Neighborhood Deterioration and the Location of Adult Entertainment Establishments in St Paul (MN) (A Methodological Review) (From Link Between Crime and the Built Environment, Volume 2, P C444-451, 1980, by Tetsuro Motoyama et al - See NCJ-79544)

• NCJ Number: 79583
• Author(s): T Motoyama; H Rubenstein; P Hartjens
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 8 pages
• Corporate Author: American Institutes for Research
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche from NCJRS as NCJ-79544.

Annotation

This review assesses a study by the Minnesota Crime Control Planning Board that investigated the causal relationship between the location of adult entertainment establishments and neighborhood deterioration, as measured by median housing values and crime rates.

Abstract

The study analyzed median housing values and crime rates for selected census tracts for 1970 and 1976. The relationships between the independent variable (number of adult entertainment establishments), two intervening variables (age of housing and amount of commercial and industrial areas), and the dependent variables (housing values and crime rates) were analyzed through regression and analysis of variance techniques. The study concluded that (1) the presence of all adult entertainment establishments tends to be associated with neighborhood decline in both 1970 and 1976; (2) when analyzed separately, the relationship between adult entertainment establishments and deterioration exists only for alcohol-serving and not for sexually oriented facilities; (3) neighborhood deterioration follows the location of adult entertainment establishments: and (4) the addition of an adult entertainment establishment to an area with more than one or two of these establishments already in the neighborhood is associated with a marked increase in neighborhood deterioration (threshold phenomena). Some of the conclusions are probably overdrawn, however, since they are based on a research design too limited to answer several of the questions addressed. The inappropriate use of regression analysis further limits the confidence that can be placed in the conclusion that alcohol-serving establishments produce neighborhood deterioration. Other influences not included in the analysis may be involved. For the original report, see NCJ 52883.