NCJ Number
174844
Journal
Social Forces Volume: 75 Issue: 2 Dated: December 1996 Pages: 649-666
Date Published
1996
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Based on previous findings that the degree of suburbanization in metropolitan areas is positively related to serious crime rates in center cities, this study theoretically integrated features of urban life in the United States to determine whether negative outcomes of suburbanization in metropolitan areas were mainly directed toward blacks residing in the center city.
Abstract
From a human ecology standpoint, suburbanization was viewed as part of a broader metropolitan expansion process that undermined and isolated many center-city black communities. The study also recognized serious crime in cities was disproportionately concentrated in black communities. The link between suburbanization and center-city crime was examined using racially disaggregated models for cities and standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSAs) in 1980. Findings showed the rate of suburbanization among the total SMSA population was strongly related to center-city serious crime rates among blacks but not among whites. These results supported the view that suburbanization increased black center-city crime rates by socially isolating black communities and engendering a variety of social problems. When potential mediators of the suburbanization- crime link were controlled, the relationship between suburbanization and black center-city crime rates virtually disappeared. Several avenues for future research are suggested. 64 references, 4 notes, and 2 tables