Tempered Hope: Spatial Meaning in Predatory, Drug, and Mixed Hot Spots

• In Event: Crime and Place: The Baltimore Longitudinal Hot Spots Study: Initial Findings

Abstract

In recent years, scholars have learned a tremendous amount about “hot spot” street segments in relation to criminal and police activity. One important, but largely unanswered question, considers how residents in these locales understand and use the “hot” space. Using seven months of qualitative data collected via street ethnography (observations and interviews) in 50 randomly selected hot spot street segments (a subsample from the larger study sample of 450 segments), this paper uses situated actions and contextualized explanations to consider how residents and workers within predatory, drug and combined predatory/drug hot spots in Baltimore, MD perceive and use their space in comparison to similarly situated residents and workers in 25 comparison “cool” segments. Preliminary findings suggest individuals in “hot spot” segments tell temporally patterned tales that deflect despair and crime away from their segment. To do this, they weave intricate narratives that rely on: 1) relaying particular incidents; 2) reimagining segments as pass-throughs (pathways between two other street segments) and 3) remembering history as a systemic issue (i.e., city management). Although their narratives often describe a segment in trouble, the narrators couch each tale within a framework of tempered hope that combines optimism with passionate desire for change.

Authors

• Danielle Rudes, George Mason University

• Justin Ready, Arizona State University

• Brian Lawton, George Mason University

• David Weisburd, George Mason University / Hebrew University