Hurricane Katrina Evacuees and Rising Crime in Houston
This paper examines the impact of Hurricane Katrina evacuee displacement on crime rates in Houston, Texas. Drawing on news reports and law enforcement data, it documents the sharp rise in homicides and violent crime in Houston following the arrival of a large displaced population from New Orleans. The paper then applies social disorganization theory to explain this increase, focusing on residential instability, economic disadvantage, cultural heterogeneity, and the psychological trauma experienced by evacuees. Together, these factors help explain why the rapid, large-scale relocation of a population with pre-existing social problems contributed to a significant and measurable surge in criminal activity in the receiving city.
- Introduction: Scope, purpose, and disaster overview
- Crime Increases in Houston Following Hurricane Katrina: Homicide data and law enforcement accounts
- Social Disorganization Theory: Definition and core components of the theory
- Applying the Theory to Houston's Evacuee Population: Theory applied to trauma, culture, and poverty
- Conclusion: Synthesis of all contributing crime factors
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its argument in concrete crime statistics from credible news sources, giving the theoretical discussion a factual foundation that makes the analysis persuasive.
- It connects a real-world event (Hurricane Katrina) to an established criminological framework (social disorganization theory), demonstrating how academic theory applies to contemporary social phenomena.
- The paper acknowledges multiple contributing factors — residential instability, cultural difference, economic status, and psychological trauma — rather than offering a single-cause explanation, which adds nuance to the argument.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper models effective use of a criminological framework as an explanatory lens. Rather than simply describing what happened, the author applies social disorganization theory systematically to each dimension of the Houston situation, showing how residential instability, poverty concentration, and ethnic heterogeneity each map onto the theory's core propositions. This technique — selecting a theory, defining it, and then applying its components to a specific case — is a standard and highly transferable skill in criminology and social science writing.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a clear problem-then-explanation structure. The opening section establishes the scope and purpose. The second section presents empirical evidence of rising crime in Houston using news reports and police data. The third section introduces and defines social disorganization theory. The fourth section applies the theory's components to the evacuee population. The conclusion synthesizes all contributing factors identified throughout the paper, reinforcing the central argument without introducing new material.
Introduction
Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster in American history. Although the storm itself was a destructive force, the social and political issues that arose in its wake are likely to go down in history as even more destructive. One of the most discussed social issues concerns the increased crime rates that occurred in cities that absorbed large numbers of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. The purpose of this discussion is to examine the impact of citizen displacement on cities such as Houston and San Antonio, Texas. In particular, the discussion focuses on the rising crime rate in Houston and the criminological theory that may explain why there has been such a significant increase in crime in the area.
Crime Increases in Houston Following Hurricane Katrina
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, more evacuees from New Orleans moved to Houston than to any other city in the country. The city of Houston was very welcoming to these newcomers. Although a large percentage of the people who moved to Houston from New Orleans were law-abiding citizens who sought to — and did — reestablish themselves there, many people with criminal backgrounds also moved into the area. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had one of the highest crime rates in the country. After the storm, many evacuees moved to Houston, and the crime problem that had once been contained in New Orleans became present in Houston as well.
According to an article in the Washington Post, the increase in crime was most evident in the southwest section of the city. The article explains that this section had always had problems with crime, but the influx of evacuees greatly increased the crime rate in the area (Moreno, 2006). From September 1, 2005 to February 2006, "evacuees are believed to have been involved in 26 slayings, or nearly 17% of all homicides. The cases, according to Houston police, involved 34 evacuees — 19 of them victims and 15 of them suspects" (Moreno, 2006, p. A03).
In August 2006, CBS News reported that the homicide rate in Houston had increased by 17.5% over the same period in 2005. It was also estimated that of the 232 homicides that occurred through July 25, approximately 21% involved a Hurricane Katrina evacuee as either a victim or a suspect (Houston Cops Link Crime to Katrina, 2006). Many law enforcement officials in Houston believed that a large percentage of the homicides resulted from rivalry between New Orleans gang members. Captain Dale Brown, who oversaw Houston's homicide division, explained: "New Orleans allowed a lot of these guys to stay on the street for whatever reason, or be picked up and released after 60 days. Texas law — I don't want to say it's tougher — but we take these offenses very seriously" (Houston Cops Link Crime to Katrina, 2006).
