Published In
Criminal Justice, Law & Society
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2023
Subjects
Environmental criminology, Crime analysis--United States
Abstract
Greenspaces play an important role in the urban landscape, with prior research suggesting that they are associated with numerous health and social benefits for residents. Despite this, research conflicts regarding the relationship between greenspaces and crime, with some studies finding these locations to be criminogenic and others finding them to be protective against local crime. This study examines this relationship in Portland, Oregon, considering different greenspace types as well as different crime types. Further, this study presents a novel methodological adaption to measure crime concentration and specialization around discrete location types by integrating a street network buffer into the standard Location Quotient (LQ) metric. Results suggest that Portland’s greenspaces as a whole do not experience a concentration of crime; however, varying patterns emerge when examining different greenspace and crime types. This study identifies diverse crime concentrations in proximity to small parks, while finding other greenspace categories to be associated with crime-specific concentrations nearby. Others, still, have lower than expected counts of crime concentrating nearby, potentially demonstrating protective trends. These results highlight the importance of disaggregating both crime and location types to better understand the complex relationship between greenspaces and crime.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2023 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.54555/ccjls.7115.73940
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40910
Citation Details
Hodgen, C., & Wuschke, K. (2023). The Grass is Always Greener: Analyzing Crime Concentration and Specialization in Urban Greenspace Environs. Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society, 24(1), 19-37.