Abstract
The journey to drug crime literature has found that, in cities, Black people travel shorter distances from their homes before being arrested relative to White people. Per race and rationality theory, the racialization of space shapes the decision-making processes of people arrested for drug offenses. Because residential segregation patterns and racialized social structures differ across levels of urbanization, this study uses negative binomial regression models to evaluate Black-White differences in journeys to crime for drug possessions, and the study assesses socioeconomic and opportunity characteristics of offense locations at the micro-level using drug arrest reports across the State of Delaware. We find that travel distances and predictors of offense locations differ across geographic areas (i.e., small cities, suburban areas, small towns, rural areas, and touristic rural areas). A place’s racial composition, concentrated disadvantage, and opportunity characteristics differently impact offense locations across geographic areas. Accordingly, in studying journeys to crime, researchers should consider the various ways that race shapes constructions of crime and place across the rural–urban continuum.
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Data Availability
Data were generated by a request to administrators of the Delaware Criminal Justice Information (DELJIS). Data are subject to third party restrictions.
Notes
Johnson et al.’s (2013) study conducted in the small city of Camden is a notable exception.
There is debate about how post-industrial changes to the economy have contributed to the diversification of suburban areas and how current processes of gentrification in urban areas increase the mobility of White people toward urban centers and might, eventually, change some of these legacy patterns (Parisi et al., 2019).
In line with past studies (e.g., Johnson et al., 2013), the study excludes residents of other states since their inclusions tend to heavily skew travel distances.
Focusing on specific drugs (e.g., opioids or marijuana) might find differing journeys to crime, specifically by racial groups (Sexton et al., 2005). Previous work in Delaware showed variation in what factors predicted opioid-related and other drug arrests for Black and White Delawareans in rural, urban, and suburban contexts (Donnelly et al., 2022). Distances to acquire drugs may also vary for heroin, cocaine, and marijuana (Johnson et al., 2013), which may also change in response to decriminalization and legalization shifts in marijuana policy within Delaware and the region. Marijuana possession became decriminalized in 2014 via SB 364 in Maryland (Curtis, 2014) and in 2015 by Delaware policymakers via HB 39 (Marijuana Policy Project, 2023).
We focus on Black/White differences in travel because over 90% of individuals arrested in Delaware are identified by law enforcement officials as either Black or White, an issue that has limited other studies of criminal processing disparities involving other racial or ethnic groups in the State (e.g., Donnelly, 2022). The gender variable was reported without missing data or identifications by law enforcement other than Male/Female in the DELJIS data.
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Wagner, J., Donnelly, E.A., Gray, A.C. et al. Race and Rationality Revisited: an Empirical Examination of Differential Travel Patterns to Acquire Drugs Across Geographic Contexts. Am J Crim Just 48, 1343–1371 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-023-09742-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-023-09742-8