Spatial Heterogeneity in the Effects of Immigration and Diversity on Neighborhood Homicide Rates

• NCJ Number: 228165
• Journal: Homicide Studies Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2009 Pages: 242-260
• Author(s): Corina Graif; Robert J. Sampson
• Date Published: August 2009
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For related articles see NCJ-228163-64, and NCJ-228166-71.

Annotation

This study examined a spatially informed criminology by exploring the geographic dimensions of immigration, and by modeling the heterogeneous spatial patterns underlying the risk of homicide across neighborhoods of Chicago.

Abstract

Findings suggest that larger spatial structures condition the role of neighborhood characteristics in amplifying or inhibiting violence. The same neighborhood characteristics differentially predicted homicide rates in different parts of Chicago; neighborhoods may be said to interact with the spatial geography of the city. An insignificant role for immigrant concentration in promoting or decreasing neighborhood homicide rates was found. For a minority of neighborhoods the estimated parameters of immigrant concentration were significant with the largest share reflecting negative coefficients in predicting homicide. Evidence presented show that empirical assessments of the effects of immigration on neighborhoods should be taken beyond the effects of foreign-born concentration. Results were consistent with the idea that the diversity element of immigration may lower the risk of homicide over time. Although varying in magnitude across the spatial landscape of Chicago, the language diversity estimates were consistently associated with lower homicide rates in the shorter term, as well as in the longer term for net of disadvantage, residential stability, population density, and time-invariant factors. This finding supports the argument that diversity constitutes a dimension of immigration with different implications for shaping neighborhood crime rates than immigrant concentration. Data were collected using the Decennial Census data for census tracts from the years 1990 and 2000, a combination of public files with tabulations from the neighborhood Change Data Base (NCDB) from Chicago city census tracts with more than 100 residents as the operational ecological unit. Tables, figures, and references