Is Job Accessibility Relevant to Crime Patterns? A GIS Approach, Summary

• NCJ Number: 193813
• Author(s): Fahui Wang Ph.D.; W. William Minor Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 10 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2000-IJ-CX-0023
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

This report summarizes the methodology and findings of a study that examined whether physical access to feasible jobs in local employment markets affects crime rates.

Abstract

Using data from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data and other public sources, the research used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to measure job accessibility. It then investigated the linkages between job accessibility and various crime patterns in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1980 and 1990. Crime variables measured included rates for auto thefts, burglaries, homicides, rapes, robberies, drug sale or possession, and delinquency filings in juvenile court for each year during 1980-89. Data needed for defining job accessibility were extracted from the 1980 Urban Transportation Planning Package and the 1990 Census for Transportation Planning Package. Both were aggregated at the level of Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ), a geographical unit even smaller than the census tract. In determining whether the variation in crime rates and the variation in employment access were related to one another, the study regressed various measures of the crime rate on employment access by census tract. In order to control for spatial autocorrelation among observations (n=193), a spatially lagged dependent variable was introduced. Based on the data analysis, the study concluded that access to employment did apparently have a significant relationship to crime in Cleveland in 1980 and 1990. The relationship was strongest for economic crimes, somewhat weaker for crimes of violence and drug offenses, and insignificant for delinquency. Should these findings be replicated in other cities, the implication is that policymakers should explore means of improving access to realistic employment, particularly for residents of communities in which access to legitimate jobs is limited. Some suggestions are offered for how to do this. 7 references