IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jcjust/v60y2019icp57-63.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the impact of 9398 demolitions on neighborhood-level crime in Detroit, Michigan

Author

Listed:
  • Larson, Matthew
  • Xu, Yanqing
  • Ouellet, Leah
  • Klahm, Charles F.

Abstract

The intersection of neighborhood-level processes and crime has received a wealth of attention in the criminological literature over the last century. In line with this tradition, the current study focuses its attention to one of the more recent, and woefully under-explored, policy phenomena embraced by a growing number of cities throughout the United States: demolitions. From 2010 to 2014, the city of Detroit successfully completed a total of 9398 demolitions, making it the nation's leader in the demolitions experiment. Focusing specifically on crime at the block-group level, we examine the association between demolitions and changes in four crime types (i.e. total crime, violent crime, drug crime, and property crime) by calling upon a set of publicly available geo-spatial crime and demolition data. We find that demolitions have a statistically and substantively meaningful negative relationship with total crime, violent crime, and property crime in 2014, net of controls for prior crime and structural covariates. Supplemental analyses also indicate that reductions in crime from 2009 to 2014 were greatest among block-groups that experienced the greatest number of demolitions. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and policy implications of demolitions as a potentially valuable crime reduction strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Larson, Matthew & Xu, Yanqing & Ouellet, Leah & Klahm, Charles F., 2019. "Exploring the impact of 9398 demolitions on neighborhood-level crime in Detroit, Michigan," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 57-63.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:60:y:2019:i:c:p:57-63
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.11.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235218303350
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.11.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cui, Lin & Walsh, Randall, 2015. "Foreclosure, vacancy and crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 72-84.
    2. Stephan D. Whitaker, 2011. "Foreclosure-related vacancy rates," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue July.
    3. Spader, Jonathan & Schuetz, Jenny & Cortes, Alvaro, 2016. "Fewer vacants, fewer crimes? Impacts of neighborhood revitalization policies on crime," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 73-84.
    4. Johanna Lacoe & Ingrid Gould Ellen, 2015. "Mortgage Foreclosures and the Changing Mix of Crime in Micro-Neighborhoods," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 93858cf01b5a4446b4060d29f, Mathematica Policy Research.
    5. Jason Hackworth, 2016. "Demolition as urban policy in the American Rust Belt," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(11), pages 2201-2222, November.
    6. Branas, C.C. & Kondo, M.C. & Murphy, S.M. & South, E.C. & Polsky, D. & MacDonald, J.M., 2016. "Urban blight remediation as a cost-beneficial solution to firearm violence," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(12), pages 2158-2164.
    7. Lawrence Cohen & Marcus Felson, 1979. "On estimating the social costs of national economic policy: A critical examination of the Brenner study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 251-259, April.
    8. Christina Plerhoples Stacy, 2018. "The effect of vacant building demolitions on crime under depopulation," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 100-115, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Felson, Marcus & Xu, Yanqing & Jiang, Shanhe, 2022. "Property crime specialization in Detroit, Michigan," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Colette Smirniotis & Michael Henderson & Barbara A. Bailey & Rose M. C. Kagawa, 2022. "Crime and Building Rehabilitation or Demolition: A Dose-Response Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-19, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michelle Kondo & Michelle Degli Esposti & Jonathan Jay & Christopher N. Morrison & Bridget Freisthler & Claire Jones & Jingzhen Yang & Deena Chisolm & Charles Branas & Bernadette Hohl, 2022. "Changes in crime surrounding an urban home renovation and rebuild programme," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(5), pages 1011-1030, April.
    2. Colette Smirniotis & Michael Henderson & Barbara A. Bailey & Rose M. C. Kagawa, 2022. "Crime and Building Rehabilitation or Demolition: A Dose-Response Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Spader, Jonathan & Schuetz, Jenny & Cortes, Alvaro, 2016. "Fewer vacants, fewer crimes? Impacts of neighborhood revitalization policies on crime," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 73-84.
    4. Bunting, W.C., 2020. "Does increased access to home mortgage money reduce local crime rates? Evidence from San Diego County," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    5. Kanayama, Yuki & Sadayuki, Taisuke, 2021. "What types of houses remain vacant? Evidence from a municipality in Tokyo, Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Janelle Downing & Andrew Karter & Hector Rodriguez & William H Dow & Nancy Adler & Dean Schillinger & Margaret Warton & Barbara Laraia, 2016. "No Spillover Effect of the Foreclosure Crisis on Weight Change: The Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-11, March.
    7. Twinam, Tate, 2017. "Danger zone: Land use and the geography of neighborhood crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 104-119.
    8. Steinberg, Matthew P. & Ukert, Benjamin & MacDonald, John M., 2019. "Schools as places of crime? Evidence from closing chronically underperforming schools," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 125-140.
    9. Suzuki, Masatomo & Hino, Kimihiro & Muto, Sachio, 2022. "Negative externalities of long-term vacant homes: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    10. Sadayuki, Taisuke, 2018. "Measuring the spatial effect of multiple sites: An application to housing rent and public transportation in Tokyo, Japan," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 155-173.
    11. John P. Harding & Jing Li & Stuart S. Rosenthal & Xirui Zhang, 2022. "Forced moves and home maintenance: The amplifying effects of mortgage payment burden on underwater homeowners," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(2), pages 498-533, June.
    12. Prener, Chris & Braswell, Taylor & Monti, Daniel J., 2018. "St. Louis's "Urban Prairie": Vacant Land and the Potential for Revitalization," SocArXiv bc7eh, Center for Open Science.
    13. Bruno M. B. Pinto & Fernando A. F. Ferreira & Ronald W. Spahr & Mark A. Sunderman & Leandro F. Pereira, 2023. "Analyzing causes of urban blight using cognitive mapping and DEMATEL," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 325(2), pages 1083-1110, June.
    14. Mandai, Yu & Nakabayashi, Masaki, 2018. "Stabilize the peasant economy: Governance of foreclosure by the shogunate," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 305-327.
    15. Bernstein, Shai & Colonnelli, Emanuele & Giroud, Xavier & Iverson, Benjamin, 2019. "Bankruptcy spillovers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(3), pages 608-633.
    16. Takumi Ito & Tsuyoshi Setoguchi & Takashi Miyauchi & Akira Ishii & Norihiro Watanabe, 2019. "Sustainable Downtown Development for the Tsunami-Prepared Urban Revitalization of Regional Coastal Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-23, February.
    17. Thomas J. Fitzpatrick & Lisa Nelson & Francisca Richter & Stephan D. Whitaker, 2012. "The effect of local housing ordinances," Working Papers (Old Series) 12-40, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    18. McIntyre, Stuart G. & Lacombe, Donald J., 2012. "Personal indebtedness, spatial effects and crime," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 455-459.
    19. Schnell, Cory & Grossman, Leigh & Braga, Anthony A., 2019. "The routine activities of violent crime places: A retrospective case-control study of crime opportunities on street segments," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 140-153.
    20. Lin, Xu & Zhang, Jihu & Jiang, Shanhe, 2022. "Spatial and temporal correlations of crime in Detroit: Evidence from spatial dynamic panel data models," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:60:y:2019:i:c:p:57-63. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcrimjus .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.