Comparing and Contrasting Articles about Criminal Justice

Complete Citation 

Hoffman, E. E., Mair, T. T., Hunter, B. A., Prince, D. M., & Tebes, J. K. (2018). Neighborhood sexual violence moderates women's perceived safety in urban neighborhoods.  Journal of Community Psychology ,  46 (1), 79-94. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21917 

Huebner, B. M., Martin, K., Moule Jr, R. K., Pyrooz, D., & Decker, S. H. (2016). Dangerous places: Gang members and neighborhood levels of gun assault.  Justice Quarterly ,  33 (5), 836-862. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2014.984751 

Description of the Articles 

The article, “Neighborhood sexual violence moderates women's perceived safety in urban neighborhoods” by Hoffman et al. (Article 1) examines the relationship between neighborhood safety and perceived violence. The authors have, however, placed control for neighborhood assets that influence relationship that exists between violence and safety such as informal social control, neighborhood walking environment, trust amongst neighbors, as well as the quality of the neighborhood (Hoffman et al., 2018). The researchers examined the relationship that exists between safety and violence in the neighborhood based on gender and other specific factors that affect women including sexual violence to establish whether past tactics that are used in the assessment of neighborhood safety fail to consider gender-sensitive perceptions that important for determining safety. The study utilizes hierarchical regression to investigate the link that exists amid neighborhood safety perceptions and gender violence (Hoffmann et al., 2018). The study was conducted in a high-crime neighborhood in the United States. The sample used was predominantly black. A control group was also used for race and other factors in the neighborhood that influence safety perceptions. The researchers then analyzed four types of violence in the neighborhood that included sexual violence, gang fight, fight with weapon, against neighborhood safety. The analysis was aimed at examining if gender moderates the relationships. A total of 343 participants were included in the study. Data was collected through interview methods in nine neighborhoods (Hoffman et al., 2018). The intercept interviews occurred over an extended period of two years. The measures included perceived safety and violence, control approaches for neighborhood, and demographics. The findings revealed that males and females harbor varying perceptions of safety and violence in the neighborhood. However, perceptions of sexual violence were moderated by gender. The perception of women of sexual violence in the neighborhood influenced perceptions of safety. Last, gender failed to moderate perceptions of safety for other forms of violence. 

In the other article, “Dangerous places: Gang members and neighborhood levels of gun assault” by Huebner et al. (article 2) investigates how gang memberships impact on cases of gun assault. The researchers also examined the linkage between gun violence and the impact of gang membership on the society. The researcher documented the impact gangs in communities on violence by focusing on gun assault. The researchers utilized qualitative studies, specifically cross-sectional research studies. They reviewed data retrieved from the United States 2000 census in St Louis to determine the effects of membership in gangs on the rates of gun assault (Huebner et al., 2016). The study results indicate those neighborhoods that have high levels of gang membership have increased rates of gun assaults. The high rates of increased membership in gangs in neighborhood contribute to negative consequences on the neighborhood communities because the gun assaults spill out to those communities. 

What the Two Articles Have in Common 

The two articles have various aspects that they share in common. Both articles are peer-reviewed and follow the general format of abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, conclusion, and references. The abstract provide the overall summary of all the information contained in the articles and the introduction part provides the problem and conducts a brief literature review that helps in putting the audience into context of the problem. The introduction identifies gaps that are in the study and states the objective of the research. In article 1, the researchers’ examine perceived safety from the perspective of commonly assessed neighborhood conditions. In article 2, the researchers examine the impact of enhanced membership in gangs on varied gun assault cases in the neighborhood. The method section documents the research format that was used to conduct the study. Both articles utilized qualitative research methods to collect the data for analyses. The collected data is then analyzed in the research section, before the results are discussed and a conclusion is provided at the end. 

The two articles are all about violence in the neighborhoods. Article one investigates perceived neighborhood safety based on factors that include trust and social cohesion among neighbors, neighborhood walking environment, neighborhood aesthetic quality, and informal social control (Hoffman et al., 2018). The article also investigates perceptions of safety and violence in the neighborhood based on gender. There are instances when men may consider the neighborhood as safe when women do not consider it as such. In most instances women are more vulnerable than men in neighborhoods that have violence. Men may consider it a safe place based on their masculinity and societal expectations. Women, on the other, consider neighborhood safety or violence based on the context of gender as some salient forms of violence may be specific to women such as sexual violence. 

