pdf - Institute for Policy Research - Northwestern University

Law and Justice Studies
Latino neighborhoods, however, show
a significant dark cloud in this picture.
In predominately Spanish-speaking
areas, crime levels, social disorder, and
physical decay were substantially higher
in 2003 than 1994. Skogan cited the
continuous influx of new immigrants to
Latino neighborhoods as one source of
instability, and he concluded that the
city’s police must find new ways to cope
with the unique needs of this population.
As for now, Skogan noted, “The success of
CAPS depends on who you are and where
you live.”
Chicago’s Decline in Crime
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation recently asked Skogan to
investigate the reasons behind Chicago’s
continued crime decline, in contrast
to some other U.S. cities where the
trend has reversed to increasing crime
rates once again. Though a combination
of other factors have produced and
prolonged the decline in Chicago crime
for nearly two decades, Skogan points
to CAPS as the main cause of today’s
positive environment. His research on the
causes—and myths—of Chicago’s great
crime drop were published in the 2006
report “Reflections on Declining Crime in
Chicago.”
P. Reese
John Heinz stresses how a core set of conservative
lawyers has played an important role in
mobilizing the conservative coalition. Colleague
Ann Southworth looks on.
For more information on CAPS or Project
I-CLEAR, please visit IPR’s Web site at
www.northwestern.edu/ipr/publications/
policing.html.
Network Formation of Conservative Lawyers
Lawyers for conservative and libertarian
causes are active in organizing and
mobilizing interest groups within the
conservative coalition, and networks of
relationships among those lawyers help to
maintain and shape the coalition.
Using data gathered in interviews with
72 such lawyers, law professor John P.
Heinz, Owen L. Coon Professor of Law,
with Anthony Paik of the University
of Iowa and Ann Southworth of Case
Western Reserve University analyze the
characteristics of the conservative lawyers
and the structure of their networks.
Their findings suggest that the networks
are divided into segments or blocks
that are identified with particular
constituencies, but that a distinct set
of actors with an extensive range
of relationships serves to bridge the
constituencies. Measures of centrality
and brokerage confirm the structural
importance of these actors in the network,
and a search of references in news media
confirms their prominence or prestige.
This “core set” of actors occupies the
“structural hole” in the network that
separates the business constituency from
religious conservatives. Libertarians, who
are located near the core of the network,
also occupy an intermediate position.
Causal analysis of the formation of ties
within the network suggests that the
Federalist Society has played an important
role in bringing the lawyers together.
24