UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF ACCESS TO PUBLIC SAFETY The case of local governments in Santiago de Chile

Abstract

Abstract Despite historical violence and urban inequalities in Latin America, including Chile, studies on the spatial distribution of crime and related perceptions, based on empirical support, only emerged in the last decades. As the focus predominantly viewed crime through a legal deviance lens, quantitative studies in this field are still limited. To address this deficit, this doctoral dissertation focused on unpacking and measuring the distribution of public safety across Santiago considered from a multidimensional approach: victimisation, fear of crime, and, confidence in the police. The primary premise posits that public safety in Santiago, akin to education and healthcare services, exhibits inequality and spatial heterogeneity in its distribution. To investigate this assumption, a more granular examination was conducted, as national and regional surveys lacked the necessary depth. Using the first statistically representative Local Crime Survey in Chile at the municipal level, this thesis applied a set of analytical approaches, including spatial analysis, a multilevel approach guided by a random slope model, and cross-level interaction analysis. Key findings affirm significant variations in fear of crime and confidence in the police among municipalities. Structural factors, particularly municipal budgets, and poverty, emerged as significant determinants of these disparities. The results unveiled spatial clustering in Santiago's eastern region, marked by the lowest fear of crime and the highest confidence in the police, where greater economic resources at the household and local government levels are concentrated. While these results confirm studies showing the crucial role of social structures in shaping the experience and perception of public safety, this dissertation contributes to the field of Criminology by advancing our understanding of how public safety is distributed across municipal areas of Santiago. The empirical work in the thesis explores and measures the complex relationship between social structures and individual safety perceptions in a city characterised by spatial heterogeneity. Specifically, this research revealed that variables related to the perception of police services vary across municipal areas. Likewise, scholars should consider and test the mediating role of structural factors in the relationship of the individual-level variables. The results challenge the assumption of a uniform influence, such as social cohesion on police confidence, as it was demonstrated that poverty at the municipal level moderates this relationship. Consequently, assuming a policy promoting social cohesion will uniformly enhance police confidence across Santiago may be risky. Distinct strategies are necessary for affluent and disadvantaged municipal areas. Thus, this specificity of the empirical evidence could contribute to a more suitable and precise social ecology theory of perceptions for societies characterised by structural and historical inequalities In conclusion, this thesis extends its influence on policy formulation, practical implementation, and future research. Policymakers should tailor interventions to suit different municipal areas, offering practitioners valuable insights for optimising safety strategies. Future research can build upon these findings to explore similar urban contexts, broadening the applicability of the theoretical and methodological approach pioneered in this thesis.

Date of Award	6 Jan 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Maria Pampaka (Supervisor), Juanjo Medina (Supervisor) & Reka Solymosi (Supervisor)