The Spatial Distribution and Social Context of Homicide in Toronto’s Neighborhoods

• Author: Sara K. Thompson,Rosemary Gartner
• DOI: 10.1177/0022427813487352
• Date: 01 February 2014
• Published date: 01 February 2014
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Spatial

Distribution and

Social Context of

Homicide in

Toronto’s

Neighborhoods

Sara K. Thompson

1

and Rosemary Gartner

2

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the social ecology of homicide in Toronto, Canada.

Method: Using both ordinary least squares regression and negative binomial

models, we analyze the structural correlates of 965 homicides occurring in

140 neighborhoods in Toronto between 1988 and 2003. Results: Similar to

research in U.S. cities, Toronto neighborhoods with higher levels of eco-

nomic disadvantage, higher proportions of young and Black residents, and

greater residential instability have higher homicide rates. In contrast to U.S.

studies, Toronto neighborhoods with higher proportions of residents who

are recent imm igrants also h ave higher hom icide rates. I n multivariat e

models, only two of these characteristics—economic disadvantage and the

proportion of residents aged 15 to 24—are significantly associated with

homicide in Toronto’s neighborhoods. Despite low levels of both lethal

1

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

2

Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Sara K. Thompson, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Ryerson University, 350

Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada.

Email: skthompson@ryerson.ca

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2014, Vol 51(1) 88-118

ªThe Author(s) 2013

Reprints and permission:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/0022427813487352

jrcd.sagepub.com

violence and spatial inequality in Toronto, the correlates of homicide in its

neighborhoods are similar in some respects to those in U.S. cities.

Conclusion: Our findings lend support to the notion of invariance in some

ecological covariates of homicide but also highlight the need to be cautious

about generalizing from U.S.-based research on the relationship between

immigration and homicide.

Keywords

homicide, neighborhoods and crime, spatial analysis, comparative

criminology

It is fitting that Chicago, the birthplace of theory and research on the social

ecology of crime, has been the site of more studies of how neighborhood

context shapes homicide and other crimes than any other city in the world

(e.g., Block and Block 1992; Browning, Feinberg, and Dietz 2004; Bursik

and Grasmick 1993; Sampson 2012; Shaw 1929; Zimmerman and Messner

2011). In the last few years, ‘‘neighborhood effects’’ research on homicide

has been extended to other American cities, such as New York, St. Louis,

Columbus, Miami, and San Diego (Hannon 2005; Kubrin 2003; Lee, Mar-

tinez, and Rosenfeld 2001; Martinez, Stowell, and Cancino 2008; Peterson,

Krivo, and Harris 2000). The findings from this research are remarkably

consistent across regions of the country, cities of different sizes, and levels

of homicide: Urban neighborhoods in the United States characterized by

high levels of economic disadvantage, racial isolation and inequality, and

single-parent families and that border on neighborhoods with high levels

of violent crime have higher homicide rates (Kirk and Laub 2010; Messner

and Zimmerman 2012; Peterson and Krivo 2010).

How well findings from this research on neighborhood context and

homicide, or violent crime in general, generalize to cities outside the United

States is a question that has been raised only relatively recently. Most nota-

bly, Sampson (2006:52) expressed concern ‘‘that most of our knowledge

has been gained from U.S. cities.’’ Sampson and Wikstro¨m (2008) subse-

quently responded to this concern in a study comparing neighborhood

correlates of violent victimization in Stockholm and Chicago. They found

strong similarities in the social structural characteristics of neighborhoods

associated with violence in ‘‘two cities with vastly different makeup and

history’’ (p. 117). Other research on the community correlates of violent

offending and victimization outside the United States has also yielded

Thompson and Gartner 89