A Theoretical Underpinning of Neighborhood Deterioration and the Onset of Long-Term Crime Problems From Foreclosures (Working Paper)

This paper proposes a theory of interaction between the social, economic and ecological settings that could produce long-term crime problems in neighborhoods that are suffering from concentrated foreclosures. It goes further and explores the possibility for accelerated neighborhood decline that may be difficult to suppress, and which may significantly shock the local economy. To do so, the authors draw on a wealth of research findings from sociology, economics, housing studies, and geography, to expand on a criminological base to make the case for their concern that concentrated foreclosures may ultimately create deviant places and severely impact the progress of the metropolitan areas within which they are set.