Spatial Concentration of Crime and Racial Disparity in Arrest Rates

• In Event: Spatial Analysis of Racial Disparity in Stops, Arrest, and Crime in Big Cities

Abstract

Studying racial disparities in police activities is one of the major topics in policing. Despite the declining interest in recent years, Ferguson social unrests once again highly attracted the attention of both scholars and politicians. Following Ferguson tragic event, many reports, articles, and news have been shared regarding the disproportionate rates of traffic stops, citations, and arrests. Nonetheless, despite the long history of racial disparity studies, both law enforcement officials and scholars agree that more research is needed in order to better understand the scope of the problem. Given this context, using the arrest records of Cincinnati Police Department, this study aims to explore whether spatial concentration of crime in specifics places (i.e., block groups, neighborhoods) explain disproportionate distribution of arrest records among the races. Specifically, this study seeks an answer to the question that to what extent disproportionate crime commission rates are related to disproportionate arrest records in places where crime concentrates. Policy implications of the study will be discussed in the conclusion section.

Authors

• Halil Akbas, University of Cincinnati

• Murat Ozer, University of Cincinnati