Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T22:33:12.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Rise of Criminal Background Screening in Rental Housing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

David Thacher
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article investigates the recent rise of criminal background screening in rental housing as a case study of the diffusion of actuarial social control. That case study suggests that actuarial techniques have spread more widely through the crime prevention field than sociolegal scholars have recognized, replacing disciplinary efforts to diagnose and alter the behavior of individuals with actuarial efforts to identify and isolate high-risk groups. This actuarial strategy has proliferated not only because new discourses encouraged it but also because new institutional structures facilitated it. That conclusion illustrates the importance of structural (rather than cultural) factors in shaping society's response to crime—particularly the growing availability of the collective institutional capacity that actuarial social control requires.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , Winter 2008 , pp. 5 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2008 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Belair, Robert, Woodard, Paul, and Johnson, Eric. 2001. Use and Management of Criminal History Record Information. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
Bradley, Katharine, Oliver, Michael, Richardson, Noel, and Slayter, Elspeth. 2001. No Place Like Home: Housing and the Ex-Prisoner. Boston: Community Resources for Justice.Google Scholar
Buerger, Michael, and Mazerrolle, Lorraine Green. 1998. Third-Party Policing: A Theoretical Analysis of an Emerging Trend. Justice Quarterly 15:301–27.Google Scholar
Bureau of Justice Assistance. 1995. Keeping Drug Activity Out of Rental Property: Establishing Landlord Training Programs. Bureau of Justice Assistance Fact Sheet, November.Google Scholar
Campbell, John. 2000. Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: A Police Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Assistance.Google Scholar
Carner, David. 2002. Criminal Background Checks: In the Post–9/11 World, Diligence Against Domestic Crimes Must Remain a Priority. Undated white paper in possession of the author.Google Scholar
Carner, David. The Evolution of Criminal Records Screening. http://www.realpage.com/company/news/articles/09evolution.asp (accessed August 2, 2006).Google Scholar
Clarke, Ronald V., and Bichler-Robertson, Gisela. 1998. Place Managers, Slumlords, and Crime in Low-Rent Apartment Buildings. Security Journal 11:11–19.Google Scholar
Damaska, Mirjan. 1968. Adverse Legal Consequences of Conviction and Their Removal: A Comparative Study. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, & Police Science 59:347–60.Google Scholar
Delgado, Jeanne. 2005. Security Survey Shows Current Premise-Protection Practices of M-H Owners. Multi-Housing News, June 9.Google Scholar
Eck, John, and Wartell, Julie. 1999. Reducing Crime and Drug Dealing by Improving Place Management. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, Research Preview.Google Scholar
Ericson, Richard, and Haggerty, Kevin. 1997. Policing the Risk Society. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Feeley, Malcolm, and Simon, Jonathan. 1992. The New Penology. Criminology 30:449–74.Google Scholar
Feeley, Malcolm, and Simon, Jonathan. 1994. Actuarial Justice: The Emerging New Criminal Law. In The Future of Criminology, ed. Nelkin, David, 173–201. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Felson, Richard, and Clarke, Ronald. 1997. The Ethics of Situational Crime Prevention. In Rational Choice and Situational Crime Prevention, ed. Newman, Graeme, Clarke, Ronald, and Shoham, S. Giora, 197–217. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Freeman, Roland. 1976. The Encyclopedia of Apartment Management. Washington, DC: National Apartment Association.Google Scholar
Garland, David. 1996. The Limits of the Sovereign State: Strategies of Crime Control in Contemporary Society. British Journal of Criminology 36:445–71.Google Scholar
