The extraordinary breadth of the current home foreclosure crisis has made it a regularly discussed topic across the United States. Few cities can claim they have been unaffected by it as 94 of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas experienced an increase in home foreclosures in 2008. Such a rise in home foreclosure has left many curious about consequences that may appear in the wake of the largest crisis of this kind in American history. The purpose of this project is to better understand some of the potential criminal consequences of home foreclosure. In an attempt to answer this question, this study poses two primary research questions. The first: does a change in home foreclosures in a given neighborhood lead to an increase in crime in said neighborhood? And, in an effort to better understand the relationship between home foreclosures and crime, what other variables condition the influence of home foreclosures on crime, if any? Past theory and research suggest social disorganization and disorder theories to be the most appropriate to address this phenomenon. The merits of strain theories are discussed and the concept of suburban insulation is introduced. Finally, this study offers a preliminary look at how home foreclosures are influencing crime in Houston, Texas communities. Home foreclosure, crime, and other demographic data from Houston during the years 2005-2008 were compiled. Results from analyses employing dynamic panel models with an Arellano-Bond estimator indicate that changes in rates of home foreclosure over time do have a significant positive relationship with changes in the rates of total crime. Nonetheless, this influence is substantively minor. Lastly, higher levels of urbanization and economic disadvantage negatively impacted the influence of home foreclosures on crime. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2011. / March 14, 2011. / Social Disorganization, Neighborhood Crime, Home Foreclosure / Includes bibliographical references. / Eric Baumer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stacey Sirmans, University Representative; Brian Stults, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_254310 |
| Contributors | Harris, Paul Elisha (authoraut), Baumer, Eric (professor directing dissertation), Sirmans, Stacey (university representative), Stults, Brian (committee member), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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