When Crime Moves, Where Does It Go? Identifying the Spatial Correlates of Crime Displaced by a Place-Based Intervention

• In Event: Place Based Interventions, Criminal Opportunities, and Re-entry Dynamics on Neighborhood Crime

Abstract

The potential for displacement has been a traditional criticism of targeted crime prevention strategies within criminology. Despite such concerns, research has demonstrated that most successful crime prevention efforts do not result in displacement and when displacement does occur it is typically less than the treatment effect. Furthermore, the diffusion of crime control benefits has been observed within the literature as frequently as displacement. Despite these positive findings, displacement can pose a serious threat to place-based police operations in certain contexts. Recently, Piza & O’Hara (2014; Justice Quarterly) found that a targeted foot patrol intervention in Newark, NJ had positive effects on overall violence but generated significant spatial and temporal displacement of robbery. Displacement levels were large enough to nullify the robbery reductions achieved within the target area and during the operational hours of the intervention. The current study builds upon Piza & O’Hara (2014) through a micro-level geospatial analysis. The presence of various crime generators and attractors (CGAs) are measured at street segments and intersections within the target area, displacement area, and a control area. Statistical models measure whether specific CGAs were significantly related to the observed occurrence of spatial and temporal displacement.

Author

• Eric Piza, The Graduate Center, John Jay College / CUNY