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Results for social disorganization

16 results found

Author: Wambeam, Rodney

Title: Study of Collective Efficacy and Crime in Rural Wyoming Communities with Rapid Natural Resource Related Development

Summary: This study examines communities with varying rates of economic growth, and surveys resident perceptions of social cohesion and trust, informal social control, and perceptions of crime. It tests how rate of growth impacts collective efficacy and people's perceptions of community cohesion.

Details: Laramie, WY: Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center, 2009. 25p.

Source: Internet Resource

Year: 2009

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 119845

Keywords:
Collective Efficacy
Economic Growth
Prediction of Crime
Social Disorganization

Author: Kubrin, Charis E.

Title: The Impact of Capital on Crime: Does Access to Home Mortgage Money Reduce Crime Rates?

Summary: Home mortgage loans today are more readily available in urban neighborhoods and cities are safer than has been the case in decades. Community reinvestment advocates and law enforcement authorities have long contended that access to financial services and homeownership are critical to neighborhood stability, all of which contribute to lower crime rates. But no systematic research has explored the relationship between lending and crime. This study utilizes mortgage loan, census, and Uniform Crime Report data to examine the impact of lending on crime in Seattle, Washington communities, controlling for several neighborhood characteristics. We also examine the impact of loans made by lenders covered by the Federal Community Reinvestment Act to determine whether fair lending policy has an independent effect. The findings show that increased mortgage lending is significantly associated with lower crime levels and that the relationship is even stronger for lending by CRA-covered institutions. This research advances our understanding of the linkages among financial services, neighborhood social organization, and crime. The findings suggest that community reinvestment can effectively complement human capital development as an alternative to incarceration for combating crime. We offer specific recommendations for strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act and related fair lending rules in order to stabilize the communities to which many ex-offenders return and reduce neighborhood crime.

Details: Washington, DC: George Washington University, 2004?. 30p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2010 at: http://realcostofprisons.org/pdfs/TTT_paper3.pdf

Year: 2004

Country: United States

URL: http://realcostofprisons.org/pdfs/TTT_paper3.pdf

Shelf Number: 120016

Keywords:
Communities
Mortgage Lending
Neighborhoods and Crime
Social Disorganization
Socioeconomic Status

Author: Weijters, Gijs Gerard Maria

Title: Youth Delinquency in Dutch Cities and Schools: A Multilevel Approach

Summary: This study assesses the influence of different social-ecological context on youth delinquency for the Netherlands.

Details: Unpublished Dissertation, 2008. 143p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 25, 2010 at: http://dare.ubn.kun.nl/bitstream/2066/73286/2/73286_youtdeind.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: Netherlands

URL: http://dare.ubn.kun.nl/bitstream/2066/73286/2/73286_youtdeind.pdf

Shelf Number: 120073

Keywords:
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile Offenders
Social Control
Social Disorganization

Author: Fox, Kathleen A.

Title: Crime Victimization and Gang Membership

Summary: Interest in gangs as a major social problem has begun to reemerge in light of recent attention from politicians, law enforcement, and researchers. Law enforcement officers report that the gang problem has significantly increased since 2001. Law enforcement and researchers have well-established the relationship between gang membership and offending. Compared to the amount of work devoted to understanding the relationship between gang membership and offending, much less is known about the ways in which gang members experience crime victimization. Therefore, this study builds upon recent work that examines the gang-victimization link, and examines the effects of social disorganization among a sample of gang and non-gang prison inmates. A sample of gang and non-gang members incarcerated in prison were interviewed and responded to a series of questions regarding involvement in crime, experiences with victimization, and perceptions of neighborhood disorganization. The current study aimed to examine the following questions. 1. Are gang members more likely to be victimized compared to non-gang members? The findings indicate that gang members were significantly more likely to be victimized compared to non-gang members. 2. Are perceptions of social disorganization associated with victimization? The results of this study show that perceptions of social disorganization explained the likelihood of victimization among gang members only. 3. Does accounting for inmates’ offending mediate the relationship between social disorganization and victimization? Results indicate that Crime perpetration was an influential factor for affecting the relationship between perceptions of social disorganization and victimization among gang members. These findings are discussed in terms of gang prevention programs. The results reported in this report challenge some of the assumptions young people have about the value of joining a gang, and this information could help inform prevention programs.

