Crime In Detroit Case Study

Previously home to about 2 million middle-class residents, Detroit now has 700,000 residents. As the world’s automotive capital in early 20th century, new workers, namely immigrants and African-Americans, were attracted to the industrial city and led to the formation of ethnic and racial enclaves, which also spurred racial, urban, and spatial segregation. The stock market crash in 1929 heavily affected manufacturing sectors in Detroit, followed by deindustrialization, suburbanization, and the gradual decline of the auto industry. State investment has only been developing the downtown inner core for the wealthy white elite since then, leaving about 1/3 of the city vacant.

Crime in Detroit has increased and decreased with changing demographics

since the industrial revolution. The white flight left the city to suffer from an inadequate tax base and unemployment, and since it didn’t have enough revenue to sustain itself, the city plunged. Filled with rage and disappointment, there were many race riots in the 1960s from which the city never really recovered. Deepening poverty meant an inability to hire more police officers, leading to the increase in unmonitored criminal activity. The city’s downtown inner core has a lower crime rate than the national and state averages, which serves as evidence for both racial and spatial segregation. Vacant buildings and homes became a hotspot for ongoing drug dealings and crime.