Minority Threat, Crime Control, and Police Resource Allocation in the Southwestern United States

• NCJ Number: 221199
• Journal: Crime & Delinquency Volume: 54 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2008 Pages: 128-152
• Author(s): Malcolm D. Holmes; Brad W. Smith; Ed A. Munoz; Adrienne B. Freng
• Date Published: January 2008
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The study examined the influence of rational choice and minority threat variables on police resource allocation in large cities in the Southwest.

Abstract

Findings suggest that both the rational choice and minority threat models capture important external political influences on the allocation of police resources; cities at a greater distance from the border spend less on policing which supports the argument that proximity to the border creates perceptions of threat and demands for greater police resources. Stereotypes of crime-prone Mexican immigrants and political pressure from an influential dominant group concerned about immigration might contribute to increased allocation of fiscal resources to local policing along the border. Rational choice theory maintains that these resources are distributed in accordance with the need for crime control, whereas conflict theory argues that they are allocated with the aim of controlling racial and ethnic minorities. Past research on police resource allocation has not focused on the Southwest, or included multiple indicators of Hispanic threat. This study identifies within-group class distinctions as potentially more important indicators of minority threat, at least in the Southwest, than the percent of Hispanics within the population. Allocations of police resources appear to be tied to the presence of poor Hispanics on both sides of the border, pointing to the relevance of the intersection of class and ethnicity to public policy decision in the region. Much research on police resource allocation remains to be done, especially the examination of the regional contexts of ethnic relations and crime control, as well as the analysis of causal variables not specified in dominant theoretical approaches. The complexities of these findings reinforce the ideas of conflict theory that have often been oversimplified in empirical research. Future research needs to consider that intra-ethnic group variation may be more relevant than the mere presence of a large ethnic minority population to perceptions of minority threat. Tables, notes, references