A tale of three cities: Crime and displacement after Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oWhen Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, it greatly disrupted both the physical and social structures of that community. One consequence of the hurricane was the displacement of large numbers of New Orleans residents to other cities, including Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix. There has been media speculation that such a grand-scale population displacement led to increased crime in communities that were recipient of large numbers of displaced New Orleans residents. This study was a case study of three cities with somewhat different experiences with Katrina's diaspora. Time series analysis was used to examine the pre-and post-Katrina trends in six Part I offenses (murder, robbery, aggravated assault, rape, burglary, and auto theft) to assess any impact of such large-scale population shifts on crime in host communities. Contrary to much popular speculation, only modest effects were found on crime. Social disorganization theory was used to frame both the analysis and the interpretation of these results.

The myth of increased crime in Japan: A false perception of crime frequency in post-disaster situations

“…Thus, some exceptions can occasionally be observed after disasters. However, it still seems reasonable, on the whole, to assume that the crime rate of the disaster-affected areas did not generally increase in post-disaster years in Japan, consistent with what disaster researchers in Western countries have been claiming over the past decades [3,9,16,45].…”

Look what the hurricanes just blew in: analyzing the impact of the storm on criminal activities

“…Smaller increases are also seen for robbery, forcible rape, and murder. All these increases have been found in the literature (including Hussey, Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy, and Pacurar 2011;LeBeau 2002;Leitner and Helbich 2011;Thornton and Voigt 2007;Varano et al 2010). For example, Thornton and Voigt (2007) reported that women became rape victims in the wake of hurricane Katrina.…”

“…The state experienced temporary increases in domestic violence and burglary (LeBeau 2002). Phoenix, Arizona saw significant increases in murder after the passing of hurricane Katrina due population displacement in New Orleans (Varano et al 2010). …”

“…Studies found positive impacts (Frailing and Harper 2007;Hussey, Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy, and Pacurar 2011;Leitner and Helbich 2011;Thornton and Voigt 2007), negative impacts (Bailey 2009;Varano et al 2010;Zahran, Shelley, and Peek 2009), and no impact (Bass 2008;cromwell et al 1995;Leitner and Helbich 2011). Among the existing studies, quite a number focused on at most two hurricanes, specific location(s), or simple descriptive analyses (Bailey 2009;Bass 2008;Leitner and Helbich 2011;Thornton and Voigt 2007;Walker, Sim, and Keys-Mathews 2012).…”

Rural Crime in Developing Countries: Theoretical Framework, Empirical Findings, Research Needs

“…Outmigration of the working aged household members may result in disrupted family ties, socioeconomic instability, and thus increasing risk of becoming victim of a crime in the place of origin. Empirical evidence on the relationship between migration and crime is mixed (Moehling and Piehl 2009, Stowell and Martinez 2007, Varano et al 2010). Stowell and Martinez (2007) argue that any effort to predict the relationship between migration and crime must consider the context in which migration occurs.…”