Economic Stress and Domestic Violence

• Date: 01 December 2015
• DOI: 10.1177/1525107115623938
• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Economic Stress and

Domestic Violence:

Examining the Impact

of Mortgage Foreclosures

on Incidents Reported to

the Police

April Pattavina

1,2

, Kelly M. Socia

2

, and Malgorzata J. Zuber

2

Abstract

The empirical research on the relationship between mortgage foreclosures and crime

continues to evolve, and, with few exceptions, the results generally show that there is a

relationship between community measures of mortgage foreclosure and crime levels.

Lacking in this literature are studies that considered how foreclosures may impact domestic

violence. For many families, home mortgages have significant meaning as an indicator of

financial stability and represent a long-term commitment to a community through home

ownership and the accompanying social and financial investments. Families who are

threatened with the loss of their home to foreclosure experience a decrease in their

financial status, and the stress triggered by the crisis may place them at greater risk for family

violence. In this study, we examine the relationship between mortgage foreclosures and

family violence. Using longitudinal panel data for Massachusetts cities and towns, our study

focuses specifically on the years 2005–2009, the period that includes the Great Recession.

We find that after controlling for other community indicators of economic health, higher

levels of monthly mortgage foreclosures lead to higher levels of domestic violence.

Keywords

domestic violence, mortgage foreclosures, NIBRS, housing

1

Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA

2

University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA

Corresponding Author:

April Pattavina, Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA.

Email: April.Pattavina@uml.edu

Justice Research and Policy

2015, Vol. 16(2) 147-164

ªThe Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/1525107115623938

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Introduction

The rise in home mortgage foreclosures during the mid-2000s was a harbinger of the

‘‘Great Recession’’ that hit the United States from 2007 to 2009. According to Bocian,

Li, and Ernst (2010), during this time period, an estimated 2.5 million residential fore-

closures were completed, many of which were owner-occupied housing. This trend

alarmed the public and policy makers, because it signified that many households

across the country were dealing with financial crises. Journalistic accounts of the fore-

closure crisis began calling attention to the negative impact on local communities

(Mummolo & Brubakerr, 2008; Johnson, 2008) and families (Armour, 2008).

Concerns about the effects of residential displacement on local communities left in

the wake of property foreclosures stimulated social scientists’ interest in the relation-

ship between foreclosures and criminal behavior. Over the past several years, a grow-

ing number of studies have examined the relationship between foreclosures and crime.

According to a review by Wolff, Cochran, and Baumer (2014), these studies theorize

that foreclosures affect crime because they accelerate indicators of social disorganiza-

tion and disorder that lead to crime. Foreclosures affect community crime by reducing

the capacity for informal social control both socially, due to rapid residential changes,

and physically, by creating crime opportunities that accompany growing signs of dis-

order when properties are abandoned.

The empirical research on the relationship between mortgage foreclosures and

crime continues to evolve, and, with few exceptions, the results generally show that

there is a relationship between community measures of mortgage foreclosure and

crime levels. Foreclosures have been found to affect crime at varying levels of geogra-

phy, ranging from the census block face level (Ellen, Lacoe, & Sharygin, 2011) to cen-

sus tract and city (Baumer, Wolff, & Arnio, 2012; Lersch, Sellers, & Cromwell, 2014),

and county levels (Goodstein & Lee, 2010, but see Kirk & Hyra, 2012). However,

there has been some inconsistency across studies in the types of crime affected by

foreclosures. For example, Baumer, Wolff, and Arnio (2012) found foreclosures are

related to burglary rates at the census tract level but not to robbery rates, while Arnio,

Baumer, and Wolff (2012) found foreclosures affect burglary and robbery at the

county level. Goodstein and Lee (2010) found a relationship between foreclosures and

burglary, larceny, and aggravated assault. Other studies combine crimes into violent

and/or property crimes, with mixed findings. Ellen, Lacoe, and Sharygin (2011) and

Immergluck and Smith (2006a) found an effect of foreclosures on violent crime but

not on property crime. Yet Baumer et al. (2012) found a significant positive effect

on both violent and property crime. Still others report that any effects on property and

violent crime are likely to be short term (Katz, Wallace, & Hedberg, 2013).

Although the impact of foreclosures on some specific types of violent crime has

been investigated, only one published study to date has considered how they may

affect levels of domestic violence. Analyzing Census Tract data in Tampa for 2008,

Lersch, Sellers, and Cromwell (2014) found that foreclosure rates were positively

associatedwith domestic disputecalls for police service,even after controllingfor neigh-

borhooddemographic characteristics. While causality was unable to be determined due

148 Justice Research and Policy 16(2)