Article two also investigates aspects of neighborhood violence. The researchers concentrated on investigating spatial distribution and the impact of residential gang membership. Gang membership and size influences the rate of criminal occurrences in an area (Huebner et al., 2016). In this case, the researchers concentrated on investigating the impact of gang membership on rates of gun assault. The researchers also investigated the impact on communities that have gang membership in the surrounding community. The investigation reveals that areas that have highest level of gang membership have the highest levels of gun assaults. A high level of gang membership in an area is thus correlated with an increased number of gun assaults. Communities that reside in areas that are surrounded by high levels of gang membership are also prone to increased cases of violence because the members of the gangs cross over to the communities to assault people. 

The two articles share a commonality because they investigate effects of violence on neighborhood safety. Article one investigates perceptions of neighborhood safety and violence. When there is violence, men and women perceive safety and violence differently. Neighborhood safety and violence to women is considered based on the probability of sexual violence taking place (Hoffman et al., 2018). Therefore, unsafe neighborhoods are not just considered violent from the aspect of assault by women as it goes further to concerns of probability of occurrence of sexual violence. Article two also investigates neighborhood violence but the researchers concentrate on the spatial distribution and levels of gang membership in relation to the occurrence of gun violence (Huebner et al., 2016). They established that communities that have high levels of gang membership experience high cases of gun assault. Besides, communities that are surrounded by neighborhoods that have high gang levels are likely to be affected by increased cases of gun assaults. The two articles are, thus, similar because they are investigating how neighborhoods are affected by instances of violence, although one talks about perception and the other one concentrates on spatial distribution of gangs. 

How the Two Articles are Different 

The two articles are varied in terms of the topics of violence that they investigate. Article one investigates perceptions of safety and violence based on sexual violence. It provides that women perceive neighborhood safety and violence differently from men because increased cases of assault in the neighborhood also increase the rates of sexual violence against women (Hoffman et al., 2018). Therefore, there are times when men may consider the neighborhood safe but the women consider it violent based on their exposure to sexual violence. Article two focuses on gang distribution and membership as well as it relation to increased cases of gun assaults in the community. The researchers provide that high levels of gang membership have an increased effect in the number of gun assaults in a community. Increased cases of gang membership in neighboring communities also affect the communities that are close to them but do not have high level of gang membership (Huebner et al., 2016). The most affected communities are one that do not have a gang with a territory. Gangs have borders that limit their areas of operation. Absence of gang membership in a particular community exposes them to gun assaults from gang members of the neighboring communities. 

The researchers in the two articles used different methods to conduct their research. In article one, data is collected from individuals through intercepted interviews in nine neighborhoods. The interviews were conducted for a period of two years. A total of 21 people were involved in collecting research data through the interviews. Interviews were completed within a time of eight to ten minutes. The interviewees were compensated at the end of the interview by being given fare for transport. The researchers in article one, thus, collected primary data from the field. In article two, data was obtained from census tract of St. Louis to help in providing information on the impact of gang membership on levels of gun assault. The data was retrieved from the United States census that was done in 2000 (Huebner et al., 2016). The information got from the data was used to measure neighborhood structural conditions. By using police data, the researchers were able to obtain information on residential gang membership, illegal gun seizures, as well as gun assaults. The data was analyzed to provide information for the research. The second article thus utilized secondary data obtained from government records. 

The articles differ in terms of the analytic techniques that are used for analysis of data. In article one, analysis is done through conducting a regression analysis to establish significant correlations among all the variables except gender and race. A descriptive analysis is also done to establish significant priori gender differences with regards to safety and violence. In the second article, Poisson model was considered appropriate for the analysis of research data. Negative binomial model was also used as an extension of the Poisson model. The articles, thus, have differences that make them unique. 

References 

Hoffman, E. E., Mair, T. T., Hunter, B. A., Prince, D. M., & Tebes, J. K. (2018). Neighborhood sexual violence moderates women's perceived safety in urban neighborhoods.  Journal of Community Psychology ,  46 (1), 79-94. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21917 

Huebner, B. M., Martin, K., Moule Jr, R. K., Pyrooz, D., & Decker, S. H. (2016). Dangerous places: Gang members and neighborhood levels of gun assault.  Justice Quarterly ,  33 (5), 836-862. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2014.984751