Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Disorder, or “broken windows,” policing -- which typically emphasizes aggressive arrest strategies for misdemeanor offenses -- has become a popular policing strategy over the past decade. Limited empirical research (meeting differential benchmarks of scientific quality) has shown evidence that police attention to disorder crimes (e.g. public drunkenness, vagrancy, etc) may have an impact on more serious crimes (e.g. violent and major property crime). Using a panel-design and focusing on census tracts in a major city, we examine the extent to which variations in patterns of disorder policing are associated with variations in subsequent serious crime. In a departure from the extant research, we estimate predictive models in both primarily business and primarily residential areas, comparing the patterns of relationships across tract type. We discuss the implications of potentially over-generalizing arrest-based police strategies from public spaces to residential areas.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The presentation will summarize analyses of Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement data profiling juvenile offenders of Hispanic ethnicity held in juvenile detention and placement facilities. In addition, state custody rate maps will show geographic variations in the Hispanic juvenile custody population. Hispanic juvenile custody population trends will also be presented. Comparisons to other minority groups and to non-Hispanic whites will be included.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: An increasing portion of lower class men have children in more than one relationship. These men, which I term dual fathers, are poorly understood by researchers. Based on 62 interviews with low-income fathers, this project elucidates the beliefs, behaviors, and fathering identities of dual fathers. I find that all low-income fathers tend to adapt a “father figure” rather than a “father” definition of fathering responsibility. I also find that fathers tend to self-identify as responsible fathers, despite varying definitions of responsibility.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Interracial exposure (p*) indices have been widely-used in studies of residential racial segregation. However, a recent pilot study raised serious issues about the use of these indices, because they are based on the mean statistic, which may yield misleading results in the case of skewed distributions, as is often the case with census tract racial compositions. An alternative median exposure index (p*-md) is proposed, and mean and median indices of white-to-African American and African American-to-white exposure are compared for the fifty largest metropolitan areas in the United States. The analysis shows that the two measures produce different results, and that these differences are maximized in those areas that are most segregated and, for African American-to-white exposure, in areas where the largest number of African Americans live. This creates significant problems in the interpretation and use of mean exposure indices, and in most cases, the median exposure index yields a result more representative of the residential neighborhood exposure of the majority of whites and African Americans.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Residential stratification has become a very important topic today in the United States, as it addresses many issues of inequality. This paper begins by discussing the specific methods of discrimination used in residency negotiations. This paper also addresses the laws, court decisions, and federal programs that aimed to put an end to residential discrimination and residential stratification. The specific consequences of such segregationist residential practices will also be discussed here, including the explanation of income and race differences creating such residential stratification. This paper ends with a discussion of how conflict theory explains the possibility of such residential segregation in the United States.