February 2017: Analysis of Homicides and Risk Factors Influencing Violence in Chicago

This map was created by Joyce Percel and Mohamed Ali for GEO 441: GIS for Community Development in Fall Quarter, 2016. In 2014, an article by David Seal, et al. compiled a list of risk factors for violence in communities through focus group interviews of young adults. Joyce and Mohamed analyzed several of the societal risk factors identified by David Seal (poverty, lack of jobs, and lack of education) and compared it to homicide data in Chicago to determine if there was a correlation between these risk factors and violence. All data was collected from the City of Chicago Data Portal. The map on the left shows a hot spot analysis from a randomized sample of homicides between 2008 and 2012. The hot spot analysis identified high clustering of homicide instances and highlighted the corresponding community areas in red, whereas cold spots identified areas with low clustering and highlighted them in blue. The map on the right shows a combined average value for three risk factors: percentage of population living below the poverty level, percentage of unemployed population over the age of 18, and percentage of population over the age of 25 without a high school diploma. There is a noticeable swath of hot spots and higher risk factor values extending southeast from neighborhoods on the west side of the city. The results suggest correlation between the risk factors and homicides.https://via.library.depaul.edu/mom/1038/thumbnail.jp