Search

Private short‐term letting via Airbnb has exploded in the last decade, yet little is known about how this affects neighborhood crime rates. We estimate the association between Airbnb short‐term letting activity and six types of police‐reported crime in London, as well as an intervening mechanism, collective efficacy. We estimate these associations with maximum likelihood dynamic panel models with fixed effects (ML‐SEM) using data on Airbnb lettings in 4,835 London neighborhoods observed for 13 calendar quarters. We explore mechanisms for the observed effects using multiple lag specifications and by disaggregating lettings into entire properties and spare rooms. We find that Airbnb activity is positively related to robbery, burglary, theft, and violence. These associations are attributable to lettings for entire properties rather than for rooms. Furthermore, associations are contemporaneous, as is consistent with an opportunity mechanism, rather than delayed, as would be consistent with a social control mechanism. Similarly, we find that the association between Airbnb activity and crime is not mediated by collective efficacy. Overall, these results suggest short‐term letting contributes to neighborhood crime and these effects are more likely to be attributable to changes in criminal opportunity than erosion of neighborhood social control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on mobile phone data from the city of Barcelona, Spain, generalized linear models are used to analyse the relationship between urban mobilities and the spatial and temporal patterning of robbery and theft. The hypothesis was made that mobility fluxes may undermine social control mechanisms by altering the socio-demographic composition of urban populations, therefore increasing the risk of crime victimization. The analysis brought together indicators of land use and a measure of the ambient population disaggregated by different profiles of public space users (by sex, age, and place of residence). The results indicate that robbery and theft tend to cluster around locations that attract a higher proportion of non-residents (i.e. national and international visitors). Non-local visitors, who visit the city occasionally or once in a lifetime, lack a comprehensive knowledge of the environment which would help them to navigate safely through the urban space. Therefore, their presence not only unsettles the social routines of public spaces in Barcelona but also reflects negatively in terms of crime occurrence. This finding raises questions about how to accommodate growing mobilities in our cities without detriment to incumbent residents and their safety, which seems to be critical in post-COVID-19 urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aims to investigate the impact of perceptual social disorganization and the collective efficacy of deviant behaviors among University of Mazandaran students. The method of this survey research was stratified random sampling in proportion to the volume. The tool for collecting information in the current research is a questionnaire, and 411 questionnaires have been analyzed. The results of the analysis of the findings show that there is no significant difference between boys and girls in terms of deviant behavior. The results of the path analysis test have also shown that there is a positive and significant relationship between imagined social disorder, imagined physical disorder and deviant behavior. Also, there is a positive relationship between imagined physical disorder and fear of crime; And there is an inverse and significant relationship between fear of crime and collective efficacy. According to the findings, people's perception of social disorder has an effect on crime. In other words, disorder increases fear of crime, which in turn reduces social control/collective efficacy and makes neighborhoods vulnerable to criminal invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although W. E. B. Du Bois addresses crime in Black communities in many of his writings, he is rarely recognized as having a cohesive theory on crime, and his work is often conflated with Shaw and McKay's social disorganization theory. While both social disorganization and Du Bois's theories pushed sociology and criminology away from pseudo-biological explanations of crime to the social environment, the Chicago School analyzed how social control broke down within neighborhoods, while Du Bois analyzed how racist social and economic exclusion of Black communities led to crime. Du Bois's criminological theories of social disharmony and racial injustice also consider the social construction of crime and the criminalization of Blackness where social disorganization does not. Focusing on the relations of racial exclusion led Du Bois to propose solutions to crime that focus on mechanisms of oppression and economic injustice across various levels of society. This approach differs widely from community-level interventions driven by social disorganization theory, which focus on improving informal social control within neighborhoods. Du Bois's theories on crime and the social environment provide an analytic lens for sociologists to link the social organization within communities to the social organization across communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do people hesitate to summon state authorities to address concerns? Previous research has focused on cultural orientations about law enforcement, such as legal cynicism. In addition, people are often in a position to turn others in, requiring attention to how potential reporters understand the meaning and