Consumption for Whom? Criminal Justice Charging and the Regulation of Business Improvement Districts

• In Event: New Arenas for Studying Race and Punishment

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore patterns of arrest charges within a business improvement district (BID) in Miami, Florida. This project frames arrests as a form of social control meant to create acceptable spaces for conspicuous consumption. Using primary sourced, longitudinal data, I compare the relationship between arrest charges and racial and ethnic inequality through a series of OLS regressions at the individual level with criminological and neighborhood predictors. Preliminary findings show significant patterns of racial inequality in arrest charges located in the business improvement district. Black Latinx and non-Latinx individuals make up a small proportion of the BID's population but represent a large proportion of defendants charged with drug or property offenses. In line with the framework of policing space for consumption, homelessness charges represent the largest percentage of nuisance charges in the BID. Furthermore, regardless of ethnicity, white defendants receive a higher percentage of alcohol charges while black defendants receive a higher percentage of drug charges. The implications of this study are twofold. First, these patterns show racial disparities in charging within the BID. Second, the data indicate the possibility that the control of socially acceptable behaviors within the BID manifests through institutional means of enforcement.

Author

• Brandon Paul Martinez, University of Miami