Violence Among Adolescents Living in Public Housing: A Two-Site Analysis

• NCJ Number: 203426
• Journal: Criminology & Public Policy Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: November 2003 Pages: 3-38
• Author(s): Timothy O. Ireland; Terence P. Thornberry; Rolf Loeber
• Date Published: November 2003
• Length: 36 pages
• Grant Number(s): SBR-9513040; 86-JN-CX-0007 (S3); 86-JN-CX-0009; 5 R01DA05512-02; MH48890; MH50778; SBR09123299
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute of Mental Health; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This document discusses fear of crime and violence among public housing residents.

Abstract

The expectation that public housing residents have elevated rates of crime and violence is based on research and journalistic accounts drawn from a small number of notorious public housing developments. A review of the literature reveals that several studies quantify crime and violence in public housing by using victimization surveys and police data. The limitations of these data are that they are event based and do not provide participation rates. The available research on the involvement of public housing residents in crime and violence is restricted. This study explored the link between living in public housing and self-reported property crime and violent crime with panel data from the Rochester Youth Development Study and the Pittsburgh Youth Study. These two studies share similar designs, a large number of identical measures, and large probability samples. The study addressed the questions of whether self-reported rates of property crime and violent crime were higher among adolescents residing in public housing; whether the results were similar across the two cities; and whether the type of housing development increased the risk for property or violent crime. The results did not offer strong support for the general hypothesis that residence in public housing is related to higher rates of property crime, or violent crime. There was no discernible pattern between living in public housing and involvement in property crime in either Rochester or Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, there was some evidence that living in public housing was related to participation in violence. The findings from the two sites suggest that the differences in levels of violence may be a function of the type of public housing. Policies to reduce offense rates or participation rates should be carefully targeted at those developments where the problems of violence are documented. 3 tables, 9 footnotes, 2 appendices, 60 references