The Left Out: New York City Public Housing as Gun Violence Hot Spots

• In Event: Violent and Property Crime Victimization Social Context and Hot Spots

Abstract

New York City’s crime drop is as famous as its origins are contested. Less well-well known, however, is that as the city’s crime plunged it also concentrated both demographically and geographically. NYPD statistics indicate that 20% of the city’s shootings occurred in its public housing complexes—a figure somewhere between two and five times public housing’s share of the city’s population (depending on whether one uses public housing’s official or “likely” population). Similarly, African Americans appear as victims in the shooting data at twice their expected rate and Latinos at about half their expected rate. While shootings in New York City have decreased 25% since 2010, their numbers have barely budged in public housing and remain a daily fixture in residents' lives. The overwhelmingly minority residents have been left out of the gentrifying city's growing safety. Grappling with these geographical and racial disparities will require a more robust and granular understanding of crime in public housing. The present study analyzes public housing development populations and micro-level shooting hot spots to determine the differences in space-time-shooting relationships in New York City public housing. The findings of the micro-level spatiotemporal analyses are discussed with reference to research and policy implications.

Authors

• Christopher Herrmann, CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Gregory ('Fritz') Umbach, CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Ana Guerrero, CUNY Service Corps / John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Amanda Cruz, CUNY Service Corps / The City College of New York