Amie L. Nielsen

Segmented Assimilation, Local Context and Determinants of Drug Violence in Miami and San Diego: Does Ethnicity and Immigration Matter?

Does the ethnic and immigrant composition of a community and existence of immigrant enclaves or barrios influence community level drug violence? This study explores the relationship between these and other factors in Miami and San Diego census tracts. We employ data about the distribution of Cubans, Central Americans, Haitians, Mexicans and Southeast Asians, controlling for social and economic influences of drug versus non-drug violence. We also analyze the impact of various waves of immigration and immigrant communities to understand the circumstances under which drug violence occurs or is limited at the census tract level. The findings lend some support to the positive and negative aspects of Portes and Rumbauts (2001) segmented assimilation hypothesis in Miami and San Diego neighborhoods. The strength of this conclusion varies and is contingent upon ethnic composition, new versus old immigration, and the all-encompassing effects of economic deprivation

Reassessing the alcohol-violence linkage: Results from a multiethnic city

This article examines the relationship between alcohol availability and nonlethal violence at the census-tract level in Miami, a multiethnic city with high levels of disadvantage and immigration. The effects of alcohol (total outlet rate) are considered from the perspectives of social disorganization and routine activities theories. Nonlethal violence is the average annual rates of robbery, aggravated assault, and total violence (combined aggravated assault and robbery). The analyses include corrections for spatial autocorrelation. The results show that alcohol availability has strong positive effects on rates of nonlethal violence and that the percentage of recent immigrants is also a significant positive predictor.

ALCOHOL, ETHNICITY, AND VIOLENCE: The Role of Alcohol Availability for Latino and Black Aggravated Assaults and Robberies

This article is one of the first to assess the impact of alcohol availability, an important but understudied neighborhood element, and other social disorganization measures for Latino and black aggravated assault and robbery victimizations. Using data from Miami, Florida, for 1996 and 1997, we find that although most predictors have similar effects on the outcomes for both groups, higher alcohol availability rates are associated with more Latino but not black victims. To explain this finding, we relate the criminogenic influence of alcohol to contextual features of Latino and black neighborhoods, thereby integrating qualitative observations and quantitative data. Higher concentrations of recent immigrants are also related to fewer black assault victims, more Latino assault victims, but not to robberies for either group.

The Role of Immigration for Violent Deaths

This article examines the role of community-level factors, including percentage immigrant, for Latino- and Black-specific homicides and suicides in Miami, Florida. Using medical examiner data for 1985-1995 violent deaths and 1990 Census data, this article examines the contexts under which ethnic-specific lethal violence occurs at the census tract level. The results indicate that immigrants are not disrupting communities or undermining social integration. Overall, the article illustrates the importance of considering immigration for understanding race- and ethnic-specific lethal violence as well as the utility of examining the community contexts in which both homicide and suicide tend to occur.

Firearm Use, Injury, and Lethality in Assaultive Violence An Examination of Ethnic Differences

This article extends the study of race and ethnicity and violence by examining ethnic differences in firearm use, injury, and lethality in assaultive violence (homicide and aggravated assault) in the multiethnic city of Miami. Specifically, the article compares Latinos relative to non-Latino Blacks and non-Latino Whites. Controlling for the effects of other victim, offender, and incident characteristics, logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses indicate that firearm use has large and similar effects on event lethality for Latino and non-Latino Black offenders but no significant effect for non-Latino Whites. However, Latino, Black, and White attackers are equally likely to use a gun in violent encounters. The authors discuss the implications of these ethnic patterns in terms of prevailing conceptions of firearm violence.

Reconsidering the Marielito Legacy: Race/Ethnicity, Nativity, and Homicide Motives*

This article investigates how race/ethnicity is associated with specific types of violent crime such as killings between intimates, robbery homicide, or drug-related killings. We extend the study of the role of race and ethnicity for violence by examining five ethnic/immigrant groups, including the Mariel Cubans-a group singled out by many as particularly drug-crime-prone. Copyright (c) 2002 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Predicting Retention in a Therapeutic Community for Incarcerated Substance Abusers

ABSTRACT In this paper, factors associated with retention in CREST, a therapeutic community for incarcerated substance abusers, are explored. Few studies have simultaneously examined different types of potential predictors that research has identified as important for retention. We do so here in an effort to clarify factors associated with retention. Retention is measured both in terms of program completion and days in treatment. The results indicate that only one predictor-frequent marijuana use prior to incarceration-is associated with completion status and days in treatment. Other factors, such as demographic variables, criminal history, psychological status, prior treatment, and legal pressure are significant predictors in some, but not all, models. Overall, more research on treatment retention is needed.

Media Exposure and Attitudes Toward Drug Addiction Spending, 1975–2004

In this article we examine the relationships between media exposure (television and newspaper) and drug addiction spending attitudes. Theory and research suggest the critical role of media for shaping views and influencing public opinion. However, no studies have considered medias impact for individual-level drug-related attitudes. We examine this using General Social Survey and other data from 1975 to 2004. Results from logistic regression analyses indicate that greater frequency of television viewing and of newspaper reading are associated with higher likelihoods of saying too little money is spent to address addiction. These findings are robust even when accounting for other factors.

Nationality, Immigrant Groups, and Arrest: Examining the Diversity of Arrestees for Urban Violent Crime

We seek to help move the criminological literature beyond studying racial dichotomies and crime by assessing individual-level relationships between immigration/race/ ethnicity and violence. We examine whether immigration status predicts likelihood of arrest for robbery relative to aggravated assault, violence types that differ in seriousness, motive, and other ways. Immigrant status is examined relative to the native-born and then is disaggregated by country of origin. Using data from Miami, logistic regression results indicate that net of controls, immigrants overall and almost all groups identified are less likely than natives to be arrested for robbery. Race/ethnic differences are also found.

Relationship Violence and Frequency of Intoxication Among Low-Income Urban Women

Using data from the Welfare, Children, and Families project (1999), a probability sample of 2,280 low-income women with children living in low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, we examine the effects of relationship violence before age 18 and in the past year on frequency of adult intoxication. Results obtained from a series of ordered logistic regression models suggest that sexual coercion before age 18 and minor and severe physical assault in the past year are independently associated with greater frequency of intoxication, net of a range of sociodemographic controls. The studys limitations are noted.