HyperRESEARCH is helping make the streets of Chicago a safer place by aiding researchers in understanding the relationships between housing, gangs, and homicide in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

From Vol 21, No 4 pp 435-456 (2007) issue of the "Urban Affairs Review" journal, John Hagedorn (University of Illinois, Chicago Great Cities Institute) and Brigid Rauch (University of Illinois, Chicago) present "Housing, Gangs, and Homicide - What We Can Learn from Chicago."

In their paper they write: "Recent declines in homicide in Chicago have been seen as similar to earlier declines in New York City and Los Angeles. Popular explanations that policing strategies largely explain variation in rates of violence have been skeptically greeted by criminologists. However, no plausible explanation for persisting high rates of homicide in some cities and very low rates in others has been credibly presented. One reason for this may be the narrowness of criminological investigations. Explanations for violence internationally have included human rights, housing, and economic development among other variables. This article presents data from a study on homicide in Chicago and supplements criminological thinking on homicide by adding insights from urban and globalization research."

The article can be accessed here.