Exploring the Neighborhood-Level Impact of Retail Marijuana Outlets on Crime in Washington State

Objectives Since 2012, the production, sale, and use of marijuana and its derivatives for recreational consumption have been legalized in 15 states and Washington, DC, but remain controversial nationwide. Critics argue that marijuana retail outlets attract criminal activity in surrounding areas and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of quantitative criminology 2023-06, Vol.39 (2), p.253-281
Main Authors: Thacker, John, Martin, Maggie Elliott, Cristy, Yvonne, Rabideau, Deirdre, Shively, Michael, Kling, Ryan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Censuses
Crime
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Law and Criminolgy
Licensing
Marijuana
Methodology of the Social Sciences
Neighborhoods
Original Paper
Property
Property offences
Quasi-experimental methods
Recreation
Retail stores
Sales
Social disorganization
Sociology
Statistics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objectives Since 2012, the production, sale, and use of marijuana and its derivatives for recreational consumption have been legalized in 15 states and Washington, DC, but remain controversial nationwide. Critics argue that marijuana retail outlets attract criminal activity in surrounding areas and promote social disorganization. This paper examines this issue by analyzing secondary data from Washington State, one of the first states to legalize the medical and recreational use of marijuana. Methods Using geocoded police incident reports as a proxy for criminal events, retail outlet licensing/sales data, and other contextual data, we use a difference-in-difference and other quasi-experimental techniques to model whether the opening of a recreational outlet affects crime in the surrounding neighborhoods, specifically in the cities of Seattle, Bellevue, and Tacoma. Results The analyses find modest but statistically significant increases in property crime in Census block groups containing new retail stores. Conclusions The findings from this study are consistent with some previous research that finds a link between marijuana outlets opening and an increase in neighborhood crime, but additional research is needed to further explore the association, for instance, in other states that have legalized recreational marijuana.
ISSN:0748-4518
1573-7799
DOI:10.1007/s10940-021-09534-5