Objective

This study seeks to better understand the relationship between neighborhood disability concentration and police calls for assault with a deadly weapon. Is this relationship the result of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, or does disability act independently of other ecological characteristics associated with high crime rates?

Methods

The authors combine Census and other neighborhoodlevel data from Washington, DC to test a one-level random intercept hierarchical multiple regression model using Census tracts as a grouping variable. Disability concentration is measured by the percent of disabled residents living in a block group. Concentrated disadvantage is a composite measure including percent households below poverty line, percent families on public assistance, percent African American, percent female-headed households with children, and percent unemployed. Assault with a deadly weapon is a rate per 1,000 of police calls for assault in 2005–2006.

Results

The effect of disability concentration is partially mediated by other ecological factors, but remains a significant predictor of neighborhood rates of reported assault. Each one-unit increase in percent disabled increased police calls for assault by 0.14 %.

Conclusions

The results of the analyses suggest that although concentrated disadvantage does affect the relationship between disability concentration and crime, it exerts an independent effect on neighborhood rates of assault with a deadly weapon.