consequences of implicating others. This article identifies empathy as an underexamined lens through which marginalized groups view state intervention. I argue that amid shared social roles with those potentially reported to authorities, individuals invoke empathy in disavowing reporting. I advance this argument using the case of child abuse and neglect reporting, analyzing in-depth interviews with 74 low-income mothers in Rhode Island. Respondents disavowed or expressed ambivalence about reporting other families to child protection authorities, often justifying their non-reporting by empathizing with mothers they might report. Drawing on their own experiences of scrutinized and precarious motherhood, respondents imagined how they would feel if reported and balked at calling on child protective services, understanding reporting as an act of judging and jeopardizing another's motherhood. The findings challenge conceptions of non-reporting as necessarily indicating social disorganization. Rather, hesitation to mobilize authorities can constitute an expression of care, kinship, and solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stream analogy of lethal violence (SALV) argues that homicide and suicide are similarly driven by frustration and aggression. SALV research has examined forces of production (i.e., lethal violence rate [LVR]) and forces of direction (i.e., suicide-homicide ratio [SHR]). The current study applies 6 foundational social disorganization theory (i.e., the systemic model) structural predictors and 3 unique social controls to help explain the LVR and SHR. Using data from 229 South Korean community areas, the study tracked lethal violence for 6 years for each area, yielding 1,374 observations for analysis. Findings reveal mixed support for the systemic model. Urban area was negatively associated with the SHR's initial level, but positively associated with increased SHR rates of change. Variations in the residential instability and divorce rates had positive effects on only the initial LVR level. Children's nursery facilities fully mediated the link between structural characteristics and increased SHR rates of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the ecological reliability, convergent validity and ecological stability of neighbourhood (dis)organizational processes measured by means of two methods: inhabitant surveys and the so-called key informant analysis technique. Considering that ecological processes play a major role in many contemporary criminological theories and research, it is vital to take into account methodological challenges and to question the reliability, validity and stability of the measures reflecting these underlying processes. (Dis)organizational processes are predominantly measured by means of questionnaires surveying neighbourhood inhabitants. To yield ecologically reliable and valid measures this approach requires large numbers of respondents. In this study we analyse the relationships between ecological measures of neighbourhood processes based on surveys of inhabitants versus key informants. The findings suggest that key informants can provide reliable, valid and stable measures of (dis)organizational neighbourhood processes. Therefore, the key informant analysis technique is an essential complementary, or even substitutive, method in the measurement of neighbourhood processes; shared survey-method variance is eliminated and it is possible to survey fewer key informants than inhabitants to obtain reliable and valid information on social trust and disorder. Nevertheless, this method is not suitable for measuring all neighbourhood processes, such as informal social control. Therefore, outstanding challenges and avenues for future research are discussed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis of data collected from a nationwide survey in 2021 focused on the prevalence and importance of different forms of social control particularly semiformal social control in community order maintenance within rural China. Scholars have a growing interest in China's semiformal control. However, prior studies lack quantitative research on the prevalence and importance of this semiformal control. Employing quantitative analysis, this study found that China uses a trinary (formal, semiformal, and informal) control system to maintain social order as contrasted with a Western binary (formal vs. informal) control system. Overall, semiformal organizations—village committees—are more prevalent and important than formal control mechanisms such as government and police and informal control mechanisms such as xiangxian or kin or kin-kind community leaders. Furthermore, the relative prevalence and importance of semiformal organizations and control are found to be associated with types of social order maintenance activities. These findings are meaningful for testing the generalizability of social disorganization theory and developing a China- or Asian-centric control theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the relevance of social disorganization and collective efficacy in accounting for neighbourhood inequalities in the exposure to crime. Specifically, it questions the potential of community and voluntary organizations to enhance informal social control and reduce exposure to crime. It utilizes calls-for-service (incident) data for Greater Manchester (UK) and a Bayesian spatio-temporal modelling approach. Contrary to expectations, the research finds that measures of social disorganization (concentrated disadvantage aside) and collective efficacy hold a limited effect on neighbourhood exposure to crime. We discuss the