Race and crime will be the topic of discussion as Lauren Krivo, a professor of sociology at Ohio State University, will speak at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 26 in 212 MacMillan Hall at Miami University in her lecture "Race, Residence and Crime: A Structure of Inequality." This speech is part of the department of sociology and gerontology's Sherry Corbett Memorial Lecture Series.
According to C. Lee Harrington, chair of Miami's department of sociology, Krivo will be looking at the relationship between race, geographic residence, and crime, as well as why different neighborhoods have different crime rates.
"(This is a) pressing, visible, societal issue," Krivo said.
Krivo said she feels that differences in crime rates are a consequence of how race structures social, residential, and economic opportunities.
The department of sociology and gerontology's Web site states that in her lecture, Krivo will be using data from the National Neighborhood Crime Study for 91 large urban areas, including all of the major cities in Ohio.
Using this data, Krivo will emphasize how it is critical to look at the structure of society in order to understand the differing rates of crime across residential areas.
Krivo is currently the associate director of the Criminal Justice Research Center at Ohio State University and has been studying the subject for over 15 years. The issue of race inequality and crime, in particular, is a major area of research for Krivo, and she has looked extensively into inequality and the influence of race and economic status on crime.
"She is a specialist in issues of race and crime, and seemed to be a perfect fit for the series," Harrington said.
Krivo said she hopes that from her lecture, people will come to understand the differences in crime across racial groups and communities.
"Those differences are not about the characteristics of individuals and their predispositions, but they are about the circumstances that groups are placed in," Krivo said. "Students should really be interested in and come to understand how inequitable this society really is along the lines of race and what implications that has for social problems."
According to Harrington, the purpose of the lecture is just general education and she believes the topic will appeal to many people around campus.
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Krivo said she believes that this topic concerns everyone.
"Everyone should be concerned about a society that is systematically inequitable," Krivo said.
Harrington said she is expecting a wide range of people to attend, including faculty members, undergraduate students, graduate students and even people from the community.
"We hope that people come away with the greater understanding of the relationship between race, neighborhoods and crime," Harrington said.
The Sherry Corbett Memorial Lecture Series is an annual lecture series in honor of Sherry Corbett, whose main interest was in criminology. Funded by the College of Arts and Sciences, the series celebrates the many diverse interests of Corbett, a former professor who died in 2002.
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