Garland, David. 2001. The Culture of Control. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Glesner, Barbara. 1992. Landlords as Cops: Tort, Nuisance and Forfeiture Standards Imposing Liability on Landlords for Crime on the Premises. Case Western Reserve Law Review 43:679–792.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Daniel, and Rusdorf, Richard. 1986. The Landlord's Handbook. Chicago: Dearborn Financial Publishing.Google Scholar
Guidara, Robyn. Resident Screening for a Changing World. Presentation materials from the National Apartment Association and First American Registry, Inc. Unpublished documents in the possession of the author.Google Scholar
Haggerty, Kevin. 2003. From Risk to Precaution: The Rationalities of Personal Crime Prevention. In Risk and Morality, ed. Ericson, Richard and Doyle, Aaron, 193–214. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Harkrider, Raymond. 1927. Tort Liability of a Landlord. Michigan Law Review 26 (3): 260–89, 26 (4): 383–411, 26 (5): 531–544 (published in three installments).Google Scholar
Harris, Jay. 2002. FBI Building Security Advisory. National Multi-Housing Council/National Apartment Association memo, May 16.Google Scholar
Holzer, Harry, Raphael, Stephen, and Stoll, Michael. 2006. Employers in the Boom: How Did the Hiring of Unskilled Workers Change in the 1990s? The Review of Economics and Statistics 88:283–99.Google Scholar
Jackson, John, Jones, Charlotte, and Balsmeier, Philip. 1986. An Empirical Analysis of Tenant Selection under Federal Rent Supplement Programs. Journal of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association 14:72–90 (currently Real Estate Economics).Google Scholar
Johnson, Terry. 1995. Governmentality and the Institutionalization of Expertise, In Health Professions and the State in Europe, ed. Johnson, Terry, Larkin, Gerry, and Saks, Mike, 7–24. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Johnston, Jason Scott, and Waldfogel, Joel. 2002. Does Repeat Play Elicit Cooperation? Evidence from Federal Civil Litigation. Journal of Legal Studies 31:39–60.Google Scholar
Krohn, Roger, Fleming, Berkeley, and Manzer, Marilyn. 1977. The Other Economy: The Internal Logic of Rental Housing. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, Ltd.Google Scholar
Las Vegas Metro Police Department. History of the Crime-Free Multi-housing Program. http://www.lvmpd.com/Programs/Crime-Free_Multi-Housing/History_of_the_Program.html (accessed August 2, 2006).Google Scholar
Makarewicz, Julie. 2002. Tougher Action Urged on Apartment Owners. The Grand Rapids Press, September 6, D-3.Google Scholar
Mauer, Mark, and Chesney-Lind, Meda. 2002. Invisible Punishment New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Mazerolle, Lorraine Green, Roehl, Janice, and Kadleck, Colleen 1998. Controlling Social Disorder Using Civil Remedies. Vol. 9 of Crime Prevention Studies, 141–59.Google Scholar
Metreaux, Stephen, and Culhane, Dennis. 2004. Homeless Shelter Use and Reincarceration Following Prison Release. Criminology and Public Policy 3:139–60.Google Scholar
O'Malley, Pat. 1992. Risk, Power, and Crime Prevention. Economy & Society 21:252–75.Google Scholar
O'Malley, Pat. 2004. Risk, Uncertainty, and Government. London: Glasshouse Press.Google Scholar
Olivares, Kathleen, Burton, Velmer, and Cullen, Francis. 1996. The Collateral Consequences of a Felony Conviction: A National Study of State Legal Codes 10 Years Later. Federal Probation 60:10–17.Google Scholar
Pager, Devah. 2003. The Mark of a Criminal Record. American Journal of Sociology 108:937–75.Google Scholar
Priest, George. 1990. The New Legal Structure of Risk Control. Daedalus 119:207–27.Google Scholar
Riddle, Clarine. 1999. Criminal Background Checks and Sex Offender Registries. Memo to interested National Multi-Housing Council, American Seniors Housing Association, and National Apartment Association members, February 5.Google Scholar
Robinson, Leigh. 1986/1997. Landlording: A Handy Manual for Scrupulous Landlords and Landladies Who Do It Themselves. 4th and 8th eds. El Cerrito, CA: ExPress.Google Scholar
Rose, Nikolas. 1996. The Death of the Social? Refiguring the Territory of Government. Economy and Society 25:327–56.Google Scholar
Rose, Nikolas. 2000. Government and Control. British Journal of Criminology 40:321–39.Google Scholar
Rose, Nikolas. 2002. At Risk of Madness. In Embracing Risk, ed. Baker, Tom and Simon, Jonathan, 209–37. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, Dennis. 1988. Community Crime Prevention: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature. Justice Quarterly 5:323–95.Google Scholar
