Criminological Research on Public Housing: Toward a Better Understanding of People, Places, and Spaces

“Sociological theory based on the notion of “defensible space” contends that the physical characteristics of high-rise public housing (i.e., centralized elevator banks, long corridors and multiple entries) foster criminal behavior and other social problems, although the evidence to support this hypothesis is mixed (New…”

“This perhaps is a reflection of reality; or it is perhaps an attitude of giving up. Holzman (1996, p. 365) confounds the two when he states, ‘‘today, neither hope nor work is as plentiful for public housing residents as it once was’’.”

“In particular, many war veterans resided in public housing for short periods following World War II, before moving to other accommodations (Holzman 1996).”

“Ironically, despite their prevalence,much less is known about low-rise developments and life in them than about their high-rise counterparts (Holzman 1996). A partial exception to this is Merry (1981), who provides an insightful study of a low-rise housing project, although only 20% of the residences in the developmen…”

“Holzman (1996) states that “investigators seeking background material on crime in public housing have had to chiefly rely on a small number of studies done prior to 1981” and “most of this research amounts to only snapshots of a relatively few, densely populated localities” (p. 362).”

“public housing, proximity, distance, crime pattern theory, multilevel modeling Public housing is a prominent feature of the urban cores of most American cities (Holzman 1996).”

“The public housing universe tends to be over-represented by females, minorities, and welfare recipients (Holzman, 1996).”

“Public housing is often associated with run-down properties in distressed neighborhoods where social and physical disorder prevails and crime flourishes (Bauman, Hummon, & Muller, 1991; Bickford & Massey, 1991; Holzman, 1996; Sampson & Wilson, 1995; Wilson, 1996).”

“…itself is deeply implicated in larger urban processes including prior political decisions regarding the location of public housing that have given shape to distinctive urban geographies of violent crime (Bauman et al., 1991; Bickford and Massey, 1991; Massey and Kanaiaupuni, 1993; Holzman, 1996).”

“Given the general demographic and socioeconomic homogeneity of public housing residents in most communities, lack of access to a particular development is not likely to greatly skew one's findings (Georing et. al., 1994; Casey, 1996; Holzman, 1996 ).”

“Holzman et al. (2001), however, argued that such elements as the dispersal of housing throughout a city versus the concentration of public housing in one neighborhood could affect crime victimization rates.”

“Although public housing facilities across the United States vary considerably in terms of size and resident composition (Holzman, 1996), most of the research on crime in public housing has come from some of the largest public housing developments.”

“For Holzman (1996), crime in public housing should be studied due to public housing’s history, its unique population, and the problems it creates for law enforcement agencies.”

“In fact, a paucity of information exists on the faces and places that make up public housing in the United States (Holtzman, 1996; Holtzman & Piper, 1998), and even less information exists on the implementation and evaluation of programs that are designed to alleviate some of the social ills found…”