Date of Graduation
5-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Sociology (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Sociology and Criminology
Advisor/Mentor
Casey T. Harris
Committee Member
Alexia Angton
Second Committee Member
Michael D. Niño
Keywords
Crime; Criminology; Geospatial; Narcotics; School
Abstract
In the last two decades, violence and death stemming from drug activity has become a concern to communities across the country. Increasingly, policymakers and law enforcement agencies have sought to understand where drug activity is located, including in and around schools, and why some places are more susceptible to drug problems than others. The current study explores two related questions: (1) How do drug crimes spatially pattern around schools? and, in turn, (2) What are the neighborhood-level predictors of the concentration of drug crime? Focusing on Little Rock, Arkansas, I examine the spatial distribution of drug offenses and overdoses within and across neighborhoods, as well as how drug offenses and overdoses cluster nearby to schools. Findings suggest that a substantial proportion of drug-related behaviors occur nearby to schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the neighborhood level, drug offenses and overdoses are mainly linked to disadvantage, whereas mobility appears to be the better predictor of drug offenses that occur in direct proximity to a school. Implications for prior research, as well as practitioners interested in drug crime prevention and control, are discussed.
Citation
Neeley, J. (2024). The Kids Aren’t Alright: Examining the Spatial Concentration of Drug Crime Near Schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/5244