Details: Huntsville, TX: Crime Victims' Institute, Sam Houston State University, Criminal Justice Center, 2011. 24p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 29, 2011 at: http://www.crimevictimsinstitute.org/documents/Gang_Crime_Victimization_final.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.crimevictimsinstitute.org/documents/Gang_Crime_Victimization_final.pdf

Shelf Number: 121197

Keywords:
Gangs
Social Disorganization
Victimization

Author: Duru, Haci

Title: Crime on Turkish Streetblocks: An Examination of the Effects of High-Schools, On-Premise Alcohol Outlets, and Coffeehouses.

Summary: This dissertation examines the relationships between three specific types of places, including high schools, on-premise alcohol outlets, and Turkish coffeehouses, and crime on Turkish streetblocks. Its theoretical framework is grounded in an environmental criminology approach. Research hypotheses are derived from an integration of routine activity theory, crime pattern theory, social disorganization theory, and multilevel criminal opportunity theory. For each of the target places, (high schools, on-premise alcohol outlets, Turkish coffeehouses), it is hypothesized that as the number of the target places (e.g., high schools) on a streetblock increases, the number of crimes also increases on that streetblock. Further, this relationship is hypothesized to be moderated by neighborhood level social disorganization variables. The data for this research come from four different sources. The crime data come from the Bursa Police Department, Turkey. The locations of crime incidents and places are plotted on electronic maps of streetblocks and neighborhoods of Bursa. The map files, including the maps of high schools and on-premise alcohol outlets, come from the Bursa Police Department as well. The locations of Turkish coffeehouses come from the Bursa Chamber of Commerce/Coffeehouses. Neighborhood level social disorganization variables come from the Turkish Statistical Institution. The LandScan 2008 Dataset is used to construct a measure of population at risk. The data are analyzed using the multilevel multivariate Poisson modeling (HGLM) technique (Raudenbush and Earl 2002). The research hypotheses are tested for total crimes, as well as for specific types of crime (i.e., violent crime, burglary, theft, auto-theft, and theft from auto). The results of the analyses indicate that, overall, as the number of target places (e.g., high schools) increases on a streetblock, the number of crimes also increases. The strength of this relationship varies by the type of place (i.e., it is strongest in on-premise alcohol outlets models and weakest in high schools models) and the type of crime. This relationship is also moderated by neighborhood social disorganization. More specifically, overall, neighborhood heterogeneity and economic disadvantage strengthens, and neighborhood instability and family disruption weakens the relationship. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed. There are several limitations of this research. These include problems regarding the temporal ordering of the variables and technical issues regarding the map files (i.e., ambiguity regarding some streetblocks, boundary streets, locations of crime incidents and business places), and limited measures of business places and indicators of social disorganization variables. Possible effects of these limitations on the findings are discussed. With these limitations in mind, this study shows that a multilevel criminal opportunity theory is generalizable to Turkish streetblocks and neighborhoods.

Details: Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, Department of Criminal Justice, 2008. http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi/Duru%20Haci.pdf?ucin1285687526

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 15, 2011 at: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi/Duru%20Haci.pdf?ucin1285687526

Year: 7526

Country: Turkey

URL: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi/Duru%20Haci.pdf?ucin1285687526

Shelf Number: 122737

Keywords:
Alcohol Related Crime, Disorder
Neighborhoods and Crime (Turkey)
Routine Activities Theory
Social Disorganization
Street Crime

Author: Kubrin, Charis E.

Title: Does Fringe Banking Exacerbate Neighborhood Crime Rates? Social Disorganization and the Ecology of Payday Lending

Summary: Payday lenders have become the banker of choice for many residents of poor and working class neighborhoods in recent years. The substantial costs that customers of these fringe bankers incur have long been documented. Yet there is reason to believe there are broader community costs that all residents pay in those neighborhoods where payday lenders are concentrated. One such cost may be an increase in crime. In a case study of Seattle, Washington, a city that has seen a typical increase in the number of payday lenders, we find that a concentration of payday lending leads to higher violent crime rates, controlling on a range of factors traditionally associated with neighborhood crime. Social disorganization theory provides a theoretical framework that accounts for this relationship. The findings suggest important policy recommendations and directions for future research that could ameliorate these costs.

