Evidence indicates that drug crime is greater in neighborhoods with middle and high schools.

For many adolescents experimenting with drugs is a fairly normal part of growing up, but many are accessing these drugs at, or near to, schools. In new research, Dale Willits, Lisa Broidy, and Kristine Denman find that drug crime is higher in city blocks that have middle and high schools. They write that schools give drug dealers and buyers the opportunity to meet, a process that occurs regardless of the neighborhood’s characteristics

Emergency Department Utilization among Victims and Offenders Involved in Non-lethal Violence

The medical literature has focused on violent victimization as a public health concern, examining its correlates and evaluating intervention models. However, the emphasis on victimization in this literature overlooks the strong ties between victimization and offending risks outlined in the criminological literature, which may unnecessarily limit the scope of public health efforts to influence violence in our communities. This study examines whether the similarities observed in the criminological literature are evident in a health care setting. More specifically, do victims and offenders exhibit similar health care utilization patterns? We address this question by comparing the emergency department utilization records, criminal histories, and demographic characteristics of a sample of victims and offenders involved in non-lethal violence in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA in 2001. Our results suggest that victims and offenders have similar emergency department utilization patterns, with most visits being for injury. Moreover, most victims seen in the emergency department have criminal records that, in many ways, mirror those of offenders. The results suggest that violence intervention programs in public health settings should target both victims and offenders and capitalize on the overlap across these populations in outlining the long term risks of criminal involvement and motivating individual level change

The resilience of neighborhood social processes: a case study of the 2011 Brisbane flood

Social disorganization theories position neighborhood social capital and collective efficacy as key social processes that should facilitate community resilience in the aftermath of disaster. Yet limited evidence demonstrates that these social processes are themselves resilient with some studies showing that disaster can fracture even once cohesive neighborhoods. In this paper we assess the stability of neighborhood level collective efficacy and social capital before and after a disaster. We use multilevel structural equation modeling and draw on census and longitudinal survey data collected from over 4000 residents living in 148 neighborhoods in Brisbane, Australia before and after a significant flood event. We examine what happens to social capital and collective efficacy in flooded and non-flooded neighborhoods and assess whether demographic shifts are associated with change and/or stability in these processes. We find strong evidence that these processes operate similarly across flooded and not flooded communities. Our findings also reveal significant stability for our measures of social capital across time, while collective efficacy increases post flood across all neighborhoods, but more so in flooded neighborhoods. Neighborhood demographics have limited effect on patterns of stability or change in these social processes. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for our understanding of neighborhood resilience in the wake of disaster

Individual, Neighborhood, and Situational Factors Associated with Violent Victimization and Offending

The criminological literature presents substantial evidence that victims and offenders in violent crimes share demographic characteristics, engage in similar lifestyles and activities, and reside in socially disorganized neighborhoods. However, research has examined these relationships separately using either victimization or offending data, and prior studies have not examined these relationships by comparing victims and offenders within the same incidents. This limits the effect of examining whether these factors are associated with victimization and offending in similar or distinct ways. Using a law enforcement database of victims (n = 1,248) and offenders (n = 1,735) involved within the same aggravated battery incidents (n = 1,015) in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, this research explores whether victims and offenders involved in non-lethal violence share certain individual, neighborhood and situational characteristics. Results suggest that victims and offenders live in socially disorganized neighborhoods and engage in risky lifestyles and violent offending behaviors in similar proportions. These findings highlight the overlapping factors associated with victimization and offending in non-lethal violent personal crimes. The implications of these findings are discussed

Previous Emergency Department Use Among Homicide Victims and Offenders: A Case-Control Study

We differentiate risk factors for future homicide victimization and offending, and we measure emergency department (ED) use among homicide victims, offenders, and controls. The design was a matched case-control study conducted in Bernalillo County, NM, and its university-affiliated health sciences center and hospital. All Bernalillo County homicide victims (N=124) and offenders (N=138) identified between January 1996 and December 2001 who were linked to university physician billing records and who had health care use during the 3 years before the homicide incident were included as cases. Randomly selected age-matched (±1 year) and sex-matched subjects with health care use within 3 years of their matched pair’s homicide were included as controls. Main outcome measures were the number and type of ED visits by cases and controls. Patients with ED visits for assault, firearm injuries, and substance abuse are at increased risk for homicide and often have an escalating number of visits leading up to the homicide event. ED-based identification and referral programs similar to those used for intimate partner violenc

Exploring Demographic, Structural, and Behavioral Overlap Among Homicide Offenders and Victims

Criminologists tend to focus their attention on the dynamics of offending, paying limited theoretical and empirical attention to the well-established relation between offending and victimization. However, a number of criminological theories predict similarities in the correlates and etiology of victimization and offending, suggesting substantial overlap across offender and victim populations. Empirical research confirms this overlap across offender and victim populations, at least among those involved in nonlethal incidents. This research explores whether similarities between offender and victim populations extends to homicide, using criminal justice, health care, and U.S. Census data linked to homicide offenders and victims in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, between 1996 and 2001. Findings indicate substantial overlap in the social contexts and risk behaviors of homicide offenders and victims. However, results also side with more recent suggestions that although many victims overlap with offender populations, there is also a group of victims that appears to be distinguishable from offender groups. These findings have important implications for both theory and intervention