Crime and specific vacancy types in smaller cities and towns

ABSTRACT

Prior studies indicate that vacant houses (both derelict and occupiable) are often associated with increased crime. However, the majority of the research on that relationship has been conducted in large cities and urban areas. Thus, the present study aimed to provide additional clarity about vacancy’s association with crime by examining a sample of smaller cities and towns. Additionally, while prior work has focused on various kinds of vacancy, only a few studies have examined the potentially criminogenic effects of different vacancy types simultaneously. The present research contributes to additional clarity on this point by including specific forms of empty occupiable housing as predictors. The analysis also controlled for other structural factors commonly associated with crime. The results indicated that overall vacancy had a significant association with burglary but not with robbery. The results for these smaller municipalities are compared to the findings of studies conducted in larger urban areas, and their policy implications are then discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Vacancy
• burglary
• robbery
• rental housing
• seasonal housing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. The choice to focus on populations smaller than 100,000 was informed by several factors. One, ‘there is no bright line that guides population thresholds in macro-level criminological research’ (Pyrooz, Decker, Wolfe, & Shjarback, 2016, p. 6), Two, a threshold of 100,000 is used to distinguish large from small cities in other criminological research (e.g. Gaviria & Pages-Serra, 1999; Kent & Jacobs, 2005). Three, this level is the place where the Uniform Crime Report distinguishes between Group II and Group III places. Four, a sample of places with populations under 100,000 is nearly the inverse of the Roth (2019) study of larger cities (minimum population 89,578) that the current study complements.

2. States were categorized as southern following the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition: Maryland, Delaware, Washington, DC, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey J. Roth

Jeffrey J. Roth is an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at Slippery Rock University. His research interests include burglary and structural predictors of property crime. His recent work on vacancy, home sharing, and crime can be found in American Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Review, and Safer Communities.