Robberies with Guns: Neighborhood Factors and the Nature of Crime

Results from this study suggest that faith in the police was a more important neighborhood factor affecting the nature of robbery than disadvantage, the percent of young African-American males, or oppositional values. While there is a substantial body of research examining the use of guns in robbery, the vast majority of the research has been focused at the individual level. A broader research question on the aggregate level would be “Do neighborhood characteristics affect the nature or quality of crimes that occur there?” This study expands the developing literature on neighborhood variation in the quality, or nature, of crime by examining several neighborhood factors theorized to be associated with qualitatively different forms of violence, in relation to the use of guns in robberies across neighborhoods in a southern city. The study examined noncommercial robberies in an urban city with a population of approximately a quarter million. Tables, references