crime quiz 2

Miguel Penate (565 words)

Crime quiz

Sociology 111

Professor Kubal

                For my crime quiz I chose two articles describing crime and race. The first article was Perceived Racial and Ethnic Composition of Neighborhood and Perceived Risk of Crime. This article is based off the concept that if there is a majority of an ethnic group their fear of crime will be enforced by others meaning, the presence of another ethnic group causes discomfort for the main ethnic group in that vicinity. The data was collected using random-sample surveys. Often using questions like if the subjects felt safe in their neighborhoods. Another similar question stated was if the subject's thoughts on a community or neighborhood where they felt was not safe to be at night. The independent variables used were using statistics comparing demographics of neighborhoods of the subjects. For example what percent of each ethnic group lived in their neighborhood and what was the majority. This research would show if race had to do with security of one's home and if it was favored or opposed due to racial segregation. Another independent variable used was the subject's age, income, ethnicity, gender, and education. The research findings were that most blacks had a higher fear rate of crime in their neighborhood than whites. Often more black people lived in poorer neighborhoods than Hispanics and whites. Even with this being true Hispanics that had lived by other ethnic groups apparently are considered more threatening in terms of crime victim risk than the perceptions concerning black Americans in neighborhoods. Another finding is that in all three groups' female subjects with little education were more likely to perceive a risk of victimization. The overall find was that most if not all the variables were ruled out when it came to risk of crime and race seem to be the most effective variable too deciding whether the subjects felt a high risk of crime in their neighborhood.

                The second article was Black Neighbors, Higher Crime? The Role of Racial Stereotypes in Evaluations of Neighborhood Crime Author(s): Lincoln Quillian and Devah Pager Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 107, No. 3 (November 2001), pp. 717-767 Published by: The University of Chicago Press. This article discussed African American and white segregation.  The article also discusses how they feel about each other's neighborhoods and levels of crime due to stereotypes attached to African Americans in neighborhoods. Like that of the first article the study used random sampling surveys over the telephone comparing individuals and neighborhood characteristics. For the rest of the studies data they compared other studies such as crime factors and neighborhood decline in Chicago, criminality and victimization in Seattle, and crime changes in Baltimore. These studies helped in understanding if race and stereotype of blacks being the cause for high crime rates in neighborhoods was true or just a stereotype. This study unlike the first article did not use Hispanics for the research. For the individual studies they discovered that most females tend to be more fearful of crime then men and that the elderly also are more fearful than the youth. The results were despite all the studies and variables the highest crime rates and most inspired fear was due to young black in neighborhood even when controlling for actual measures of crime rates. For both articles the conclusion was always based around race and how despite every other variable it was always the main factor for segregation and crime.