Riots as Disasters: An Exploratory Case Study of Selected Aspects of the Civil Disturbance in Washington, D.C., April, 1968
Riots as Disasters: An Exploratory Case Study of Selected Aspects of the Civil Disturbance in Washington, D.C., April, 1968
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Date
1973
Authors
Sedlack, Richard Guy
Advisor
Janes, Robert W.
Citation
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Abstract
Following some of the more recent sociological literature
which has been critical of research into riots, the topic of
this thesis addresses itself to a hitherto neglected aspect of
riots. It is an initial exploratory effort into the ecological
dimensions of official statistics, utilizing the relevant
temporal and spatial conceptualizations suggested by the sociological
disaster literature.
The data sources were the offense and arrest records of the
District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department and the fire
data on the Daily Communication Log of the District of Columbia
Fire Department. The offense and fire data were treated as
partial indicators of the situation reported to the police with
the arrest data as partial indicators of the response made by
the police to the riot. The data were conceptually organized
along three dimensions. First, the type of criminal violation
was classified into six general categories: crimes against
persons, crimes against property, traffic violations, crimes
without victims, crimes related to fires, and miscellaneous
crimes. For a more detailed analysis, the total crimes falling into any one of these general categories were subclassified into
more detailed subcategories within each general category. Second,
the spatial dimension was trichotomized into three locational
specifications: the riot areas of major destruction, the corridor
areas of sporadic destruction, and the non-riot areas of minimal
or no riot destruction. Third, the temporal dimension was
dichotomized into the total riot period of organized response and a
representative normal time period, so that the latter could serve
as a benchmark against which to compare the former.
Two specific questions were posited: what degree of difference
existed between the defined riot period and the representative
normal time period in terms of crimes and spatial location as
reflected by the official statistics and what kinds of differences
were evident. Three specific hypotheses were evaluated: (1) the
offense and fire data hypothesis which suggested that the degree
of association between the offenses reported and the selected
riot-normal time period varies directly with the degree of concentrated
riot damage, (2) the arrest data hypothesis which
suggested that the degree of association between the police's
response and the selected riot-normal time period varies directly
with the degree of concentrated riot damage, and (3) the comparative
hypothesis which suggested that the degree of association between
the police's response and the selected riot-normal time period is
less than the degree of association between the offenses reported
and the selected riot-normal time period .
Utilizing the lambda proportionate reduction in error statistic,
the data were inconclusive relative to the first hypothesis and generally failed to support the second and third hypotheses,
although the magnitude of the data indicated that there were some
differences. The nature of the differences indicated that the
incidence of fires and burglary violations increased substantially,
while larceny, false fire alarm reports, and the degree of
violence in crimes against persons decreased in the reported
offenses during the riot. The police response was dominated
by arrests for disorderly conduct and curfew violations with
burglary arrests ranking second. While there were decreases
in larceny and traffic arrests, the latter were still substantially
represented during the riot and no meaningful numbers of arson
arrests were made. Further, it was concluded that substantial
numbers of offenses reported and arrests made occurred in the
non-riot areas.
It was concluded that the disaster literature provided
relevant conceptualizations for the analysis of the spatial and
temporal dimensions of riots, that further analysis of these
dimensions is warranted, and that other dimensions of the disaster
approach appear to be useful when applied to riots.