An increase in crime rates generally accompanies an increase in population. However, such increases are usually more gradual because most cities experience gradual population growth. After Hurricane Katrina, Houston's population grew by 10% in a matter of days rather than years (Houston Cops Link Crime to Katrina, 2006). This sudden growth placed significant strain on all city resources. As a result, law enforcement officials requested federal funding to hire additional police officers so that patrols in problem areas could be increased (Houston Cops Link Crime to Katrina, 2006). Many officials also acknowledged that a substantial portion of the crime was due in part to a lack of job training or a lack of willingness among some evacuees to find employment. In any case, there is a serious and documented correlation between the increase in crime in Houston and the significant number of people who relocated there following Hurricane Katrina.
Social Disorganization Theory
Several factors may explain why the increase in crime has been so pronounced in Houston. For the purposes of this discussion, the focus is on social disorganization theory, particularly as it relates to residential instability. According to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), social disorganization theory can be described as "an inability of community members to achieve shared values or to solve jointly experienced problems" (Bursik, 1988; Social Disorganization and Rural Communities, n.d.). The problem of social disorganization is typically most prevalent in urban areas, which are often the only places that newly arriving poor populations — such as evacuees — can afford to live. Previous studies have found that this theory is particularly relevant when there is significant residential instability combined with a population composed of different cultural backgrounds (Social Disorganization and Rural Communities, n.d.).
In addition to residential instability, economic status also plays a role in social disorganization theory. The theory holds that economic status as it relates to disorganization is determined by patterns of growth among urban populations (Social Disorganization and Rural Communities, n.d.). In some urban areas, such growth contributes to social, physical, and economic decline — particularly in neighborhoods surrounding the primary business district. As a result, these areas become available to the poor and to other groups moving into the city. "Areas with the lowest average socioeconomic status will also have the greatest residential instability and ethnic diversity, which in turn will create social disorganization" (Bursik and Grasmick, 1993, as cited in Social Disorganization and Rural Communities, n.d.). Consistent with this, many studies have found that urban neighborhoods with high rates of poverty also have greater rates of delinquency (Warner and Pierce, 1993; Social Disorganization and Rural Communities, n.d.).
Conclusion
This discussion examined the impact of citizen displacement on cities such as Houston and San Antonio, Texas, with particular focus on the rising violent crime rate in Houston and the theory that may explain the significant increase in criminal activity. We found that social disorganization theory provides a clear explanation for the increase in crime that occurred in Houston following Hurricane Katrina and the relocation of thousands of people to the city. The influx of new residents — many of them poor — caused an increase in crime because newly arriving migrants tend to settle in the cheapest housing available, which is typically located in areas already experiencing elevated crime rates. The theory also holds that cultural differences can contribute significantly to an increase in delinquent behavior. Overall, it is evident that residential instability, a rapid population increase, economic disadvantage, cultural differences, a pre-existing criminal element, and the trauma associated with the hurricane all contributed to the rise in crime rates in Houston following Hurricane Katrina.
References
Bursik, R. J., Jr., and Grasmick, H. G. (1993). Neighborhoods and Crime: The Dimensions of Effective Community Control. New York, NY: Lexington Books.
Houston Cops Link Crime to Katrina. (August 16, 2006). CBS News. Retrieved December 5, 2006, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/15/national/main1895797.shtml
Moreno, S. (2006, February 6). After welcoming evacuees, Houston handles spike in crime. Washington Post, p. A03.
Social Disorganization and Rural Communities. (n.d.). National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Retrieved December 5, 2006, from
Warner, B. D., and Pierce, G. L. (1993). Reexamining social disorganization theory using calls to the police as a measure of crime. Criminology, 31(4), 493–517.
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