Punishment, Neighborhood Structure, and Crime

• In Event: Social Disorganization Theory: Places, Spaces, and Time

Abstract

A long tradition of criminological research has documented the ecological effects of neighborhoods on crime. Theories and research on neighborhood ecology (e.g., concentrated disadvantage) highlight the causal importance of neighborhood structure for crime. However, this literature largely neglects what role punishment, in terms of incarceration, probation, and monetary sanctions, plays in this theoretical model. Building upon previous scholarship that suggests that punishment plays a key role in the (re)production of social inequality and disadvantage, this study uses a unique panel dataset in Minneapolis, MN from 2010-2022 -- merging hospital discharge, state court punishment records, socioeconomic and demographic Census data -- to examine how neighborhood punishment loads may a) directly impact rates of violence, and b) impact violence indirectly through the (re)structuring of neighborhood disadvantage. Results from ZCTA (Zip Code Tabulation Area)-year fixed effect panel models highlight that while incarceration has a direct negative effect on violence, and probation a positive effect, both incarceration and probation are positively associated with concentrated disadvantage, which is, in turn, positively and strongly associated with violence. These results reveal the bifurcating effects of punishment on violence at the community level and highlight an indirect criminogenic path of punishment on violence via the augmentation of disadvantage.

Author

• Ryan Larson, Hamline University