Details: Unpublished Paper, 2009. 43p.

Source: Working Paper: Internet Resource: Accessed March 10, 2012 at http://ancsaragreen.org/Payday.pdf

Year: 2009

Country: United States

URL: http://ancsaragreen.org/Payday.pdf

Shelf Number: 124418

Keywords:
Banking
Crime Rates
Neighborhoods and Crime
Social Disorganization

Author: Laurikkala, Minna

Title: Different Time, Same Place, Same Story? A Social Disorganization Perspective to Examining Juvenile Homicides

Summary: In 2007, juveniles were involved in a minimum of 1,063 murders in the United States (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2008), and a concern over juvenile homicide offenders remains. While increasingly more macrolevel research on juvenile homicide offending has been accumulated, particularly since the 1980s, research focusing on macrolevel correlates of juvenile homicides is still relatively scarce (MacDonald & Gover, 2005; Ousey & Campbell Augustine, 2001). In the first part of this study, several variables relating to the offender, victim, setting, and precursors to the homicide by race and gender were examined in order to provide details on the context of youth homicides between 1965 and 1995 in Chicago. The Homicides in Chicago, 1965-1995 data set and Census data for 1970, 1980, and 1990 were used in this study. The results indicate that changes in youth homicides over the 31-year time period involved increases in lethal gang altercations, particularly among Latinos, and increases in the use of automatic weapons. Young females had very little impact on homicide rates in Chicago. The second part of the study examined whether measures of social disorganization can aid in the prediction of homicides committed by youths, and a total of ten negative binomial models were run. The results of the analyses in the three time periods indicate that racial/ethnic heterogeneity, educational deprivation, unemployment, and family disruption are significantly and positively related to homicides. Foreign-born population and median household income were found to be significantly and negatively related to homicides. The significant indicators of social disorganization varied in the seven models for the disaggregated groups. Overall, the results reflect support for social disorganization theory. Limitations, suggestion for future research, and policy implications are also addressed.

Details: Orlando, FL: University of Central Florida, Department of Sociology, 2009. 238p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2012 at: http://digitalcollections.lib.ucf.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ETD&CISOPTR=4405

Year: 2009

Country: United States

URL: http://digitalcollections.lib.ucf.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ETD&CISOPTR=4405

Shelf Number: 125149

Keywords:
Juvenile Homicide
Juvenile Offenders
Murders
Social Disorganization

Author: Stults, Brian J.

Title: Determinants of Chicago Neighborhood Homicide Trends: 1980-2000

Summary: One of the most important social changes in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s was the dramatic increase and subsequent decrease in crime, and particularly violent crime, in large cities. For example, the homicide rate in Chicago nearly tripled between 1965 and 1992, after which point it declined by more than 50% through 2005. Surely this is a remarkable pattern of change, but is this trend representative of all areas in the city? The general purpose of the proposed project is to examine homicide trends in Chicago neighborhoods from 1980-2000 using three data sources available from ICPSR and the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD). Drawing on the social disorganization and concentrated disadvantage literature, this study will use growth-curve modeling and semi-parametric group-based trajectory modeling to: 1) assess neighborhood variation in homicide trends; 2) identify the particular types of homicide trajectory that Chicago neighborhoods follow; 3) assess whether structural characteristics of neighborhoods influence homicide trends and trajectories; and 4) determine the extent to which the influence of structural characteristics is mediated by neighborhood levels of collective efficacy. This project extends prior research by not only describing the homicide trends and trajectories of Chicago neighborhoods, but also identifying the neighborhood characteristics that directly and indirectly influence those trends. Results show that considerable variation exists in homicide trends across Chicago neighborhoods. In the group-based trajectory analysis, homicide trajectories are consistently associated with initial levels of concentrated disadvantage as well as change over time. Change in family disruption is also predictive of trajectory group assignment, but only among neighborhoods with very high initial levels of ii homicide. In the growth curve analysis, concentrated disadvantage is associated with initial levels of homicide, but not change over time. In contrast, social disorganization and immigrant concentration emerge as significant predictors of variability in homicide trends. Additional models incorporating data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) show that neighborhood ties and perceived social disorder mediate a substantial portion of the effects of concentrated disadvantage and social disorganization on homicide rates.

