Private Lives, Public Matters: A Social Disorganization Analysis of Domestic and Non-Domestic Assaults in Chicago

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

Social disorganization theory posits that certain neighborhood characteristics foster criminal events. This theory has been used for decades to predict public and violent crimes such as robbery, assault, and homicide (see Sampson, 2012; Sampson & Groves, 1989; Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997; Shaw & McKay, 1942). Recently, criminologists have expanded the framework of this theory to explain private crimes such as domestic violence (Wright, 2011; Wright & Benson, 2011). This study seeks to further the research in this area using data from the City of Chicago data portal. Multivariate and spatial analyses were used to test the ability of various tenets of social disorganization theory to predict the occurrence of domestic assaults in the same capacity that they can predict non-domestic assaults. In the city of Chicago 16,974 assaults (simple and aggravated) occurred in 2015; twenty five percent of these (n=4,413) were domestic assaults. Logistic regression, Poisson regression, and various spatial statistics were used to analyze data. Spatially, domestic and non-domestic assaults occur in the same more disorganized geographical areas. Further, significant clusters of both domestic and non-domestic incidents occur in the same neighborhoods. Preliminary multivariate results indicate the tenets of social disorganization theory predict domestic and non-domestic assaults similarly.

Authors

• Sarah Sacra, University of Central Florida

• Jana Jasinski, University of Central Florida