Crime Rate in New Orleans before and After Hurricane Katrina

• In Event: Poverty, Inequality and Despair as Criminogenic

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze crime trend in New Orleans eight years before and after Hurricane Katrina. While it is easy to argue that Hurricane Katrina of 2005 affected crime rate in New Orleans, the study examines the impact of Hurricane Katrina and other contextual factors within the cities socio-demographic space. The methodological approach to this study is quantitative using time-series design and panel data from 1997 to 2013. It is implicit that government policy and programs, pre and post the Katrina disaster provides a platform to integrate these various factors represented in the changing levels of crime within the study period.

Author

• Ekwuniru Chika Nwokeji, Southern University, New Orleans