Crime, Social Networks, and Neighborhood Change

Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc., Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Crime, Social Networks, and Neighborhood Change SES - 1123105 Lesley Williams Reid Deirdre Oakley Erin Ruel Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA Abstract Poor neighborhoods often experience high rates of crime. Urban planners have tried to reduce crime in poor neighborhoods in various ways. One of these consists of efforts to disperse poverty and make neighborhoods more socioeconomically diverse. For example, current housing policies that replace public housing projects with vouchers that subsidize rent in any neighborhood are built on this idea. The assumption is that residents of socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods will form social networks and share economic, social, and cultural resources. This, in turn, is believed to help lower crime rates. However, recent research has questioned whether crime rates will be lower in socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods, because building social networks purely based on proximity may be difficult for people who do not share common beliefs, attitudes, and habits. The question then becomes: What is more important in managing crime -- dispersing poverty or maintaining strong social networks? This longitudinal study examines the process of social network formation and the conditions under which this process reduces, or fails to reduce, crime. The study follows former public housing residents to examine their patterns of social network formation and how variation in the degree to which these residents become part of their new communities affects their level of criminal victimization and fear of crime. In addition, the study examines neighborhoods that become home to former public housing residents to determine whether crime rates are influenced by changes in neighborhood demographics. Broader Impacts Across the country, housing authorities are replacing public housing projects with voucher-based housing subsidies. This research may help provide a better understanding of the effects of housing policy on crime, allowing housing authorities and law enforcement to work together to create safer communities nationwide. In addition, this study will be instrumental in teaching and training undergraduate and graduate students at a large urban university with a diverse student population, thereby contributing to the recruitment of social scientists from underrepresented groups and strengthening the science pipeline.