Doctoral Dissertation Research: Neighborhood Crime and Property Values

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SES-1203105Ryan KingSarah McGeeverSUNY, AlbanyAbstractDoctoral Dissertation Research: Neighborhood Crime and Property ValuesThe construction of new correctional facilities often faces opposition by potential neighboring communities. Two primary concerns are consistently cited as reasons for such opposition: fears of rising crime and declining property values in the neighborhood. However, few empirical studies have examined this important and timely issue. This project employs data on almost 10,000 census tracts from 91 U.S. cities to investigate the relationship between correctional facilities, crime rates, and property values.The project is grounded in social scientific theories regarding social disorganization and routine activities. It pursues three main empirical goals. First, longitudinal analyses will examine the relationship between the presence of a correctional facility, crime levels and property values over time to gauge the degree to which these patterns have changed. Second, cross-sectional analyses of neighborhoods, disaggregated by the level of socio-economic disadvantage, will assess the degree to which the type of neighborhood influences results. Finally, analyses will evaluate whether the type of correctional facility shapes the effects on crime and property values. The methodological approach includes several types of multivariate modeling, as well as propensity score matching. In addition to U.S. Census data (1990, 2000), the study relies on the National Neighborhood Crime Study and the Time Series Database available via Geolytics, Inc.Broader ImpactsFindings from this dissertation seek to inform our understanding of how the presence of correctional facilities impacts the surrounding communities. Results from this project may be of interest to urban and community planners, as well as the law enforcement community and the general public. In addition to policy impacts, this dissertation project will produce a novel, publicly available dataset containing crime statistics, property value and correctional facility variables at the census tract level for a number of large cities.