Clarifying the Relationship Between Racial Diversity and Crime: Neighborhoods Versus Cities

Since the 1970s, racial diversity within neighborhoods and cities has been increasing. Although social disorganization theorists have long argued that diversity reduces social cohesion leading to increases in crime, the association between diversity and crime may be more nuanced than previously thou...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wenger, Marin R. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
In: Crime & delinquency
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:Since the 1970s, racial diversity within neighborhoods and cities has been increasing. Although social disorganization theorists have long argued that diversity reduces social cohesion leading to increases in crime, the association between diversity and crime may be more nuanced than previously thought. More specifically, neighborhood processes occur within the broader context of the cities within which they are embedded. The current investigation uses data from 9,593 census tracts nested within 91 large U.S. cities from the National Neighborhood Crime Study (NNCS) to test whether the association between neighborhood diversity and crime differs by city diversity. Results indicate an interaction between neighborhood and city diversity, such that the effect of neighborhood diversity on crime becomes weaker as city diversity increases.
ISSN:1552-387X
DOI:10.1177/0011128718768726