The Uneven Geographies of America's Hidden Rape Crisis: A District-Level Analysis of Underpolicing in St. Louis

Abstract

The article uses ratios of rape and homicide to explore the underpolicing of rape in U.S. cities. In doing so, I build on Yung's (2014) rate-based model and identify a statistic (the c-value) that can be used to rapidly assess or rank the policing behaviors of different metropolitan departments. I apply this method to a finer scale analysis of district-level crime in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. When combined with demographic data in a geographic information system, results suggest that police in precincts serving majority black constituencies are more likely to undercount rape than their peers attached to precincts that serve constituencies with fewer blacks.

Este artículo usa ratios de violación y homicidio para explorar el déficit de atención policial a la violación en las ciudades norteamericanas. Para hacer esto, me apoyo en el modelo de Yung basado en tasa (2014) e identifico una estadística (el valor c) que puede usarse para evaluar rápidamente o categorizar los comportamientos policiales de diferentes departamentos metropolitanos. Aplico este método en un análisis a escala fina del crimen a nivel de distrito en la ciudad de San Louis, Missouri. Cuando se le combina con datos demográficos en un sistema de información geográfica, los resultados sugieren que la policía de los precintos que sirven electorados negros estará más inclinada a subvalorar la violación que sus colegas adscritos a precintos que sirven a electorados con menos negros.

本文运用强暴与谋杀率, 探讨美国城市对强暴的警备不足。我藉此根据荣 (Yung 2014) 建立在比率上的模型, 并指认能够用来快速取得或排名大都会区不同部门的警备行为之统计 (c值) 。我将此一方法应用至密苏里圣路易市较微观的街区层级犯罪尺度。当与地理信息系统中的人口数据结合时, 研究结果显示, 在主要为黑人选区服务的警方, 较服务于较少黑人的选区之同僚, 更倾向低报强暴案件。

Key Words:

• policing
• race
• rape
• statistics
• St. Louis

关键词：:

• 警备
• 种族
• 强暴
• 统计
• 圣路易。

Palabras clave:

• vigilancia policial
• raza
• violación
• estadística
• San Luis

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Allison Williams, Nikki Chaffin, Cassandra Follett, Patrick McHaffie, and the Social Science Research Center at DePaul University for their assistance and suggestions in the development and production of this research. Thanks are also due to the helpful comments and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers.

Notes

1. Cities with c-values significantly greater than 1.0 (e.g., Colorado Springs, Colorado [3.18], St. Paul, Minnesota [2.28], Corpus Christi, Texas [2.24]) suggest a third profile type neither identified nor discussed by Yung.

2. These data are publicly available in the form of annual police reports published in either hard copy or online by respective city police departments.

3. In 2014, the number of St. Louis police districts was reduced to six.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alec Brownlow

ALEC BROWNLOW is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614. E-mail: [email protected]. His research explores geographies of violence and sacrifice and their relationship to development processes and politics.