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CRIME and VIOLENCE in CHICAGO a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage

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CRIME and VIOLENCE in CHICAGO a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage CRIME AND VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage Tim van den Bergh - Master Thesis Human Geography Radboud University, 2018 i Crime and Violence in Chicago: a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage Tim van den Bergh Student number: 4554817 Radboud University Nijmegen Master Thesis Human Geography Master Specialization: ‘Conflicts, Territories and Identities’ Supervisor: dr. O.T Kramsch Nijmegen, 2018 ii ABSTRACT Tim van den Bergh: Crime and Violence in Chicago: a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage Engaged with the socio-historical making of space, this thesis frames the contentious debate on violence in Chicago by illustrating how a set of urban processes have interacted to maintain a geography of racialized structural disadvantage. Within this geography, both favorable and unfavorable social conditions are unequally dispersed throughout the city, thereby impacting neighborhoods and communities differently. The theoretical underpinning of space as a social construct provides agency to particular institutions that are responsible for the ‘making’ of urban space in Chicago. With the use of a qualitative research approach, this thesis emphasizes the voices of people who can speak about the etiology of crime and violence from personal experience. Furthermore, this thesis provides a critique of social disorganization and broken windows theory, proposing that these popular criminologies have advanced a problematic normative production of space and impeded effective crime policy and community-police relations. Key words: space, disadvantage, race, crime & violence, Chicago (Under the direction of dr. Olivier Kramsch) iii Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 § 1.1 Studying crime and violence in Chicago .................................................................... 1 § 1.2 Research objective .................................................................................................... 2 § 1.3 Research questions ................................................................................................... 3 § 1.4 Relevance ................................................................................................................. 3 § 1.4.1 Scientific relevance .................................................................................................................... 3 § 1.4.2 Societal relevance ...................................................................................................................... 5 § 1.5 Structure .................................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2 - Theoretical Framework .................................................................................. 8 § 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8 § 2.2 The spatial turn: conceptions of space and place ..................................................... 9 § 2.3 The ghetto as a heterotopia of deviation ................................................................ 10 § 2.5 Critiquing criminologies: social disorganization and broken windows .................. 13 § 2.5.1 Social disorganization ............................................................................................................ 14 § 2.5.2 Broken windows ......................................................................................................................15 § 2.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 3 - Methods .......................................................................................................... 17 § 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 18 § 3.2 Critical discourse analysis ..................................................................................... 18 § 3.3 Interviews & participatory observation ................................................................. 20 § 3.4 Location / locale / sense of place ........................................................................... 22 § 3.5 Data analysis & coding ........................................................................................... 23 § 3.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 24 Chapter 4 – Historical Context: Early Processes of Ghettoization ................................ 25 § 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 26 § 4.2 United States ghetto formations ............................................................................ 26 iv § 4.2.1 Emergent ghettos: 1880-1910 .................................................................................................27 § 4.2.2 The Great Migration .............................................................................................................. 28 § 4.3 Chicago’s ghetto origins ......................................................................................... 30 § 4.3.1 Chicago’s first ghetto ............................................................................................................. 30 § 4.3.2 Chicago’s second ghetto ........................................................................................................ 32 § 4.4 Housing policy ....................................................................................................... 33 § 4.4.1 National housing policy ..........................................................................................................33 § 4.4.2 Chicago housing policy ..........................................................................................................35 § 4.5 Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 37 Chapter 5 - The Political Economy of Disadvantage ...................................................... 38 § 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 38 § 5.2 Urban deserts of disinvestment: sketching a visual............................................... 39 § 5.3 Ramifications of segregation ................................................................................. 42 § 5.3.1 Segregation & concentrated poverty ..................................................................................... 42 § 5.3.2 Segregation & crime/violence ............................................................................................... 44 § 5.4 Toward a geography of opportunity ...................................................................... 47 § 5.4.1 Access to education ................................................................................................................ 48 § 5.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 50 Chapter 6 – Community Aspects: Housing, Families and Gangs ................................... 52 § 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 52 § 6.2 Housing & displacement ........................................................................................ 53 § 6.2.1 Residential mobility, white flight & gentrification ................................................................ 53 § 6.2.2 Public housing demolition ...................................................................................................... 54 § 6.3 Family Structure: a geography of broken families ................................................. 56 § 6.3.1 Families & mass incarceration ............................................................................................... 57 § 6.3.2 Teenage pregnancy ................................................................................................................. 59 § 6.3.3 Family dynamics & processes of socialization ...................................................................... 60 § 6.4 Changing gang culture ........................................................................................... 61 § 6.4.1 Gang formation ....................................................................................................................... 62 § 6.4.2 Gangs as community extensions............................................................................................ 63 v § 6.4.3 Gang fragmentation ............................................................................................................... 64 § 6.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 65 Chapter 7 - Social Disorganization and Broken Windows Theory: a Context for Community-Police Relations ............................................................................................ 67 § 7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 67 § 7.2 Community – police relations ...............................................................................
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