Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 51(1)

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, February 2014: Volume 51, Issue 1 

Offenses around Stadiums: A Natural Experiment on Crime Attraction and Generation
Justin Kurland, Shane D. Johnson, and Nick Tilley

Objectives: Inspired by ecological theories of crime, the aim of this study was to make use of a natural experiment to see if a U.K. soccer stadium generates or attracts crime in the area that surrounds it. Method: Data for theft and violent crime around Wembley stadium are analyzed to see if the rate (per-unit time and ambient population) of crime differ for days on which the stadium is used and those it is not. In addition, differences in the spatial and temporal distribution of crime are examined for these two types of days. Results: Analyses indicate that on days when the stadium is used, the rate of crime per-unit time is elevated, but that the rate per ambient population at risk is not. The spatial and temporal pattern of crime also clearly differs for the two types of days. For example, the level of crime is elevated in the surrounding area when the stadium is used relative to when it is not. Conclusions. The case study suggests that the facility studied contributes to levels of crime in the area that surrounds it. The research provides further support for ecological theories of crime and their utility in informing criminological understanding and policy-related questions.

Intimate Partner Violence and the Victim-Offender Overlap
Marie Skubak Tillyer and Emily M. Wright

Objectives: Examine the prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and offending, as well as the overlap of these experiences. Method: Data from wave 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were analyzed to examine IPV among adults ages 24 to 33. A multinomial logistic regression model was estimated to determine whether the correlates of IPV vary across victims, perpetrators, and victim-perpetrators. Results: Approximately 20% of respondents reported some IPV involvement in the past year, one-third of whom reported victimization and perpetration. The victim-offender overlap was observed for males and females across various measures of IPV. Bivariate correlations suggest victimization and perpetration have common correlates. Multivariate analysis, however, reveals considerable differences once we distinguish between victims, offenders, and victim-offenders and control for other variables. Perpetrators and victim-perpetrators were more likely to live with a nonspouse partner; feel isolated; display negative temperaments; and report substance use problems. “Victims only” were more likely to live with children and have lower household incomes. Conclusions: The victim-offender overlap exists for IPV across a variety of measures. Though perpetrators and victim-perpetrators have similar characteristics, those who are victims only appear distinctly different. We discuss the implications for theory, policy, and research.

From Colors and Guns to Caps and Gowns? The Effects of Gang Membership on Educational Attainment
David C. Pyrooz

Objectives: This study examined the effects of adolescent gang membership on educational attainment over a 12-year period. A broader conceptualization of gang membership—as a snare in the life course—is used to study its noncriminal consequences. Method: Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and propensity score matching were used to assess the cumulative and longitudinal effects of gang membership on seven educational outcomes, including educational attainment in years and six educational milestones. After adjusting for nonrandom selection into gangs, youths who joined a gang were compared annually to their matched counterparts from 1998 to 2009. Results: Selection-adjusted estimates revealed disparities between gang and nongang youth in education attainment. Youth who joined gangs were 30 percent less likely to graduate from high school and 58 percent less likely to earn a four-year degree than their matched counterparts. The effects of gang membership on educational attainment were statistically observable within one year of joining, and accumulated in magnitude over time to reach −0.62 years (ES=0.25) by the final point of observation. Conclusion: The snare-like forces linked to the onset of gang membership have consequences that spill into a range of life domains, including education. These findings take on added significance because of a historical context where education has a prominent role in social stratification.

The Spatial Distribution and Social Context of Homicide in Toronto’s Neighborhoods
Sara K. Thompson and Rosemary Gartner

Objectives: To examine the social ecology of homicide in Toronto, Canada. Method: Using both ordinary least squares regression and negative binomial models, we analyze the structural correlates of 965 homicides occurring in 140 neighborhoods in Toronto between 1988 and 2003. Results: Similar to research in U.S. cities, Toronto neighborhoods with higher levels of economic disadvantage, higher proportions of young and Black residents, and greater residential instability have higher homicide rates. In contrast to U.S. studies, Toronto neighborhoods with higher proportions of residents who are recent immigrants also have higher homicide rates. In multivariate models, only two of these characteristics—economic disadvantage and the proportion of residents aged 15 to 24—are significantly associated with homicide in Toronto’s neighborhoods. Despite low levels of both lethal violence and spatial inequality in Toronto, the correlates of homicide in its neighborhoods are similar in some respects to those in U.S. cities. Conclusion: Our findings lend support to the notion of invariance in some ecological covariates of homicide but also highlight the need to be cautious about generalizing from U.S.-based research on the relationship between immigration and homicide.

Emergent Regularities of Interpersonal Victimization: An Agent-Based Investigation
Daniel Birks, Michael Townsley, and Anna Stewart

Objectives: Apply computational agent-based modeling to explore the generative sufficiency of several mechanisms derived from the field of environmental criminology in explaining commonly observed patterns of interpersonal victimization. Method: Controlled simulation experiments compared patterns of simulated interpersonal victimization to three empirically derived regularities of crime using established statistical techniques: (1) spatial clustering (nearest neighbor index), (2) repeat victimization (Gini coefficient), and (3) journeys to crime (Pearson’s coefficient of skewness). Results: Large, statistically significant increases in spatial clustering, repeat victimization, and journey to crime skewness are observed when virtual offenders operate according to mechanisms proposed by the routine activity approach, rational choice perspective, and geometry/pattern theories of crime. Conclusion: This research provides support for several propositions of environmental criminology in explaining why interpersonal victimization tends to be spatially concentrated, experienced by a small number of repeat victims, and why aggregate journey to crime curves tend to follow a distance decay relationship. By extending previous work in agent-based modeling of property victimization, it also demonstrates that the same core mechanisms are sufficient to generate plausible patterns of crime when examining fundamentally different types of offending.