Relationship of Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Crime to the Changing Ecological Structure of the City

• NCJ Number: 100167
• Author(s): J L McKim; J P Curry; L J Haffner; L W Shannon
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 434 pages
• Grant Number(s): 79-NI-AX-0081
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: University of Iowa
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report presents a model and empirical data on the relationship of juvenile and adult crime to the urban ecological structure of Racine, Wis., for 1949 through 1979.

Abstract

The analysis focuses on the relationship of demographic, housing, and institutional variables to indexes of crime and delinquency over time. Analysis of data for the 1970's shows a clear relationship between ecological characteristics and crime rates and patterns. Neighborhood socioeconomic status was found to be an important overall influence. Racial composition was related only to offenses against persons, while high residential land use was associated with low offense rates but a high rate of offenses against persons and status offenses. High target density was associated with crimes against property. However, comparisons with the 1950's and 1960's patterns show chanqes in the relationship between ecological structures and delinquency and crime during the periods that the city experienced a transition from generally low to high rates. For example, residential land use was associated with rates for all three decades, while the effects of housing quality and target density were less consistent. Nonetheless, a combination of ecological characteristics and prior delinquency and crime in neighborhoods was found to explain most of the variance in neighborhood rates in the 1970's. Tables, chapter footnotes, appendixes, approximately 130 references.