Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

6119

Date

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Criminology and Criminal Jus

Committee Chair

James C. McCutcheon

Committee Member

Stephen Watts

Committee Member

Shelley Keith

Committee Member

Bert O. Burraston

Abstract

Recent literature suggests that the effect of racial and ethnic heterogeneity on homicide varies by aggregation. The current study intends to fill an important gap in the existent literature. The purpose of this research is to achieve a better understanding of how racial and ethnic heterogeneity impacts homicide by examining data at two different levels of aggregation in three different cities (Chicago, Memphis, and Baltimore). Racial and ethnic heterogeneity’s relationship to homicide is examined at both the census tract and block group levels using data from the Chicago Data Portal, Memphis Police Department, and Baltimore Data Portal. Findings show that at the census tract and block group level, as racial and ethnic heterogeneity increases, homicide decreases in a quadratic relationship. Further research should be conducted to analyze the relationship at other levels of aggregation.Key words: racial and ethnic heterogeneity, homicide, social disorganization theory

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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