Visualizing Exposure of Children to Violent Crime in Washington, D.C.

Brent D. Mast
Economic Systems Inc.

Tricia Ruiz
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the official positions or policies of the Office of Policy Development and Research, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or the U.S. Government.

Families with children consider crime, especially violent crime, an important factor in choosing where to live (Mast, 2009; Sanbonmatsu et al., 2011; Wilson and Mast, 2013). Several studies have found that violent crime exposure can have negative consequences across multiple dimensions, such as chronic physical conditions, developmental disorders, and mental health (American Public Health Association, 2018; Baryani et al., 2021; Jackson, Posick, and Vaughn, 2019; Lorenc et al., 2012). Other conditions include reduced child activity (Kneeshaw-Price et al., 2015), increased stress levels (Mayne et al., 2018), decreased academic achievement (Miliam, Furr-Holden, and Leaf, 2010), and increased probability of physical and mental health problems in adulthood (Mayne et al., 2018).