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Understanding the progression of violent and nonviolent criminal activity remains a matter of theoretical debate. In the present study, the authors build on criminological theory and assess the extent to which the progression of violent and nonviolent criminal behaviors follows different trajectories. The authors rely on semiparametric mixture models to examine these comorbidities of offending in a longitudinal sample of delinquent adolescents. The results suggest that the trajectories of violent and nonviolent criminal offending follow similar paths over time and that membership in the chronic violent and nonviolent offender groups are associated with overlapping sets of risk factors. However, the results also indicate that at the individual level, membership in a particular nonviolent offending group does not share high concordance with membership in a particular violent offender group. These findings raise questions about the adequacy of general theories of crime progression and suggest the need to continue investigating behavioral theories that discriminate between different forms of offending. (Contains 3 figures, 8 tables, and 17 notes.)

This study reports results from an evaluation of the experimental Rio Hondo driving under the influence (DUI) court of Los Angeles County, California. Interviews and official record checks with 284 research participants who were randomly assigned to a DUI court or a traditional criminal court were assessed at baseline and at 24-month follow-up. The interviews assessed the impact of the DUI court on self-reported drunk driving behavior, the completion of treatment, time spent in jail, alcohol use, and stressful life events. Official record checks assessed the impact of the DUI court on subsequent arrests for driving under the influence and other drinking-related behaviors. Few differences on any outcomes were observed between participants in the experimental DUI court and those assigned to the traditional court. The results suggest that the DUI court model had little additional therapeutic or public safety benefit over the traditional court process. The implication of these findings for the popularity of specialized courts for treating social problems is discussed. (Contains 4 tables and 6 endnotes.)

We assess whether black-white disparities in commitments to prison or diversions to treatment for drug offenders in California can be explained by differences in the characteristics of criminal cases and whether case characteristics are weighed differently by race. We also examine whether the influence of case characteristics changed after California implemented a mandatory prison diversion program for eligible drug offenders. Our results show that black-white disparities in prison commitments are fully explained by criminal case characteristics, but a significant share of the differences in treatment diversions remains unexplained. The unexplained racial disparity in treatment diversions did not change after California implemented mandatory diversion for eligible drug offenders. These findings suggest that case characteristics play a larger role in explaining prison commitments for drug offenders than the discretion of prosecutors and judges. Diversion to treatment appears to be driven more by the discretion of court officials, and racial disparities remain prominent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study investigated the extent to which immigrant concentration is associated with reductions in neighborhood crime rates in the City of Los Angeles. Methods: A potential outcomes model using two-stage least squares regression was estimated, where immigrant concentration levels in 1990 were used as an instrumental variable to predict immigrant concentration levels in 2000. The instrumental variables design was used to reduce selection bias in estimating the effect of immigrant concentration on changes in official crime rates between 2000 and 2005 for census tracts in the City of Los Angeles, holding constant other demographic variables and area-level fixed effects. Non-parametric smoothers were also employed in a two-stage least squares regression model to control for the potential influence of heterogeneity in immigrant concentration on changes in crime rates. Results: The results indicate that greater predicted concentrations of immigrants in neighborhoods are linked to significant reductions in crime. The results are robust to a number of different model specifications. Conclusions: The findings challenge traditional ecological perspectives that link immigrant settlement to higher rates of crime. Immigration settlement patterns appear to be associated with reducing the social burden of crime. Study conclusions are limited by the potential for omitted variables that may bias the observed relationship between immigrant concentration and neighborhood crime rates, and the use of only official crime data which may under report crimes committed against immigrants. Understanding whether immigrant concentration is an important dynamic of changing neighborhood patterns of crime outside Los Angeles will require replication with data from other U.S. cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We investigated the extent to which racial/ethnic disparities in prison and diversion to drug treatment were explained by current arrest and criminal history characteristics among drug-involved offenders, and whether those disparities decreased after California's Proposition 36, which mandated first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders drug treatment instead of prison. Methods. We analyzed administrative data on approximately 170 000 drug-involved arrests in California between 1995 and 2005. We examined odds ratios from logistic regressions for prison and diversion across racial/ethnic groups before and after Proposition 36. Results. We found significant disparities in prison and diversion for Blacks and Hispanics relative to Whites. These disparities decreased after controlling for current arrest and criminal history characteristics for Blacks. Proposition 36 was also associated with a reduction in disparities, but more so for Hispanics than Blacks. Conclusions. Disparities in prison and diversion to drug treatment among drug-involved offenders affect hundreds of thousands of citizens and might reinforce imbalances in criminal justice and health outcomes. Our study indicated that standardized criminal justice policies that improved access to drug treatment might contribute to alleviating some share of these disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private actions to avoid and prevent criminal victimisation and assist public law enforcement are vital inputs into the crime-control process. One form of private action, the business improvement district (BID), appears particularly promising. A BID is a non-profit organisation created by property owners to provide local public goods, usually including public safety. Our analysis of 30 Los Angeles BIDs demonstrates that the social benefits of BID expenditures on security are a large multiple (about 20) of the private expenditures. Crime displacement appears minimal. Crime reduction in the BID areas has been accompanied by a reduction in arrests, suggesting further savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To examine whether business improvement districts (BID) contributed to greater than expected declines in the incidence of violent crimes in affected neighbourhoods. Method A Bayesian hierarchical model was used to assess the changes in the incidence of violent crimes between 1994 and 2005 and the implementation of 30 BID in Los Angeles neighbourhoods. Results The implementation of BID was associated with a 12% reduction in the incidence of robbery (95% posterior probability interval −2 to 24) and an 8% reduction in the total incidence of violent crimes (95% posterior probability interval −5 to 21). The strength of the effect of BID on robbery crimes varied by location. Conclusion These findings indicate that the implementation of BID can reduce the incidence of violent crimes likely to result in injury to individuals. The findings also indicate that the establishment of a BID by itself is not a panacea, and highlight the importance of targeting BID efforts to crime prevention interventions that reduce violence exposure associated with criminal behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Business improvement districts (BIDs) have been lauded and criticized for their special services provisions that putatively create community economic development environments in urban areas. Few studies have examined how specific BID functions operate within the larger context of community environments. This study describes BIDs in Los Angeles and examines whether their priorities align with underlying community conditions and economic development concerns. Relying on multiple sources of data, we find that there appears to be notable diversity in the budgets and expenditures of BIDs, some of which align with observed community conditions. BID operational priorities are associated with the environments in which they are situated. There is little evidence that BID priorities are universally focused on a single set of interests. The political economy of these organizations within their community context is critical to understanding their operations, appeal, and controversy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines an integrated model of selected importation and deprivation factors on inmate acts of violence and drug use in juvenile institutions in California. Indication that both importation and deprivation factors influence inmate violent misconduct; Suggestion of a model that integrates both importation and deprivation theories explaining inmate maladjustment.