Racial and Ethnic Change and Serious Student Offending in Los Angeles Middle and High Schools

Abstract

This study assesses the relationship between racial and ethnic change and change in crime in a different type of community—schools. Like neighborhoods, some schools are perpetually more dangerous than others despite turnover. This study investigates how change in the racial and ethnic composition of school enrollment plays a role in school-level crime. In addition, because schools are located within a community context, this study incorporates spatial context and includes information on crime and residential change in the neighborhood surrounding the school. Using a series of negative binomial regression models assessing the influence of changes in school-specific and local community factors on serious school offending (assaults, batteries, robberies, and property offenses that occurred on campus) over time, the findings reveal that that the relationship between school-level racial and ethnic change is moderated by the community-level changes, but that the relationship is specific to school type and contrary to theoretical expectation.