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Cited by 66Names, Identity, and Discrimination ResearchCriminal Justice and Corrections AnalysisUrban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

Race, Place, and Crime: How Violent Crime Events Affect Employment Discrimination

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Mobasseri, Sanaz·2019·American Journal of Sociology
DOI 10.1086/703883
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Abstract

This article examines how exposure to violent crime events affects employers’ decisions to hire black job applicants with and without a criminal record. Results of a quasi-experimental research design drawing on a correspondence study of 368 job applications submitted to 184 hiring establishments in Oakland, California, and archival data of 5,226 crime events indicate that callback rates were 11 percentage points lower for black job applicants than for white or Hispanic applicants and 12 percentage points lower for those with a criminal record than those without one. Recent exposure to nearby violent crimes reduced employers’ likelihood of calling back black job applicants by 10 percentage points, whether or not they had a criminal record, but did not have the same effect on callback rates for white or Hispanic applicants.

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  • Felony convictions have strong negative effects on callback.

    “They find strong negative effects on callback of felony convictions (Decker et al. 2015, Galgano 2009, Mobasseri 2019, Pager 2003, Pager et al. 2009).”

    From Comparative Perspectives on Racial Discrimination in Hiring: The Rise of Field Experiments (2021) · cites this paper as Mobasseri 2019

    The “Callbacks for Job Applicants Perceived to Bear a Criminal Record” section reports an 11.9-percentage-point reduction in callback likelihood for applicants signaling a criminal record (P < .01). The study-design section describes that signal as an intended nonviolent drug conviction, but does not establish that the conviction was a felony; the felony-specific wording is therefore not fully supported. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Mobasseri, S.
Affiliations
Boston University (US)
Corresponding author
Mobasseri, Sanaz
ORCID
Mobasseri, Sanaz
Venue
American Journal of Sociology
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Published
2019-07
Volume
125
Issue
1
Pages
63-104
ISSN
  • 0002-9602 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5390
DOI
10.1086/703883
OpenAlex
W2954160020
Cited by
66
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 6
FWCI
16.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Journal of Sociology (publishedVersion)
  • OpenBU (Boston University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
Keywords
employment discrimination, violent crime, racial discrimination, criminal records, job applicants, Oakland

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