NCJ Number
181623
Journal
American Journal of Sociology Volume: 105 Issue: 3 Dated: November 1999 Pages: 603-651
Date Published
November 1999
Length
49 pages
Annotation
This article assesses the sources and consequences of public disorder, based on the videotaping and systematic rating of more than 23,000 street segments in Chicago to develop highly reliable scales of social and physical disorder for 196 neighborhoods.
Abstract
The research then integrated census data, police records, and an independent survey of more than 3,500 residents to test a theory of collective efficacy and structural constraints. Collective efficacy, which involves cohesion among residents combined with shared expectations for the social control of public space, explained lower rates of crime and observed disorder after controlling for neighborhood structural characteristics. Collective efficacy also was linked to lower rates of violent crime, after accounting for disorder and the reciprocal effects of violence. However, contrary to the broken-windows theory, the relationship between public disorder and crime was spurious, except perhaps for robbery. Findings contradicted the strong version of the broken-windows thesis, but they did not imply the theoretical irrelevance of disorder. Nevertheless, findings indicated that the current fascination in policy circles on cleaning up disorder through law enforcement techniques appears simplistic and largely misplaced, at least in terms of directly reducing crime. Tables, figure, footnotes, and 78 references (Author abstract modified)