The Geography of Death: A Socio-Spatial Analysis of Homicide Court Cases

• In Event: Prosecutorial Discretion, Guilty Pleas and Criminal Punishment

Abstract

Despite a robust literature on neighborhoods and crime, few studies have examined the neighborhood context of criminal justice. Existing analyses of sentencing and punishment outcomes offer compelling evidence of regional or state effects, but less is known about the geography of justice at more fine-grain levels such as neighborhoods. This gap in the literature is surprising given the sustained attention devoted to neighborhoods and crime, especially homicide victimization. The present study attempts to fill this gap by examining the influence of individual and neighborhood-level variables on the outcomes of several thousand-homicide cases. Multi-level logistic regression models will isolate the effect of geographic variables, while controlling for legally relevant factors at the individual level. In light of the accumulating evidence linking neighborhoods to the (re)production of various social inequalities, this project can contribute to ongoing discussions about the importance of neighborhoods for understanding social justice issues more generally.

Author

• Nick Petersen, University of Miami