This study investigated changes in the geographic
concentration of drug crimes in Cleveland from 1990 to 2001. The main
objectives of the study were: (1) to identify neighborhoods in which
drug crimes were concentrated and neighborhoods where persons arrested
for drug crimes resided, (2) to describe changes in concentrations of
drug offending over time, and (3) to explain changes in patterns of
drug offending in relation to changes in the social and physical
structure of neighborhoods. The study looked at both the locations of
drug incidents and where drug offenders lived in order to explore
factors that bring residents from one neighborhood into other
neighborhoods to engage in drug-related activities.
This study used data collected for the 224 census
tracts in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1990 decennial census for the years
1990 to 1997 and 1999 to 2001. All of the data other than the United
States Census data and the drug crime data are available on-line from
the Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change's community database,
Cleveland Area Network for Data and Organizing (CAN DO). Data on drug
crimes for 1990 to 1997 and 1999 to 2001 were obtained from Cleveland
Police Department (CPD) arrest records. These records provided the
address of the incident and the residential address of the person
arrested. These addresses were geocoded into their 1990 census tracts,
with a match rate of over 95 percent, to produce counts of the number
of drug trafficking and possession incidents occurring within each
tract in each year and the number of arrestees for drug trafficking
and possession living in each tract. (Users should note that no
geocoded data are included in this dataset.) In 1998 the CPD changed
the way that drug crimes were recorded, and the accuracy with which
types of drug crimes were reported was significantly reduced. As a
result, while data on the total number of drug incidents in census
tracts were available for the entire length of the study, data on
whether these incidents involved drug trafficking or possession were
only available for 1990 to 1997. CPD arrest records for non-drug
crimes and Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court data were used to produce
count and rate data on non-drug crimes for each census tract. Data on
the social characteristics and housing conditions of each census tract
were gathered from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses. Migration into and out
of each tract between 1990 and 2000 was estimated using 1990 and 2000
Census population counts and Ohio Department of Health vital
statistics data on births and deaths from 1990 to 2000. Data on the
number of schools in each census tract were obtained from the
Cleveland Municipal School District. Several sources of data were used
to develop measures of the physical characteristics of areas. These
included the Cuyahoga County Auditor's parcel-level data (from 1990 to
2000) on land-use patterns, characteristics of dwellings, tax
delinquencies, and assessed value, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure
Act data (for 1992 to 2001) on home purchase loans and home
improvement loans.
inap.
City of Cleveland's 1990 census tracts.
Census tracts by year
Administrative records data were obtained from the
Cleveland Police Department, Cleveland Municipal School District,
Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court, Cuyahoga County Auditor's Office, and
the Ohio Department of Health. Data were also obtained from the United
States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
administrative records data
census/enumeration data
survey data
Variables include 1990 census tract number, year,
the City of Cleveland Statistical Planning Area that each census tract
belonged to, counts and rates of violent crimes, robberies, robberies
with firearms, burglaries committed by adults in each census tract in
each year, robberies and violent crimes committed by juveniles in each
census tract in each year, number of drug trafficking and possession
incidents committed by City of Cleveland residents and by suburbanites
in each census tract in the years 1990 to 1997, number of residents of
each census tract for the years 1990 to 1997 arrested for drug
trafficking or possession, the total number of drug trafficking and
possession incidents committed in each census tract for every year of
the study, the total number of census tract residents arrested for
either drug trafficking or possession for every year of the study, the
number of residential, commercial, industrial, and vacant parcels in
each census tract and the number of non-vacant parcels that were tax
delinquent for 1990 to 1997, 1999, and 2000, the number of home
purchase and improvement applications that were made and approved in
each census tract in 1992 to 1997 and 1999 to 2001, the number of
elementary, middle, magnet, and high schools in each census tract in
each year, net migration for each census tract for each year, and 1990
and 2000 United States Census data on population, racial makeup,
number of people under 18 and over 65, home ownership, median income,
and the percent of householders who recently moved into the housing
unit in selected years.
Not applicable.
None.