Congratulations to Tyler Mierzwa on successfully defending his MA thesis

Congratulations to Tyler Mierzwa for successfully defending his MA thesis titled "Do Bars Radiate Crime? A Study of Houston, Texas".

Abstract

Crime concentrates at a tiny fraction of places called hot spots. An emerging phenomenon called crime radiation suggests some places, such as hot spots, are problematic not only for its own place users, but for other places nearby. That is, some places can elevate the risk of crime at nearby places. This study tests for crime radiation using a sample of fifteen Houston bars from 2021 to 2023. I run a set of four negative binomial regressions on each bar to determine the bar’s influence on both its inside crime and its outside crime. I identify two radiators in the sample. Further sensitivity analyses reveal that closely clustered bars influence patterns of crime radiation. The decisions of place managers likely play a role in creating crime opportunities for crime radiation. Both policy implications (e.g. problem-oriented approaches) and research implications (e.g. improved methods to test for crime radiation) are discussed.