Lab publication on pathways and crime

December 22, 2020 by hippj

Crime can occur in micro locations based on the usual patterns of where people travel. This study used measures of the street network to capture potential pathways of travel by persons, and whether this is related to crime. We created a social network measure of betweenness to capture the busiest streets, and tested how they were related to crime levels. We accounted for the population at origin and destination points to better assess the potential traffic at a location. We also measured the number of businesses at a destination of each potential trip to also better assess the potential volume of travelers. We used data on 300,000 street segments in the Southern California region, and found that busier streets have more crime. However, at very high volumes of traffic the amount of crime begins to decrease.

You can access the article by ex lab-member Dr. Young-an Kim and Dr. John R. Hipp in Journal of Quantitative Criminology entitled, “Pathways: Examining Street Network Configurations, Structural Characteristics and Spatial Crime Patterns in Street Segments.”

Lab publication on Advances in Spatial Criminology

October 16, 2019 by hippj

This new review article surveys the field of spatial criminology, and considers recent theoretical and methodological contributions. It discusses challenges confronting the field, and needed next directions for research.

You can access the article by Dr. John R. Hipp and Seth A. Williams in the Annual Review of Criminology entitled, “Advances in Spatial Criminology: The Spatial Scale of Crime.”

Get it here.

Lab publication for new way to measure neighborhoods: Street egohoods

August 15, 2019 by hippj

Defining “neighborhoods” is challenging for researchers. In prior research lab members Dr. Hipp and Dr. Adam Boessen proposed a novel measure, termed “egohoods”, that captures the area surrounding a particular block (based on straight-line distance). This new study extends this idea by explicitly incorporating the street network into the measure. This approach measures street egohoods based on the local street block, and then all adjacent streets. A second definition includes all street blocks one or two streets away from the focal block. We believe that these are plausible “neighborhoods” since residents can easily come into contact one or two street blocks away from their own street block. The approach is demonstrated using data for the Southern California region, we find that this measure of immigrant neighborhoods often exhibits a robust negative relationship with levels of crime.

You can access the article by Dr. Young-an Kim and Dr. John R. Hipp in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology entitled, “Street Egohood: A New Perspective of Measuring Neighborhood Based on Urban Streets.”

Get it here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10940-019-09410-3

Lab publication on new measure of immigrant neighborhoods

August 8, 2019 by hippj

Studies typically measure immigrant neighborhoods based on the composition of the residential population. However, although ethnic businesses are an important component of immigrant neighborhoods, scholars often do not consider them when constructing measures of these neighborhoods. This study proposes a novel way to mesaure immigrant neighborhoods that combines information about the residential population, the presence of ethnic businesses, and the spatial distribution of these measures for creating what we term immigrant ethnic activity space (IEAS). Using data for the Southern California region, we find that this measure of immigrant neighborhoods often exhibits a robust negative relationship with levels of crime.

You can access the article by Dr. Young-an Kim, Dr. John R. Hipp, and Dr. Charis Kubrin in the Journal of Criminal Justice entitled, “Where They Live and Go: Immigrant Ethnic Activity Space and Neighborhood Crime in Southern California.”

Get it here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235218303775

Lab publication on business survival and relocation

June 18, 2019 by hippj

Although neighborhood crime levels can be impacted by the presence of businesses nearby, it is also the case that crime in the neighborhood can impact businesses. High levels of crime can reduce patronage of businesses, which can result in them going out of business, or choosing to relocate. This study uses rich annual data on businesses and crime events in the Southern California region over a number of years to explore how nearby crime events impact business decisions to go out of business, move, or even where to move. The study finds that in general, higher violent and property crime are significantly associated with both business failure and mobility, and that higher crime in a destination neighborhood reduces the likelihood that a business locates there. The study also presents findings specific to industries.

You can access the article by Dr. John R. Hipp, Seth Williams, Dr. Young-an Kim, and Dr. Jae Hong Kim in Social Science Research entitled, “Fight or Flight? Crime as a Driving Force in Business Failure and Business Mobility”.

Get it here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235218303775