implications of these findings for criminological inquiry and theoretical development, highlighting the necessity of such endeavour to account for the national political-economy and welfare regime of research settings [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of research into social disorganization theory, criminologists have made little progress developing community programs that reduce crime. The lack of progress is due in part to faulty assumptions in the theory: that neighborhoods are important; that residents are the primary source of control; and that informal social controls are emergent. In this paper we propose an alternative: the neighborhoods out of places explanation (NOPE). NOPE starts with property parcels (i.e., proprietary places), rather than neighborhoods. It focuses on the power and legal authority of people and institutions that own property, rather than on residents. It posits that control is intentional and goal driven, rather than emergent. We refer to those who own and control as creators. This small group of elites shape city areas and residents must adapt to the environments that suppress or facilitate crime. We discuss how shifting our focus to creators provides important new implications for theory, research, and policy in criminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides empirical evidence that supports the configurational assumptions of social disorganization theory and routine activities theory. Through a comparative qualitative analysis (csQCA), the paper concludes that the differentiated distribution of robberies in the Mexico City mayoralties (N16) is a product of the combination of conditions associated with the deterioration of social control and the availability of criminal opportunities. However, in terms of necessity and sufficiency, not all explanatory conditions were relevant to reduce uncertainty and did not always act according to the hypotheses formulated. The study suggests that crime rates do not simply result from the direct influence of factors and that the interaction between factors may be mediated by contextual conditions. This paper adds to the literature that seeks to discuss the assumptions of social theories of crime in Latin American cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the tenets of Social Disorganization Theory, we model the effects of neighborhood structural correlates on neighborhood crime perceptions in two urbanized Ghanaian communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Using 500 responses from a cross-sectional survey of 100 households, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) is used to test a hypothesized model that incorporates measures of Residential Instability, Family Disruption, Social Support, and Neighborhood Crime Perceptions. Findings indicated that like other studies elsewhere, Residential Instability and Family Disruptions both have significant negative effects on community-level Social Support. However, Social Support had a positive effect on neighborhood crime perceptions. The findings in the study while providing some support for the SDT also raises questions about the influence of social support as an informal social control measure across varied spatial contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the prevalence and nature of paraphilic interests in the Hong Kong young adult population. This study explores the psychosocial factors associated with paraphilic interests. Methods: Testing the propositions of several criminological theories (i.e., the theories of self-control, general strain, social learning, social control, and routine activity), the study recruited 1171 participants (18–40 years old), from September 2018 through April 2020, to examine both general and 14 subtypes of paraphilic interest (i.e., voyeurism, exhibitionism, scatologia, fetishism, transvestic fetishism, frotteurism, sadism, masochism, biastophilia, urophilia, scatophilia, hebephilia, pedophilia, and zoophilia). Results: The findings indicate that males reported significantly higher levels of general and 12 subtypes of paraphilic interest than females, while females had a higher level of transvestic fetishism than males. No mean difference is found between males and females in interest in masochism. Relative to females, males reported significantly higher levels of negative temperament, alcohol and drug use, and risky sexual behavior, whereas females had higher levels of self-control, social bonds, and perceived neighborhood disorganization than males. Multivariate analyses indicate that in general, high levels of negative temperament, alcohol and drug use, risky sexual behavior, and perceived neighborhood disorganization and low levels of self-control and social bonds were important factors associated with the participants' likelihood of having general and 14 subtypes of paraphilic interest. Conclusions: These findings provide support to the significant role of psychosocial factors in understanding different paraphilic interests in the Hong Kong young adult population. Policy Implications: This study has implications for practice, in the form of reducing, if not eliminating, the tendency to develop an interest in paraphilic behaviors. This may be more important when referring to paraphilic behaviors that are criminally oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Explanations of community violence traditionally reflect a social disorganization perspective, suggesting that neighborhood characteristics affect crime via the intervening mechanism of informal social control. Drawing on Agnew's Macro Strain Theory [MST], we argue that