Space Matters: An Analysis of Poverty, Poverty Clustering, and Violent Crime

• NCJ Number: 209044
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2004 Pages: 817-841
• Author(s): Paul B. Stretesky; Amie M. Schuck; Michael J. Hogan
• Date Published: December 2004
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study analyzed the relationship between the spatial clustering of povery and violent crime rates across 236 cities in the United States.

Abstract

While the popularity of criminological theories that take into account the importance of the spatial distribution of poverty is growing, scant research has focused on the empirical relationship between the spatial clustering of poverty and violent crime rates. The current study addressed this gap in the research literature by exploring the relationship between the spatial dimension of poverty in 236 cities and the aggregate level of violent crime rates in these cities. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) empirical evidence of a positive association was expected between the measure of poverty clustering and violent crime rates and (2) the effects of poverty were expected to be greater in cities marked by high poverty clustering because the full effects of poverty were more pronounced than in cities where high poverty rates were more relatively dispersed. Data were drawn from 2000 Bureau of Census data on population and housing and from the 1999, 2000, and 2001 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports. Poverty cluster scores were computed to measure the proportion of contiguous high poverty census tracks. Results of multivariate statistical analyses indicated little support for a direct relationship between the spatial clustering of poverty and murder, rape, robbery, and assault. However, an interaction effect was noted between factors measuring city-level disadvantage, including poverty and homicide rates. Specifically, city-level disadvantage had a significantly stronger relationship to homicide rates in cities marked by high levels of poverty clustering. The findings thus suggest that living in highly impoverished areas may aggravate the deleterious outcomes of poverty, particularly among African-Americans. Future research should focus on the geographic concentration of other indicators of community disadvantage in terms of their affect on crime rates. Figures, tables, appendix