Urban Poverty After the Crime Drop

Posted by University of Pennsylvania on February 2, 2015

University of Pennsylvania Social Science and Policy Forum presents:

Patrick Sharkey,
Associate Professor of Sociology at New York University

University of Pennsylvania

College Hall, Room 205

Friday, February 27, 2015 – 12:00pm

GROWING UP IN HIGH-POVERTY NEIGHBORHOODS has severe consequences for child development. Sharkey argues that exposure to violent crime is a central reason for this, as indicated by several studies designed to identify the causal effect of exposure to specific incidents of violence on children’s cognitive functioning and academic performance. In this light, what does the two-decade long drop in violent crime in the U.S. mean to those growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods? Sharkey examines evidence showing where violence has declined and where it has not, and seeks in ongoing research to determine whether the crime decline has reduced childhood inequality in America and whether it has changed the meaning of urban poverty. For more, see https://www.sas.upenn.edu/sspf/event/2015/patrick-sharkey