Bars, Blocks, and Crimes Revisited: Linking the Theory of Routine Activities to the Empiricism of “Hot Spots”*

Abstract

Anticipating recent developments in routine activities theory, Roncek and Bell (1981) found that bars and taverns had detrimental eflects on crime on residential city blocks in Cleveland for 1970. We replicate and extend their work by examining the effects of recreational liquor establishments (i.e., taverns and cocktail lounges) on crime from 1979 to 1981 on Cleveland's residential city blocks. The number of such businesses on residential city blocks has positive and statistically signifcant eflects on the amount of crime. The eflects on crime are compounded when the businesses are located in areas with physical characteristics that are associated with more anonymity and lower guardianship. Our results reaffirm the value of new developments in routine activities theory that now stress the importance of facilities. They also extend recent work attempting to identijjy and analyze "hot spots" of crime.

Violent Crime, Mobility Decisions, and Neighborhood Racial/Ethnic Transition

“…Studies have consistently found a positive relationship between the proportion of racial/ ethnic minorities and the rate of crime in neighborhoods and cities (Krivo and Peterson 1996;McNulty 2001;Ouimet 2000;Roncek 1981;Roncek and Maier 1991). Scholars often conclude from this evidence that the presence of more racial/ethnic minorities leads to more crime, despite the fact that these studies almost always utilize cross-sectional data.…”

Violent Crime, Residential Instability and Mobility: Does the Relationship Differ in Minority Neighborhoods?

“…These factors restrict social interaction among residents, which in turn impedes informal social control and order maintenance, and reduces the willingness to intervene on another's behalf. More recent work has also suggested that a greater number of single-parent households in the neighborhood reduce the ability to provide informal social control that would otherwise reduce delinquency (Roncek and Maier 1991;Rountree and Warner 1999). As the community's concern for the collective environment and its capacity to monitor and control behavior decreases, crime increases.…”

Measuring the Effects of Built Environment on Bus Stop Crime

“…Researchers have found that the presence of special-purpose structures, such as bars and taverns, high schools, convenience stores, rapid transit stations, or high-rise buildings may increase crime in their immediate vicinity (Roncek and Meier, 1991;Spelman, 1993;Block and Block, 1995;Block and Block, 1998).…”