Race and the Creation off Crime Clusters: The Role Of Segregation And Discrimination

• In Event: Toward a Black Criminology

Abstract

Race influences crime, but not in the way you think. In standard criminology, race is often used as either an explanatory or control variable in studies of crime propensity. Or race is seen influencing the ability of neighbors to collectively and informally control misbehavior. These are not what this paper is about. Rather, this paper argues that past and current racial discrimination (as well as economic and political factors) influences how owners of property manage their places. Their management practices, in turn, influence the opportunity structure for crime, which determines how much crime occurs at their places. The concentration of much crime at a few places, and the concentration of these places in a few neighborhoods, drives the overall patterning of crime. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this point of view for research and policy.

Author

• John Eck, University of Cincinnati