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GHETTOS, THRESHOLDS, AND CRIME: DOES CONCENTRATED POVERTY REALLY HAVE AN ACCELERATING INCREASING EFFECT ON CRIME?*

2011; Wiley; Volume: 49; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00249.x

1745-9125

John R. Hipp, DANIEL K. YATES,

Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

CriminologyVolume 49, Issue 4 p. 955-990 GHETTOS, THRESHOLDS, AND CRIME: DOES CONCENTRATED POVERTY REALLY HAVE AN ACCELERATING INCREASING EFFECT ON CRIME?* JOHN R. HIPP, JOHN R. HIPP Department of Criminology, Law and Society, Department of Sociology, University of California—IrvineSearch for more papers by this authorDANIEL K. YATES, DANIEL K. YATES Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California—IrvineSearch for more papers by this author JOHN R. HIPP, JOHN R. HIPP Department of Criminology, Law and Society, Department of Sociology, University of California—IrvineSearch for more papers by this authorDANIEL K. YATES, DANIEL K. YATES Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California—IrvineSearch for more papers by this author First published: 12 December 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00249.xCitations: 53 † Direct correspondence to John R. Hipp, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California, Irvine, 2367 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA 92697 (e-mail: [email protected]). Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Theories make varying predictions regarding the functional form of the relationship between neighborhood poverty and crime rates, ranging from a diminishing positive effect, to a linear positive effect, to an exponentially increasing or even threshold effect. Nonetheless, surprisingly little empirical evidence exists testing this functional form. This study estimates the functional form of the relationship between poverty and various types of serious crime in a sample of census tracts for 25 cities, and it finds that a diminishing positive effect most appropriately characterizes this relationship whether estimating the models nonparametrically or parametrically. Only for the crime of murder does some evidence exist of an accelerating effect, although this occurs in the range of 20 to 40 percent in poverty, with a leveling effect on crime beyond this point of very high poverty. Thus, no evidence is found here in support of the postulate of scholars extending William Julius Wilson's (1987) insight that neighborhoods with very high levels of poverty will experience an exponentially higher rate of crime compared with other neighborhoods. REFERENCES Alaniz, Maria Luisa, Randi S. Cartmill, and Robert Nash Parker. 1998. 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