DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06235.v1
title: Drugs and Crime in Public Housing, 1986-1989: Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Washington, DC
title: Version 1

description: This study investigates rates of serious crime for selected
 public housing developments in Washington, DC, Phoenix, Arizona, and
 Los Angeles, California, for the years 1986 to 1989. Offense rates in
 housing developments were compared to rates in nearby areas of private
 housing as well as to city-wide rates. In addition, the extent of law
 enforcement activity in housing developments as represented by arrests
 was considered and compared to arrest levels in other areas. This
 process allowed both intra-city and inter-city comparisons to be
 made. Variables cover study site, origin of data, year of event,
 offense codes, and location of event. Los Angeles files also include
police division.
description: Despite the amount of effort devoted to drug
 control in public housing, relatively little attention has been
 devoted to the problem of quantifying public housing crime. This
 study was conducted to provide an objective, quantitative description
 of the extent and nature of crime in selected public housing
 developments, an area where sound, empirical information was found to
 be lacking. Three major questions guided the research: (1) How can
 crime problems in housing developments be quantified using existing
 records? (2) What are the rates of drug and other serious offenses in
 conventional public housing developments, and how do these rates
 compare to rates city-wide and in urban neighborhoods close to public
 housing? (3) What is the extent of variation in offense rates among
individual housing developments?
description: The investigators selected three major United
 States cities and, within those cities, selected 29 housing
 developments. City police departments were asked to provide
 incident-based, machine-readable files of all offenses and arrests
 that occurred between 1986 and 1989 for the areas in the study.
 Demographic information for the housing developments and nearby
 neighborhoods was developed from Census Bureau data and from information on
 resident populations collected by housing authorities in compliance
 with regulations of the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
description: Variables cover study site, origin of data, year of
 event, offense codes, and location of event. Los Angeles files also
include police division.
description: Three cities were selected, and within them 29 housing
projects were selected.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Los Angeles Arrest Data
DS2: Los Angeles Offense Data
DS3: Phoenix Arrest Data
DS4: Phoenix Offense Data
DS5: Washington, DC, Arrest Data
DS6: Washington, DC, Offense Data
DS7: Codebook for All Parts and User Guide
DS8: SAS Data Definition Statements for Los Angeles Arrest Data
DS9: SAS Data Definition Statements for Los Angeles Offense Data
DS10: SAS Data Definition Statements for Phoenix Arrest Data
DS11: SAS Data Definition Statements for Phoenix Offense Data
DS12: SAS Data Definition Statements for Washington, DC, Arrest Data
DS13: SAS Data Definition Statements for Washington, DC, Offense Data
description: Public housing projects in Los Angeles, California,
Phoenix, Arizona, and Washington, DC.
description: The final report (see Related Publications) is based
 on analyses of data from five cities: Lexington, Kentucky,
 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, Phoenix, Arizona, and Los
 Angeles, California. However, this data collection contains data files
 for only Washington, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. For further information
regarding Lexington and Philadelphia, refer to the final report.