nyanya annotated

Vanessa Schoening February 9, 2014

Module 2

Research Journal

The articles relied on for the research mainly focuses on crime incidents in cities and the perception of people regarding the causes of crime. The articles seem to suggest that certain characteristics of people greatly determine the frequency of crime. These features include earnings, race, and the manner in which families are structured. Family structure is of particular interest because it has a psychology angle to it. The articles try to use these indicators as a tool to predict crime.

The articles also pose a question on what the effects of having densely populated population or closely situated homes affects crime. Some feel that having these would deter crime because the sidewalks would be always filled with people while other feel the large population offer more potential victims to be preyed on. These different finding from research offer potential areas for further research because some researches indicate no correlation between the two. Studies should be done to find out other factors that drive crime in suburban areas.

Finally, the research papers give a comparison of the frequency of crimes between urban areas and suburban areas. The nature of the crimes is also compared with urban areas exhibiting higher frequencies of violent crimes. The offenders are often strangers in urban areas but the in suburbs people are more likely to be attacked by someone they have met before. The articles offer the theory that suburbs are composed of people with the same economic status and are more likely on initiatives such as security (Christens & Speers, 2006). This could mean that they could choose options such as hiring private security. The articles also highlight emerging trends in suburbs including gated communities and their effects on crime.

References

Bureau of Justice Statistics (1999). Number of homicides and population for cities with estimated population 100,000 or more, from 1985-1997.

Christens, B., & Speer, P. W. (2006). Predicting violent crime using urban and suburban densities. Behavior and Social Issues, 14(2), 113-127.

Duany, A., Plater-Zyberk, E., & Speck, J. (2000). Suburban nation: The rise of sprawl and the

decline of the American dream. New York: North Point Press.

Fulton, W., Pendall, R., Nguyen, M. & Harrison, A. (2001). Who sprawls most? How growth patterns differ across the U.S. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.

LaFree, G., Bursik, R.J., Short, J. & Taylor, R.B. (2000). The nature of crime: Continuity and change. Criminal Justice 2000, 1, 261-308.

Lang, R. E. (2005). Valuing the suburbs: Why some “improvements” lower home prices. Opolis: An International Journal of Suburban and Metropolitan Studies, 1(1), 5-12.

Lersch, K. M. (2004). Space, time, and crime. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.

Regoeczi, W. C. (2003). When context matters: A multilevel analysis of household and neighborhood crowding on aggression and withdrawal. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23(4), 451-464.

U.S. Census Bureau (2000). Metropolitan Area Population Estimates for July 1, 1999 and Population Change for April 1, 1990 to July 1, 1999

Yanich, D. (2004). Crime creep: Urban and suburban crime on local TV news. Journal of Urban Affairs, 26(5), 535-563.