neighborhood characteristics 1) also affect macro-level crime for reasons related to aggregated strain and 2) condition the relationship between micro-level strains and individual violent offending. Methods: Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, we conduct a series of multilevel models examining both the macro- and multi-level relationship between neighborhood characteristics, strain and youth violence. Findings: Results generally support our arguments, suggesting that neighborhood characteristics like concentrated disadvantage 1) remain associated with community violence even after adjusting for multiple measures of informal social control and 2) condition the association between micro-level strain and violent offending. Conclusions: Strain processes, at both the macro and micro-level, play a critical role in the well-established empirical relationship between structural disadvantage and violence. In light of results, community crime control policies should address the ways in which structural disadvantage increases motivation, rather than focusing exclusively on the ways in which it weakens informal social control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists an extensive theoretical discourse regarding Social Disorganization Theory about the presence or lack of social control in marginalized poor communities. Mexico City’s colonias populares, or informal housing settlements, are an important case in point given the chaotic, ungovernable, social disorder that is perceived by outsiders. In the present ethnographic study, we applied Suttles’ (1968) concept of social order with the intention to identify and understand the social processes by which relationships between criminal networks and conventional residents contribute to a cohesive community social structure. Using interview and observational data collected throughout five years, the findings support a social system defined by an ordered segmentation that facilitates inclusion and social solidarity among diverse residents. Through commercial, recreational, and religious celebrations, a practical morality emerged that governed social interactions among residents in this impoverished neighborhood at the periphery of society. Practical morality is exemplified by the relationships within a community connected by neighborhood-based networks, rather than formal institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited information is known about the offending phenomenon of Hong Kong adolescents, specifically from a theoretical standpoint. Using a sample of 892 secondary school students, this study aims to explore the criminogenic risk factors of juvenile delinquency in Hong Kong adolescents. Grounded in the theoretical propositions of mainstream criminological theories (i.e., self-control, social control, social learning, general strain, and routine activity), the adolescents' types of delinquent behavior (i.e., violent, nonviolent, and general delinquency) are examined. Findings indicate that male adolescents reported significantly higher levels of violent, nonviolent, and general delinquency than female adolescents. Relative to females, males are also reported significantly higher levels of pro-violence attitudes, deviant peer influence, alcohol and drug use, and perceived neighborhood disorganization. However, female adolescents are found to have higher levels of self-control, social bonding, and negative temperament than their male counterparts. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that deviant peer influence in addition to alcohol and drug use is found to be general risk factors for engaging in all sorts of delinquent activity. A high level of pro-violence attitudes is significantly associated with violent offending, while low self-control is a significant predictor of nonviolent offending and general delinquency. Social bonding, negative temperament, and perceived neighborhood disorganization are found to be important factors associated with general delinquency. Implications of the findings are offered to address the adolescents' criminogenic risk factors and prevent their propensity to engage in violent, nonviolent, and general delinquency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to compare the applicability of the Social Disorganization Theory, General Strain Theory, and Social Control Theory in the exploration of violent delinquency in Chicago's Southside. The study participants included 546 adolescents in Chicago. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation, and multivariate regression analyses were conducted. Supporting the Social Disorganization Theory, affiliation with delinquent peers mediated the association between poor neighborhood conditions and delinquency. Supporting the General Strain Theory, emotional distress mediated the relationship between peer victimization and delinquency. Inconsistent with the Social Control Theory, however, religiosity did not buffer the relationship between feeling disconnected from parents and delinquency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies show that the deterioration of family bonds and financial difficulty are barriers to a successful reintegration after incarceration. However, how family, community, and correction agencies simultaneously affect individuals' illicit drug use during reentry is rarely examined. This study draws insights from the systemic model of social disorganization and examines the joint effects of private, parochial, and public levels of social control on post-release drug use. We used a longitudinal data set that captured family relationships, community