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Abstract


Using GIS and the American Community Survey in Understanding Youth Violence
Track: Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
Author(s): Jessica Renae Schueler, Jane Leslie McCall Garb, Colleen Diane Flannery, Amy K. Pasini, Richard B. Doneit, Richard B. Wait

We describe a police-medical collaboration to better understand youth violence in Springfield, Massachusetts. We combined police data on violent incidents involving youths with spatial data and sociodemographic data from the American Community Survey in a GIS. We examined the geographic distribution of incidents and identified police sectors at increased risk for youth violence. Seventy percent (70%) of all incidents occurred in the offender's home sector. Regression analysis identified race and several economic indicators of the home sector as significantly related to volume of incidents. We will demonstrate how this approach can be applied to improve the design of intervention programs and to plan resource utilization in preventing youth violence.

Jessica Renae Schueler
Baystate Medical Center
759 Chestnut Street
Rm 3613
Springfield, MA 01199
USA

Phone: 413-794-4678
Fax: 413-794-0124
E-mail: Jessica.Schueler@bhs.org