Details: Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University, 2012. 76p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 5, 2012 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239202.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239202.pdf

Shelf Number: 126260

Keywords:
Homicide (Chicago)
Neighborhoods and Crime
Social Disorganization
Violent Crime

Author: Treyger, Elina

Title: Migration and Violent Crime: Lessons from the Russian Experience

Summary: The relationship between migration, both internal and international, and crime is not a matter of merely academic interest. Many laws and public policies directly and profoundly affect migration within and across national borders. At a time when international migration is attracting increasing attention of policy makers, courts, and legislators, there is a real need to better understand and predict the public-order consequences of laws affecting population movements. This article exploits the Russian experience to further that aim. The relationship between population movements and crime has been the subject of a growing social science literature. That literature yields but one clear conclusion: that the relationship defies generalization. In some contexts, a concentration of newcomers (whether native or foreign) in communities correlate with higher, and in other contexts, with lower, violent crime rates across space. Some population movements appear to improve, and others to erode, the social capacity for informal control over crime. In this article, I marshal evidence for one promising explanation for the disparate consequences of different population movements, emphasizing the role of social ties and networks. That explanation suggests that where migrations destroy social networks among the migrants or in receiving communities, the social capacity for informal control over violent behaviors is undermined, and public order is liable to suffer. By contrast, where social networks drive migrations and are preserved or reconstituted in areas of settlement, no comparable disruptive effects ensue. Russia’s experience under Soviet rule furnishes a singularly fitting example of population movements that definitively disrupted preexisting social structures and obstructed formation of new ones. I make use of statistical analysis to demonstrate that the Russian post-communist geography of homicide was shaped profoundly by communist-era migration and settlement patterns. In this way, it offers evidence for the proposition that network-disrupting migrations are strongly associated with higher violent crime rates, and that state laws and policies that produce these sorts of movements come at a high social cost. The idiosyncratic character of Russia’s migration history makes it an empirically convenient case – the proverbial “natural experiment” – to explore the full effects of specifically network-disrupting population movements. Its idiosyncrasy notwithstanding, the Russian experience yields generalizable implications for our understanding of the migration-crime relationship, and our ability to identify those policies that are most likely to disrupt the social processes of informal control and contribute to violent crime.

Details: Washington, DC: George Mason University, School of Law, 2013. 66p.

Source: Internet Resource: George Mason University Law and Economics Research Paper Series
13-01 Accessed January 22, 2013 at: http://www.law.gmu.edu/assets/files/publications/working_papers/1301Migration&ViolentCrime.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://www.law.gmu.edu/assets/files/publications/working_papers/1301Migration&ViolentCrime.pdf

Shelf Number: 127346

Keywords:
Immigrants and Crime
Immigration
Migration (U.S.)
Russian Immigrants
Social Disorganization
Violent Crime

Author: Yiu, Ho Lam

Title: Community Change, School Disorder, School Social Bonds, and Youth Gang Involvement

