Summary: | The unequal spatial distribution of crime is an enduring feature of cit-ies. While research suggests that spatial diffusion processes heightenthis concentration, the actual mechanisms of diffusion are not well un-derstood as research rarely measures the ways in which people, groups,and behaviors connect neighborhoods. This study considers how a par-ticular behavior,criminalco-offending, createsdirectand indirectpath-ways between neighborhoods. Analyzing administrative records andsurvey data, the authorsfind that individual acts of co-offending linktogether to create a“network of neighborhoods,”facilitating the dif-fusion of crime over time and across space and, in so doing, create path-ways between all Chicago neighborhoods. Statistical analyses demon-strate that these neighborhood networks are stable over time; generated by important structural characteristics, social processes,and endogenous network properties; and a better predictor of the geo-graphic distribution of crime than traditional spatial models.
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