Proximity to gentrification and order maintenance policing: How the diffusion of urban renewal amplifies formal social control

Abstract

Prior studies find that neighbourhoods abutting gentrifying spaces are viewed as ideal for capital investments and thereby subjected to increased police attention. Yet the categorical operationalisation of gentrification in such work presents limitations, particularly given that it is a spatial process. This area of scholarship also warrants a theoretical explanation of the diffusion of urban redevelopment and disorder policing. We address these voids by integrating the literatures of urban studies and crime and deviance to theorise the linkage between nearby gentrification and disorder policing. Using negative binomial regression models to analyse three years of arrest records from the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department, we find that the occurrence of gentrification in nearby block groups is associated with increased order maintenance arrests in the average block group. This work demonstrates that the risk of disorder-related regulation extends beyond the bounds of high-value communities, further exposing socioeconomically marginalised groups to the risks of criminal justice contact.