous block had 33 crimes committed on it in 1970, while 23 of the tavern blocks reported no FBI Part I crimes. Using unstandardized coefficients, the study finds that an average of two crimes occur on any city block, and that when bars are found on that block there is an increase of three and one-third crimes per bar. Any given city block has a 20 percent chance of having a violent crime during the year. When the block has a tavern or bar, this chance increases by almost one violent crime per block. 13 references.