Summary: Kirk and Laub (2010) observed that community effects on crime should be studied as dynamic processes as communities change. The present research examined schools' role in regulating youth behavior and how community change affects school climate (School Disorder and School Social Bonds; SSB) using social disorganization and social bonds theories. G. Gottfredson, Gottfredson, Czeh, Cantor, Crosse, and Hantman (2000) collected data from a large, national probability sample of schools to examine youth gang problems and school-based intervention and prevention programs. I examined a subsample (N = 269) of these schools. Variables were collected from school rosters and self-report questionnaires. School variables were modeled as latent variables derived from the variance in student responses that is attributed to the school to which the student belonged. Community variables were constructed from the 1990 and 2000 Census data. Multilevel latent variable structural modeling allowed for the examination of individual and community effects on self-reported gang participation. I argued that school characteristics were related to its communities' characteristics, and that school variables contributed to student-reported gang involvement. School characteristics were also hypothesized to mediate the relation between community change and a student's likelihood of gang involvement. Some hypotheses were supported by this research. Findings lend support for the extension of social bonds theory to the school-level. Significant student predictors of the probability of gang involvement included Personal Victimization, Social Bonds, Fear, minority status, and age. At the group-level, SSB and School Disorder explained significant variance in gang involvement in the hypothesized directions, net of all other variables already in the model. A partial mediation of the relationship between School Disorder and the likelihood of gang involvement by the student variables was found. The community change variables were somewhat independent of the school characteristics measured. School-based gang prevention efforts may benefit from a climate characterized by prosocial bonds and low social disorganization, especially for schools in communities that have high levels of concentrated disadvantage and communities projected to experience demographic change. Practical applications of these findings in schools include smaller student-to-teacher ratios and implementing rules that are fair and clear.

Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland, 2013. 105p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 7, 2014 at: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/14432/1/Yiu_umd_0117E_14076.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/14432/1/Yiu_umd_0117E_14076.pdf

Shelf Number: 132263

Keywords:
Gangs
School Crime
Social Disorganization
Youth Gangs

Author: Echazarra, Alfonso

Title: Social disorganisation, immigration and perceived crime in Spanish neighbourhoods

Summary: This dissertation adopts a quantitative approach to investigate the determinants of residents' perceptions of neighbourhood crime, focusing specifically on a series of structural factors at the community level, in accordance with the social disorganisation model. Using different statistical models, including correlations, linear regression, multilevel models and spatial regression analyses, and several Spanish data sources, in particular the 2001 Population and Housing Census and a nationally representative survey conducted in 2006, the research confirms the relevance of its exogenous sources in explaining perceived neighbourhood crime. These include classical variables, such as neighbourhoods' socioeconomic status, residential stability, ethnic diversity, family disruption and degree of urbanisation, but also other features related to the time, skills and resources deployed by residents in their residential areas such as commuting time to work, the number of working hours and the availability of a second home. For its part, other local conditions traditionally associated specifically with perceived neighbourhood crime, such as social incivilities and physical decay, act as mediators of other contextual effects, in particular of the number of retail shops and offices.The research also demonstrates the urban nature of the social disorganisation theory. That is, that the local conditions typically associated with social disorganisation, urban unease and the various social problems that can affect neighbourhoods, are better predictors of residents' perceptions of crime in town and large cities than in rural areas, operationalized as municipalities of less than 5,000 inhabitants. Small municipalities seem particularly successful in controlling their younger residents for neither the proportion of adolescents and young adults, nor the number of children per family exert an important effect on residents' perceptions of neighbourhood crime. Among these local conditions, special attention has been devoted to measures of diversity and immigration demonstrating that their effect on residents' perceptions of neighbourhood crime, except for the positive impact of Asians, is not necessarily robust to different model specifications and statistical methods. This erratic immigrant effect is surprising given how consistent the belief in a crime-immigration nexus is among Spaniards. Precisely on this point, the dissertation has investigated why the belief in a crime-immigration nexus varies significantly between individuals and across communities. Three variables have been identified as determining factors: contextual parochialism, right-wing ideology and the media. In rural areas with high residential stability, a significant presence of elderly population and a low socioeconomic status, residents are more likely to unconsciously associate immigration and crime, even when individual attributes are adjusted for and, more importantly, even if few migrants live in the surroundings. Not surprisingly, right-wing residents are more likely to associate both phenomena yet, in contrast to many statements by scholars and pundits, the media in Spain seems to exert a moderator effect.

Details: Manchester, UK: University of Manchester, School of Social Sciences, 2012. 255p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 1, 2014 at: https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:183476&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF

Year: 2012

Country: Spain

URL: https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:183476&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF

Shelf Number: 127611

Keywords:
Immigrants and Crime
Neighborhoods and Crime (Spain)
Social Disorganization
Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime
Urban Areas and Crime

Author: Morgan, Rachel E.

