NCJ Number
145956
Journal
Criminology Volume: 31 Issue: 4 Dated: (November 1993) Pages: 493-517
Date Published
1993
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Social disorganization theory, which links crime rates to the characteristics of neighborhoods, and was prominent in the early 20th Century, was reexamined using calls to police as a measure of crime.
Abstract
Calls to police during 1980 in 60 Boston neighborhoods were studied. Unlike most victimization data, these data were not subject to biases caused by respondent unwillingness, survey formats, or police discretion. Neighborhood poverty was found to have a significant effect on assault and burglary rates, and on robbery rates in low mobility neighborhoods. Racial heterogeneity was found to be associated with increased crime rates in low poverty neighborhoods, and decreased crime rates in high poverty neighborhoods. Social disorganization theory would suggest that racial homogeneity and residential stability would result in stronger neighborhood enforcement of norms (informal social control) and thus a decreased effect of poverty on crime. In modern times, however, impoverished neighborhoods are characterized by isolation of racial groups and the breakdown of informal social controls; such neighborhoods were found to have the highest crime rates. 3 tables, 1 appendix, and 50 references