cohesiveness, and reentry program participation of released prisoners. Findings provide empirical support for the application of the systemic model of social disorganization on illicit drug during reentry. The various levels of social control defined by this theory were found to exhibit significant and inhibitory effects on individuals' drug use after release. This study advances our understanding of individuals' reentry outcomes by highlighting the joint influence of family, community, and correction agencies. Policy implications for addressing post-release drug use are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systemic model of social disorganization advocates that communities can help regulate disorder and crime by exerting informal social control. This paper examines the avenues through which police might contribute to that social process. Building upon past research, we compare the amount of police presence observed by residents versus residents' awareness of and satisfaction with police–community engagement and tactics used as mechanisms for promoting safety, confidence in police, and social cohesion, and ultimately informal social control. Results of a structural equation model using data from a panel community survey in 71 high-crime areas suggest that simply seeing the police is not enough. The results suggest that tactics police use in neighborhoods and most notably, how those strategies are interpreted by residents living there can be a conduit to facilitate social cohesion and informal social control. The results have implications for police resource allocation and best practices in crime hot spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces several comments and reflections on the tensions between the state power and society in People's Poland in 1956-1980, in the context of the consolidation of power and loyalty of society. During this period, the party and state authorities, wishing to maximally consolidate their power, did everything to achieve the ability and readiness to use all means necessary to control social behavior, to maintain the loyalty of society. It required total ideological unity of the party political elite and iron discipline in the functioning of its institutions. Such a strategy did not prevent social outbreaks. The emerging protests meant above all a real loss of control over society, social disorganization. Wishing to enjoy the loyalty of a society devoid of political alternatives, in other words its tacit consent, it would have to provide it with a certain level of living conditions. However, this task was very difficult, if at all possible, to be implemented in the realities of the centrally planned economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social disorganization theory holds that neighborhoods with greater residential stability, higher socioeconomic status, and more ethnic homogeneity experience less disorder because these neighborhoods have higher social cohesion and exercise more social control. Recent extensions of the theory argue that disorder in turn affects these structural characteristics and mechanisms. Using a data set on 74 neighborhoods in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands spanning 10 years, we tested the extended theory, which to date only a few studies have been able to do because of the unavailability of neighborhood-level longitudinal data. We also improve on previous studies by distinguishing between the potential for social control (feelings of responsibility) and the actual social control behavior. Cross-sectional analyses replicate earlier findings, but the results of longitudinal cross-lagged models suggest that disorder has large consequences for subsequent levels of social control and residential instability, thus leading to more disorder. This is in contrast to most previous studies, which assume disorder to be more a consequence than a cause. This study underlines the importance of longitudinal data, allowing for simultaneously testing the causes and consequences of disorder, as well as the importance of breaking down social control into the two dimensions of the potential for social control and the actual social control behavior. © 2011 American Society of Criminology.

Social disorganization theory holds that neighborhoods with a greater population stability, higher socio-economic status and more ethnic homogeneity experience less disorder because these neighborhoods have higher social cohesion and exercise more social control. Recent extensions of the theory argue that disorder in turn affects these structural characteristics and mechanisms. Using a dataset on 74 neighborhoods in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands spanning ten years, we tested the extended theory, which to date only few studies have been able to do because of unavailability of neighborhood-level longitudinal data. We also improve on previous studies by distinguishing between potential for social control (feelings of responsibility) and actual social control behavior. Cross-sectional analyses replicate earlier findings, but the results of longitudinal cross-lagged models suggest that disorder has large consequences for subsequent levels of social control and population turnover, thus leading to more disorder. This is in contrast to previous research, which sees disorder more as a consequence than a cause. This study underlines the importance of longitudinal data, allowing for simultaneously testing the causes and consequences of disorder, as well as the importance of breaking down social control into the potential for social control and actual social control behavior.

