Revisiting the Relationship Between Racial Heterogeneity and Neighborhood Crime: Do Spatial Scale and Functional Form matter?

Abstract

This study examines the relationships between racial heterogeneity and crime across blocks (N = 103,168) located in the greater Southern California region. We estimate negative binomial regression models that test for the effects of racial heterogeneity in conjunction with different functional form and spatial scaling considerations. Racial diversity in the block has a crime-reducing effect, whereas racial diversity in the area surrounding the block generally has crime-producing capabilities, although at very high levels of diversity, the effect reverses and becomes crime-reducing. We also illustrate an interaction effect between racial heterogeneity in the block and racial heterogeneity in the surrounding area. The pattern of results provides a nuanced understanding of how the racial composition of an area has consequences for crime.