NCJ Number
194546
Journal
International Review of Victimology Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: 2001 Pages: 121-140
Date Published
2001
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This is an article exploring the empirical link between urbanization and criminal activity based upon research data collected from Stockholm and Galvenborg counties in Sweden.
Abstract
This is a study of the relationship between neighborhood urbanization and crime victimization among residents of identified neighborhoods. Data were collected by survey administered to a random sample of 9,000 households split between Stockholm and Gavleborg counties. Sample response rates averaged 78.5 percent. Data were collected in 1996 and referred to 1995 events. Contained within the sample was data from urban, suburban, and rural areas analyzed by the authors to develop other intervening factors that might affect the correlation between neighborhood urbanization and victimization. In setting the parameters of their hypothesis the authors refer to other research that had already established that crime rates tended to increase as the level of urbanization increases and also that urbanized areas generally experienced more crime than less urbanized areas. Findings included a showing that the effects of urbanization on victimization fit an empirical model with mediation for the impact of neighborhood social cohesion, informal social control, and minor social disorder; that a linear relationship exists between social cohesion and social control; and that these two factors correlate negatively with urbanization and in turn with victimization. 3 tables, 4 figures, 2 appendices, 17 references