Criminology

Abstract:

Extensive research finds that place-based investment reduces crime,

leading practitioners to propose it as an alternative to police-centered

policies. We explore another channel linking local investment to

crime—that police patrol is endogenous to the built environment-using

smartphone location data. Exploiting quasi-experimental variation in

HUD rules designating Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs), we find police

increase patrol in QCTs enough to explain all the observed violent

crime reduction. Police increase patrol more in neighborhoods with

more Black residents and fewer recently-built units. Our findings

highlight the importance of understanding police response to local

development before framing it as a substitute for policing.

Bio: Emily Owens is the Chair of the Department of Criminology,

Law, and Society at UC Irvine. She also holds a secondary appointment

in the Department of Economics. Professor Owens studies a wide range

of topics in the economics of crime, including policing, sentencing, and

the impact of local public policies on criminal behavior. Her research

examines how government policies affect the prevalence of criminal

activity as well as how agents within the criminal justice system,

particularly police, prosecutors, and judges, respond to policy changes.