The Social Ecology and Spatial Distribution of Lethal Violence in Toronto, 1988-2003
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE SOCIAL ECOLOGY AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF LETHAL VIOLENCE IN TORONTO, 1988-2003 Sara Kerr Thompson A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy Centre of Criminology University of Toronto © Copyright by Sara Kerr Thompson (2009) Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55684-9 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55684-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. •+• Canada The Social Ecology and Spatial Distribution of Lethal Violence in Toronto, 1988-2003 Doctorate of Philosophy, 2009 Sara Kerr Thompson Centre of Criminology University of Toronto ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the ways in which neighbourhood demographic, socioeconomic and housing characteristics are related to the risk of homicide in Toronto over the period 1988-2003. This study expands on recent studies of the social ecology of lethal violence in three important ways. First, it provides the first empirical examination of this topic in a large Canadian city, which offers an opportunity to determine the extent to which the ecological covariates of lethal violence identified in the U.S. based literature also predict this violence in the Canadian context. Second, while this dissertation examines total homicide counts, it is also one of a small number of studies that disaggregates these counts into subtypes, in an effort to determine the extent to which the ecological correlates of one type of homicide are specific to, or distinct from, those of another. Finally, this study provides a more nuanced and contextualized analysis of 'neighbourhood effects' and homicide than has been possible with either cross-sectional analyses of neighbourhoods in one city or longitudinal analyses of multiple cities. Spatial analytic methodologies show that, as is the case south of the border, high levels of lethal violence tend to cluster in a small number of inner-city neighbourhoods in Toronto. ii However, unlike the spatial distribution of homicide in many U.S. cities, this violence also tends to cluster in neighbourhoods outside of the city core. The results of traditional multivariate methodologies show that some of the neighbourhood characteristics included in the multivariate analyses are related to some types of homicide in Toronto, but not to others. Neighbourhoods characterized by economic disadvantage and larger proportions of young male and black residents experienced higher levels of homicide, particularly homicides with young black male victims. This suggests that these types of homicide might be better seen as the result of a similar neighbourhood context. At the same time, however, the differences that emerged in the neighbourhood characteristics associated with different homicide types lend some support to the idea that, to a certain extent, some types of homicide in Toronto may be influenced by distinctive causal factors. in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted beyond words to Rosemary Gartner, Anthony Doob, Carolyn Greene, Anna Pratt, Natasha Madon, Jane Sprott, Peter Kiatipis, Scott Clarke, and Karim Ismaili for helping to bring this dissertation into being with their wisdom, enthusiasm, friendship, and support. To Peter Sloly, Brian Raybould, Helen Dixon, Mark Saunders and Tom Gage for a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the Toronto Police Service's homicide squad. To Laine Ruus for her incredible knowledge of all things data-related, as well as for her wicked sense of humour. And last, but certainly not least, to my family, lifelines through this project. Without your love and encouragement, I'd never have dared to even begin this journey. Over the period that I wrote this dissertation, I also married my best friend and gave birth to my son, a man and a boy who, together, light up my life. My cup runneth over. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv List of Figures viii List of Tables ix Chapter I. Neighbourhoods and Homicide 1 1.1 Why Neighbourhoods? 4 1.2 Defining Neighbourhoods 5 1.3 Urban Space in Canada and the U.S.: Similarities and Differences 6 1.3.1 Structural Similarities between Canadian and American Cities 8 1.3.2 Structural Differences between Canadian and American Cities 12 1.4 The Scope of This Study 21 Chapter II. Neighbourhoods and Violent Crime in Toronto 24 2.1 The Social Geography of Neighbourhoods in Toronto 24 2.1.1 Poverty by Postal Code: Neighbourhoods and Poverty in Toronto 26 2.2 Trends in the Social and Spatial Distribution of Homicide in Toronto: What We Know 31 2.3 Media Commentaries Over Lethal Violence in Toronto: Implications for this Dissertation 33 Chapter III. Explaining the Spatial Distribution of Homicide 42 3.1 Theoretical Overview 42 3.1.1 Social Disorganization Theory 43 3.1.2 Subcultural Perspectives 48 3.1.3 Strain Perspectives 53 3.1.4 The Routine Activity Perspective 57 3.2 Theoretical Implications: Summary 60 3.3 Disaggregating Homicide by Type 64 Chapter IV. Data Sources and Description 69 4.1 Defining Neighbourhoods 69 4.2 Data Sources and Data Collection 71 4.2.1 The Dependent Variable: Homicide 71 4.2.2 The Independent Variable: Neighbourhood Characteristics 74 4.3 Data Preparation 77 4.4 Data Description 79 4.4.1 Characteristics of Homicide in Toronto, 1988-2003 79 4.4.2 Characteristics of Neighbourhoods in Toronto 80 4.4.3 Bivariate Associations Among Demographic, Economic and Housing Variables in Toronto's Neighbourhoods 81 4.4.4 Bivariate Associations between Neighbourhood Characteristics and Homicide in Toronto's Neighbourhoods 82 4.5 Analytic Techniques 83 4.5.1 Regression Analyses 83 4.5.2 Spatial Autocorrelation 84 Chapter V. Homicide in TorontoNeighbourhoods, 1988-2003 92 v 5.1 Research on the Social Ecology of Lethal Violence 92 5.1.1 Socioeconomic Characteristics 93 5.1.2 Demographic Characteristics 101 5.1.3 Housing Characteristics 111 5.2 The Spatial Distribution of Total Homicide Counts in Toronto's Neighbourhoods, 1988-2003 113 5.3 Principle Components Analysis 114 5.4 Neighbourhood Correlates of Total Homicide Counts in Toronto: Multivariate Analyses 116 5.5 Toronto Neighbourhoods and Homicide: Illustrations of the Multivariate Results 120 5.6 Toronto Neighbourhoods and Homicide: Exceptions to the Multivariate Results 126 5.7 Concluding Remarks 128 Chapter VI. Disaggregated Homicide Types in Toronto's Neighbourhoods, 1988-2003 135 6.1 Relationships Among Types of Homicide in Toronto 135 6.2 The Social Ecology of Black Homicide Victimization 137 6.2.1 Black Homicides in Toronto, 1988-2003: Sample Cases and Descriptive Statistics 142 6.2.2 Characteristics of Homicides Involving Black Victims in Toronto's Neighbourhoods 144 6.2.3 The Spatial Distribution of Black Homicide Victimization 146 6.2.4 Bivariate Associations Between Neighbourhood Characteristics and Black Homicide 147 6.2.5 Neighbourhood Correlates of Black Homicide Victimization in Toronto: Multivariate Analyses 148 6.3 The Social Ecology of Homicide Victimization Among Males Aged 15-34 151 6.3.1 Culture, Masculinity and Lethal Violence Among Young Males 151 6.3.2 Drug Markets, Gangs and the Killing of Young Males 153 6.3.3 Structural Explanations of Youth Homicide: Weakened Informal Controls 154 6.3.4 Homicides Involving Males 15-34 in Toronto: Sample Cases 157 6.3.5 The Spatial Distribution of Homicides Involving Young Males (15-34) in Toronto 158 6.3.6 Characteristics of Homicides Involving Young Males (15-34) in Toronto, 1988-2003 158 6.3.7 Bivariate Associations Between Neighbourhood Characteristics and Homicide Among Young Males 160 6.3.8 Neighbourhood Correlates of Lethal Violence Among Young Males in Toronto: Multivariate Analyses 161 6.4 The Social Ecology of Gun Homicide in Toronto 163 6.4.1 Gun Homicides in Toronto, 1988-2003: Sample Cases 168 6.4.2 The Spatial Distribution of Gun