Title: Tracking Violence: Using Neighborhood-Level Characteristics in the Analysis of Domestic Violence in Chicago and the State of Illinois

Summary: Social disorganization theory proposes that neighborhood characteristics, such as residential instability, racial and ethnic heterogeneity, concentrated disadvantage, and immigrant concentration contribute to an increase in crime rates. Informal social controls act as a mediator between these neighborhood characteristics and crime and delinquency. Informal social controls are regulated by members of a community and in a disorganized community these controls are not present, therefore, crime and delinquency flourish (Sampson, 2012). Researchers have focused on these measures of social disorganization and the ability to explain a variety of crimes, specifically public crimes. Recently, researchers have focused their attention to characteristics of socially disorganized areas and the ability to predict private crimes, such as domestic violence. This study contributes to the research on social disorganization theory and domestic violence by examining domestic offenses at three different units of analysis: Chicago census tracts, Chicago neighborhoods, and Illinois counties. Demographic variables from the 2005-2009 American Community Survey were utilized to measure social disorganization within Chicago census tracts, Chicago neighborhoods, and Illinois counties. Data on domestic offenses in Chicago were from the City of Chicago Data Portal and data on domestic offenses in Illinois counties were retrieved from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA). This study incorporated geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to examine the relationships between locations of domestic offenses and the measures of social disorganization in each unit of analysis. Results of this study indicate that different measures of social disorganization are significantly associated with domestic offenses in each in each unit of analysis.

Details: Orlando, FL University of Central Florida, 2013. 159p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 29, 2015 at: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0004726/Rachel_E_Morgan_Dissertation.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0004726/Rachel_E_Morgan_Dissertation.pdf

Shelf Number: 135406

Keywords:
Domestic Violence (Chicago)
Intimate Partner Violence
Social Disorganization
Violence Against Women

Author: McCutcheon, James Chandler

Title: Firearm Lethality in Drug Market Contexts

Summary: The current study examines firearms' impact on the relationship between illegal drug markets and homicide. At the county-level, Iowa and Virginia are analyzed using crime data from the National Incident Based Reporting System. More specifically, gun availability is tested as a mediator for county drug crime rates and homicide counts. Variable selection and prediction is based on routine activity and social disorganization theories. I argue that social disorganization allows the context for which criminal opportunity presents itself through routine activities. I posit gun availability mediates a positive relationship between illegal drug markets and homicide, with differences between urban and rural communities.

Details: Orlando, FL: University of Central Florida, 2013. 142p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 29, 2015 at: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0004888/Firearm_Lethality_in_Drug_Market_Contexts.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0004888/Firearm_Lethality_in_Drug_Market_Contexts.pdf

Shelf Number: 135407

Keywords:
Gun-Related Violence
Homicides
Illegal Drug Markets
Social Disorganization

Author: CNDH Mexico

Title: Adolescentes: Vulnerabilidad y Violencia

Summary: This report Examines the impact of poverty, social disorganization, and the influence of peers and adults that encourage crime and violence among juveniles in Mexico. It consists of interviews who explain how and why they became involved in organized crime.

Details: Mexico: CNDH, 2016. 188p.

Source: Internet Resource: Informe Especial: Accessed February 17, 2017 at: http://www.cndh.org.mx/sites/all/doc/Informes/Especiales/Informe_adolescentes_20170118.pdf (In Spanish)

Year: 2016

Country: Mexico

URL: http://www.cndh.org.mx/sites/all/doc/Informes/Especiales/Informe_adolescentes_20170118.pdf

Shelf Number: 147326

Keywords:
Adolescents
Juvenile Offenders
Juvenile Violence
Organized Crime
Poverty
Social Disorganization
Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime

Author: Strong, Suzanne M.

