Intra and Inter-Neighborhood Income Inequality and Crime

Abstract

One important factor in many macro-level theories of crime is income inequality. Although research generally shows that low levels of neighborhood income are associated with crime, research studies have been less clear on whether income inequality is a robust, independent predictor of crime, particularly in small area studies, and few studies have explicitly considered income inequality between neighborhoods, and those that do typically focus on homicide. The current study examines whether within and between neighborhood income inequality is associated with variation in violent and property crime. We employ geocoded Uniform Crime Report data from the Indianapolis police department and economic and demographic characteristics of the population from the American Community Survey for 2005–2009. Consistent with prior research, lower levels of income were associated with higher violent and property crime counts. Within-tract income inequality was also associated with higher Uniform Crime Reports violent and property crimes in most models. Results also showed that the ratio of tract income levels to neighboring tracts is associated with variation in crime. Thus, both local and nearby income inequality affect crime. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.