Rubenstein, Gwen, and Mukamal, Debbie. 2002. Welfare and Housing: Denial of Benefits to Drug Offenders. In Invisible Punishment, ed. Mauer, Mark and Chesney-Lind, Meda. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Ruggles, Steven, Sobek, Matthew, Alexander, Trent, Fitch, Catherine A., Goeken, Ronald, Hall, Patricia Kelly, King, Miriam, and Ronnander, Chad. 2004. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 3.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Population Center [producer and distributor]. Also available at http://www.ipums.org (accessed August 2, 2006).Google Scholar
Shearing, Clifford, and Stenning, Philip. 1981. Modern Private Security: Its Growth and Implications. Crime and Justice 3:193–245.Google Scholar
Silver, Eric, and Miller, Lisa. 2002. A Cautionary Note on the Use of Actuarial Risk Assessment Tools for Social Control. Crime and Delinquency 48:138–61.Google Scholar
Simon, Harvey. 2001. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the One Neighborhood for Everyone Collaborative, Case 1606.0, a publication of The Case Program of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. http://www.ksgcase.harvard.edu/casetitle.asp?caseNo=1606.0 (accessed August 29, 2007).Google Scholar
Simon, Jonathan. 1987. The Emergence of a Risk Society. Socialist Review 95:61–89.Google Scholar
Simon, Jonathan. 1988. The Ideological Effects of Actuarial Practice. Law & Society Review 22:771–800.Google Scholar
Simon, Jonathan. 2005. Reversal of Fortune: The Resurgence of Individual Risk Assessment in Criminal Justice. Annual Review of Law and Social Science 1:397–421.Google Scholar
Smith, Julie. 2003. Testimony on Behalf of the National Multi-Housing Council/National Apartment Association Joint Legislative Program, June 4, before the House Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, in Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Stauffer, Robert. 1987. Tenant Blacklisting: Tenant Screening Services and the Right to Privacy. Harvard Journal on Legislation 24:239–313.Google Scholar
Stegman, Michael. 1970. The Myth of the Slumlord. Journal of the American Institute of Architects 27:45–49.Google Scholar
Sternlieb, George. 1966. The Tenement Landlord. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Thacher, David. 2000. National COPS Evaluation Organizational Change Case Study: Riverside, California. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Travis, Jeremy. 2002. But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1995. Property Owners and Managers Survey: Multi Family Tables. http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poms.html (accessed August 2, 2006).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 2002. Activities Related to Real Estate: 2002, report # EC02-531-06. Economic Census: Industry Series Reports, Real Estate and Rental and Leasing. Washington, DC: USGPO.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 2004. Current Housing Reports: American Housing Survey for the United States, various years. Washington, DC: USGPO.Google Scholar
Von, Hirsch, Andrew, and Wasik, Martin. 1997. Civil Disqualifications Attending Conviction: A Suggested Conceptual Framework. Cambridge Law Journal 56:599–626.Google Scholar
Washington, Wayne. 2002. FBI Warns of Possible Bomb Plot: U.S. Apartment Buildings Cited in Al Qaeda Threat. Boston Globe, May 19, A-1.Google Scholar
Williams, E. J. 1996. Enforcing Social Responsibility and the Expanding Domain of the Police: Notes from the Portland Experience. Crime & Delinquency 42:309–23.Google Scholar
Zehring, Timothy. June 1994. The Mesa Crime-Free Multi-Housing Program. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 8–12.Google Scholar

Case Cited

Kline v. 1500 Massachusetts Avenue Apartment Corp., 439 F.2d 477 (D.C. Cir. 1970).Google Scholar

Statutes Cited

Arizona Rev. Stat. sec. 12-991 (2006).Google Scholar
Arkansas Code Ann., sec. 14-54-1705 (2003).Google Scholar
720 Illinois Comp. Stat. sec. 5/37-1 (2006).Google Scholar
Minnesota Stat. sec. 617.80-81 (2000).Google Scholar
Nevada Rev. Stat. sec. 202.450 (2004).Google Scholar
(A full list of public nuisance statutes is available from the author.)Google Scholar