DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02352.v1
title: Crime Changes in Baltimore, 1970-1994
title: Version 1

description: These data were collected to examine the relationships among crime rates, residents' attitudes, physical deterioration, and neighborhood structure in selected urban Baltimore neighborhoods. The data collection provides both block- and individual-level neighborhood data for two time periods, 1981-1982 and 1994. The block-level files (Parts 1-6) include information about physical conditions, land use, people counts, and crime rates. Parts 1-3, the block assessment files, contain researchers' observations of street layout, traffic, housing type, and general upkeep of the neighborhoods. Part 1, Block Assessments, 1981 and 1994, contains the researchers' observations of sampled blocks in 1981, plus selected variables from Part 3 that correspond to items observed in 1981. Nonsampled blocks (in Part 2) are areas where block assessments were done, but no interviews were conducted. The "people counts" file (Part 4) is an actual count of people seen by the researchers on the sampled blocks in 1994. Variables for this file include the number, gender, and approximate age of the people seen and the types of activities they were engaged in during the assessment. Part 5, Land Use Inventory for Sampled Blocks, 1994, is composed of variables describing the types of buildings in the neighborhood and their physical condition. Part 6, Crime Rates and Census Data for All Baltimore Neighborhoods, 1970-1992, includes crime rates from the Baltimore Police Department for aggravated assault, burglary, homicide, larceny, auto theft, rape, and robbery for 1970-1992, and census information from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 United States Censuses on the composition of the housing units and the age, gender, race, education, employment, and income of residents. The individual-level files (Parts 7-9) contain data from interviews with neighborhood leaders, as well as telephone surveys of residents. Part 7, Interviews with Neighborhood Leaders, 1994, includes assessments of the level of involvement in the community by the organization to which the leader belongs and the types of activities sponsored by the organization. The 1982 and 1994 surveys of residents (Parts 8 and 9) asked respondents about different aspects of their neighborhoods, such as physical appearance, problems, and crime and safety issues, as well as the respondents' level of satisfaction with and involvement in their neighborhoods. Demographic information on respondents, such as household size, length of residence, marital status, income, gender, and race, is also provided in this file.
description: These data were collected to examine the relationships among crime rates, residents' attitudes, physical deterioration, and neighborhood structure in selected urban Baltimore neighborhoods. The original 1981-1982 study was designed to model neighborhood-level responses to disorder. The purpose of the 1994 study was to see (1) how residents' reactions to crime had changed between 1982 and 1994, and (2) if either neighborhood-perceived incivilities, or neighborhood-assessed incivilities, in 1982 helped predict changes in residents' reactions to crime between 1982 and 1994, after controlling for neighborhood structure and crime.
description: The block-level files contain information about crime rates, physical conditions, land use, and people counts. The crime rate data consist of yearly Part I index crimes obtained from the Baltimore Police Department for all of Baltimore's 277 ecologically-defined neighborhoods, as well as end-of-decade crime rates and percentiles. Census block characteristics from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 United States Censuses are also presented. The block environment assessments and land use inventories were conducted by researchers who were given specific criteria to use in describing the physical attributes of the homes and other buildings in the neighborhoods. The people counts were performed by researchers driving around the study blocks, counting the number of people they observed and categorizing them by age, gender, and activity. To minimize the subjectivity of such assessments, the block assessments, land use inventories, and people counts were conducted by pairs of raters who individually assessed the same blocks. Reliability measures and average ratings were then calculated. The individual-level files contain surveys of residents from 1982 and 1994, as well as interviews with neighborhood leaders from 1994. The interviews for 1982 were conducted by phone, unless the respondent could not be reached that way, and all of the 1994 interviews were administered using CATI (computer-aided telephone interviewing). The community leaders' interviews were conducted in person.
description: The block assessment files (Parts 1-3) contain researchers' observations of street layout, traffic, housing type, and general upkeep of the neighborhoods. Part 1, Block Assessments, 1981 and 1994, contains the researchers' observations of sampled blocks in 1981, plus selected variables from Part 3 that correspond to the items observed in 1981. Nonsampled blocks (in Part 2) are areas where block assessments were done, but no interviews were conducted. These nonsampled blocks had been assessed in 1981 and were located in the 36 neighborhoods sampled in 1981 but not in 1994. Two blocks from each of the 36 neighborhoods were sampled. The "people counts" file (Part 4) is an actual count of people seen by the researchers on the sampled blocks in 1994. Variables for this file include the number, gender, and approximate age of the people seen and the types of activities they were engaged in during the assessment. Part 5, Land Use Inventory for Sampled Blocks, 1994, is composed of variables describing the types of buildings in the neighborhood and their physical condition. Part 6, Crime Rates and Census Data for All Baltimore Neighborhoods, 1970-1992, includes crime rates from the Baltimore Police Department for aggravated assault, burglary, homicide, larceny, auto theft, rape, and robbery for 1970-1992, and census information for 1970, 1980, and 1990 on the composition of the housing units and the age, gender, race, education, employment, and income of city residents. Part 7, Interviews with Neighborhood Leaders, 1994, includes assessments of the level of involvement in the community by the organization to which the leader belonged and types of activities sponsored by the organization. The 1982 and 1994 surveys of residents (Parts 8 and 9) asked respondents about different aspects of their neighborhoods, such as physical appearance, problems, and crime and safety issues, as well as the respondents' level of satisfaction with and involvement in their neighborhoods. Demographic information on respondents, such as household size, length of residence, marital status, income, gender, and race, is also provided in this file.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Standardized missing values.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: Response Rates: The average response rate for 1982 was 87 percent. The response rate for 1994 was 76 percent.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: Block Assessments, 1981 and 1994 
 DS2: Block Assessments for Nonsampled Blocks, 1994 
 DS3: Block Assessments for Sampled Blocks, 1994 
 DS4: People Counts for Sampled Blocks, 1994 
 DS5: Land Use Inventory for Sampled Blocks, 1994 
 DS6: Crime Rates and Census Data for All Baltimore Neighborhoods, 1970-1992 
 DS7: Interviews with Neighborhood Leaders, 1994 
 DS8: Survey of Residents in 66 Neighborhoods, 1982 
 DS9: Survey of Residents in 30 Neighborhoods, 1994
description: The user guide, codebook, and data collection instruments are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided through the ICPSR Website on the Internet.
description: Urban Baltimore neighborhoods and their residents.
description: In 1981, 66 neighborhoods were randomly sampled from the 236 neighborhoods in Baltimore for block assessment. In 1982, households on these blocks were selected for the resident survey through multistage random sampling. In 1994, 30 neighborhoods from the 66 chosen in 1981 were selected using stratified sampling based on crime data and availability of 1981 block physical assessment data and residential telephone numbers. Households in 1994 were selected through a series of replicate samples until the minimum block quota was reached.