emphasize the differences between threat and deprivation (24–26) or highlight the importance of a chronic lack of safety (27). While there are few studies of neighborhood crime, prior literature has demonstrated associations between neighborhood crime, stress, brain development, and mental health. Specifically, neighborhood crime has been related to greater perceived stress in mothers during pregnancy (28) as well as blunted cortisol reactivity to a social stressor in children, even when controlling for directly witnessing violence (29). Survey measures combining direct and neighborhood (i.e., indirect) crime exposure have also been associated with limbic, cingulate, and prefrontal volumes and function in task-based and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms in middle childhood and adolescence (30–33). These brain alterations may have effects on behavior because exposure to neighborhood crime has been related to a variety of physical and mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder and externalizing problems (30,34–36). Overall, living in a high-crime area may be an important form of adversity that is related to greater maternal and child stress, altered brain function, and elevated physical and mental health risk; however, it remains unclear whether neighborhood crime affects brain development in the prenatal period over and above other forms of adversity. This study aims to fill these gaps in the literature by focusing on the prenatal period, using objective crime data (as opposed to self-reports of community violence exposure), and beginning to examine mechanisms by which neighborhood crime may relate to altered brain function. First, we characterized the relationship between block group–level crime (one of the smallest units of area defined by the U.S. Census), other forms of adversity, and maternal psychosocial stress. Second, we examined the relationship of prenatal exposure to neighborhood crime to functional connectivity within and between limbic and prefrontal regions in neonates. These brain regions were chosen based on prior studies that have found frontolimbic associations with violence exposure in children and adolescents (31,37). Finally, we investigated whether observed functional connectivity differences are mediated by psychosocial stress. We hypothesized that living in an area with higher levels of crime would be associated with greater socioeconomic adversity, but that exposure to neighborhood crime would be associated with decreased functional connectivity between the limbic system and higher-level emotion regulation areas over and above other forms of adversity. In addition, we hypothesized that the relationship between crime and neonatal fMRI would be mediated by psychosocial stress. By investigating these hypotheses, we sought to elucidate whether prenatal crime exposure contributes to intergenerational neurodevelopmental risk. METHODS AND MATERIALS Participants Participants included 399 mother-infant dyads recruited as part of the eLABE (Early Life Adversity, Biological Embedding, and Risk for Developmental Precursors of Mental Disorders) study from two outpatient obstetrics clinics at Washington University in St. Louis. Written informed consent was obtained from mothers prior to participation in the study. All study procedures were approved by the Washington University Institutional Review Board. Survey measures of adversity and psychosocial stress were obtained during each trimester, with exact timing varying based on subject availability at clinical appointments. Neonatal imaging was performed shortly after birth (mean postmenstrual age [PMA] = 41 weeks, range = 37–45 weeks). Inclusion criteria for this study included speaking English, maternal age 18 years or older, and singleton birth. Excluded were women with self-reported alcohol or illicit substance use, other than marijuana, during pregnancy (see the Supplement for analysis excluding marijuana). Anatomical MR images were reviewed by a neuroradiologist (JSS) and pediatric neurologist (CDS). Participants were excluded from the study if they had evidence of brain injury (i.e., any parenchymal abnormality detected on neonatal MRI by a pediatric neuroradiologist and neonatal neurologist). Additional exclusion criteria included maternal congenital infections and known fetal abnormalities, including intrauterine growth restriction. Of the 399 neonates who were recruited for eLABE, 319 were included in these analyses (mean gestational age [GA] = 38 weeks, range = 28–41 weeks) (see the Supplement for fullterm infant analysis). Participants were excluded for the following reasons: missing neonatal MRI scans owing to COVID-19 restrictions (n = 14), evidence of brain injury (n = 17), no fMRI data collected (n = 1), no usable T2 for registration (n = 30), did not have $10 minutes of usable fMRI data after motion censoring (n = 11), and visible artifacts in functional connectivity data (n = 7). Participants with usable fMRI did not differ significantly from subjects without usable fMRI on GA at birth, adversity levels, or psychosocial stress levels; however, participants with usable fMRI data were significantly (p , .05) younger at the time of MRI scan (PMA = 41.2 weeks) than subjects without usable fMRI data (PMA = 41.8 weeks). Measures