Citation

Drake G, Wheeler AP, Kim DY, Phillips SW, Mendolera K. J. Exp. Criminol. 2023; 19(2): 513–530.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11292-021-09497-4

PMID

35069057

PMCID

PMC8761096

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This paper examines the extent to which hotspots of shooting violence changed following the emergence of COVID-19.

METHODS: This analysis uses Andresen's Spatial Point Pattern test on 1500 by 1500 foot grid cells, correcting for multiple comparisons, on a 10-year sample of geocoded shooting data from Buffalo New York.

RESULTS: This work finds zero micro-grid cells are not statistically different from pre to post COVID stay at home orders and instead that the observed rise in shootings in the sample appears to be a consistent proportional increase across the city.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide law enforcement with useful information about how to respond to the recent rise in shooting violence, but additional work is needed to better understand what, among a number of competing theories, is driving the increase.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11292-021-09497-4.

Language: en

Keywords

Spatial analysis; COVID-19; Gun violence; Hot spots; Shootings