Formal Social Control in Changing Seattle Neighborhoods

• In Event: 213 - Regular Session. Deviance and Social Control

Abstract

Neighborhood change leads to various forms of social disorganization by disrupting social ties, increasing crime, and introducing differing perspectives on how to create social order. As a result, new residents may enforce social control by invoking local institutions such as the police. And when neighborhood change occurs through significant racial and socioeconomic transitions, we may expect formal social control to becoming an increasingly racialized force in changing neighborhoods. This study analyzes how changing and stable neighborhoods may reinforce racial and social control by examining the relationship between changing socio‐demographic neighborhood trajectories and racialized complaints to police in Seattle, Washington. We combine geocoded arrests data from the Seattle Police Department from 2008-2012 with neighborhood segregation and socioeconomic temporal trajectories from 1980 to 2010 to explore the effect of neighborhood change on the racial dynamics of social control. We then analyze the relationship between the racial composition of complainants and suspects/arrestees to determine how these incidents may vary depending on the trajectory of neighborhood change in various Seattle locations. This paper provides preliminary descriptives where final results will be presented at the meeting upon acceptance.

Authors

• Timothy Thomas, University of Washington

• Charles C Lanfear

• Lindsey R. Beach, University of Washington