Title: Racial Conflict and Bias Crimes Across US Cities: An Analysis of the Social Threat Perspective

Summary: This research examines racially biased crimes across US cities, utilizing social threat and a general criminality perspective based on social disorganization and strain theories. Racially biased crime is compared to violent crime in general and to unbiased racially disaggregated homicide to further examine the effects of social threat and general crime variables on different forms of violent crime. Data is compiled mainly from the 1990 and 2000 US Censuses, the 1996-2000 Uniform Crime Reports and the 1996-2000 Supplemental Homicide Reports. The research shows bias crimes cannot be explained utilizing general crime predictors. In particular, anti-Black violent bias crimes committed by Whites are mainly driven by economic forces, though not necessarily economically threatening conditions. Anti-White violent bias crimes committed by Blacks are more similar to homicides of Whites committed by Blacks, which is consistent with prior research. Additionally, the research shows the importance of complying with hate crime reporting requirements and region, again consistent with prior research. That is, the more frequently a city reports data, the higher the counts of bias crimes. Cities located in the South are less likely to have high counts of bias crimes, suggesting a lack of compliance with reporting requirements. These findings pertaining to reporting compliance offer support for social constructionist perspectives in the study of bias crimes.

Details: Albany, NY: State University of New York at Albany, 2015. 165p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 10, 2017 at: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/1666453286.html?FMT=ABS

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/1666453286.html?FMT=ABS

Shelf Number: 144762

Keywords:
Bias-Motivated Crime
Hate Crime
Racial Bias
Social Disorganization

Author: Chouhy, Cecilia

Title: Collective Efficacy and Community Crime Rates: A Cross-National Test of Rival Models

Summary: The burgeoning number of community-level studies of crime has helped to highlight the importance of contextual effects when understanding differences in crime across communities. Inspired by the Chicago School of social disorganization, communities and crime scholars have focused on disentangling the community characteristics that make them more or less able to control crime. In this context, collective efficacy theory-first articulated in 1997 by Robert Sampson, Stephen Raudenbush, and Felton Earls-has emerged as the most prominent community-level explanation of differential crime rates across geographical units. However, research on the construct of collective efficacy has two main limitations. First, tests of this perspective rarely include measures of rival community-level explanations of crime, particularly perspectives that incorporate cultural features as key elements of their formulations. Thus, the level of legal cynicism (Kirk & Papachristos, 2011) and the endorsement of violence as a way to solve problems within the community (Anderson, 1999; Stewart & Simons, 2010) have been shown to explain variations in crime across communities. Little is known, however, about whether these factors retain their explanatory power in models that also consider collective efficacy or whether collective efficacy remains associated with crime when these cultural conditions are taken into consideration. Second, tests of collective efficacy theory have been conducted primarily on data drawn from communities located in the United States and other advanced Western nations. Accordingly, it is unclear whether collective efficacy theory-as well as other macro-level perspectives-are general theories or whether their explanatory power is specific to the United States and similar nations, the structure of their communities, and the particularity of their crime problem (Sampson, 2006). In this context, using data from the Latin American Population Survey (LAPOP) from 2012 and 2014 collected in 472 communities in five South American countries, this dissertation aims to make a contribution by addressing these two gaps in the communities and crime literature. Specifically, the research strategy involves providing a test of collective efficacy theory and competing community-level theories of crime in five South American Nations With some caveats, the results revealed that collective efficacy theory is generalizable to the South American context. In this sample, collective efficacy operated as a protective factor against crime across these communities. Further, alternative theories of crime-legal cynicism and subculture of violence-were shown to provide important insights into the sources of varying victimization rates across communities. This study advances the area of communities and crime in three ways. First, it reveals the capacity of collective efficacy theory to account for variations in victimization rates in South America-that is, beyond the context of Western industrialized nations. Second, it demonstrates the value of incorporating cultural elements into the study of communities and crime. In this regard, the findings suggest that cultural and control perspectives can be successfully integrated into a more comprehensive understanding of crime. Third, by setting forth an alternative operationalization of collective efficacy, it helps to illuminate the complex relationship between structural characteristics, the different dimensions of collective efficacy, and victimization rates.

Details: Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 2016. 214p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 25, 2018 at: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ETD_SUBID:116959

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ETD_SUBID:116959

Shelf Number: 149889

Keywords:
Collective Efficacy
Communities and Crime
Geographical Analysis
Social Disorganization