Objective: Examine the degree to which adult male social ties with neighborhood youth, or intergenerational ties, increase the perceived willingness of residents to engage in the informal social control of children. Method: Survey data from approximately 2,200 residents in 64 neighborhoods along with neighborhood census variables are used to examine the effects of male intergenerational social ties with youth on informal social control. Multilevel linear regression equations adjust for measures of social ties, social cohesion and trust, lagged official crime rates, and the proportion of residents that are males. Results: Male intergenerational social ties with youth are found to be an important and unique source of informal social control of children net of other forms of neighborhood social organization, and informal social control of children is shown to decrease neighborhood crime rates. Conclusions: This study provides support for assumptions implied in the urban underclass and social disorganization literatures regarding the positive role of male ties (outside of the family) in collective crime prevention capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This present essay exposes the theoretical review of five authors whose studies focused on understanding the social dynamics, the phenomena that arise in societies, which transform for the worse the interaction between individuals, industry and the state, taking conflicts between life goals and means of obtaining, due to a social inequality increasingly perpetuated by those in power, specifically the state and the company, where they consolidate marked differences between groups, pushing towards disorganization, economic uncertainty, political, social, stability, among others, provoking uncertain panoramas that lead subjects to modes of expression of violence arising from disagreement with the impositions of the state and industry, having implement the monopoly of violence to contain the reactions of divergent groups. Of the authors with the greatest resonance on the subject of social disorder, is Durkheim. For his part, Parsons points to that distance between goals and means and the conflict it produces. Another approach is Spencer, who points out about conflicts between groups in the face of state repression. Weber explains the consolidation of the state apparatus through raising money and establishing its control devices. Finally, Bourdieu refers to the neoliberal forms that distance subjects from the opportunities and support the state could give, relegating him to his fate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars argue that collective efficacy is not relevant to understanding crime at the microgeographic level. We examine variation in collective efficacy across streets with different levels of crime in Baltimore City, MD, and, then, employ multilevel modelling to assess this relationship. We find that people who live in crime hot spots have much lower levels of collective efficacy than people who live in non-hot spot streets and that this relationship persists when controlling for a large number of potential confounders both at the street and community levels. These findings suggest the importance of collective efficacy both in understanding and controlling crime at microgeographic units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although offenders' individual-level characteristics such as attenuated family bonds and financial difficulty undermine the reentry process, these factors represent only part of the story. A complete and comprehensive understanding of reentry requires us to examine the communities to which they return. This study applies the systemic model of social disorganization theory to the reentry context. Specifically, I access the roles of private, parochial, and public levels of social control in individuals' reentry. Findings suggest that when analyzed in separate models, all three levels of social control exhibited significant effects on recidivism. However, when accessed simultaneously in one model, private and public levels of social control but not community social control exhibited significant effects on individuals' recidivism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how peer norms condition the effect of romantic involvement on adolescents' externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. We hypothesized that, as a result of social control and social learning, adolescents who start a romantic relationship report more problem behavior when romantic involvement was not normative behavior in the peer group. We tested this hypothesis for two different peer groups: the friendship network and the class. Using large-scale panel data of Dutch adolescents (N = 2,302; M age = 14.5) collected in 222 school classes that included sociometric measures, we found that adolescents who started dating reported more problem behavior if dating was not in line with the class' norm compared with when dating was in line with the class' norm. Friends' norms did not moderate the association between romantic involvement and problem behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aims at analyzing the fear of crime and its consequences on social cohesion and informal social control. The study is based on data collected through a triangulation of qualitative techniques (in-depth interviews, participant observation, and semi-structured focus groups) throughout eight neighborhoods of four European cities. Challenging the initial expectations, the results obtained show that, under certain circumstances, the fear of crime might foster genuine forms of social involvement and problem-solving participation. Nevertheless, the general trend indicates that crime-related anxieties are fueling the emergence of nostalgic, passive-aggressive, and violent forms of identity, which might promote potentially dangerous types of collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of persistent communal conflicts on child delinquency. Within psychosociological models, the study investigates child delinquency in conflict areas in southwestern Nigeria. Triangulation of sampling techniques and methods of data collection were adopted (questionnaire, focus group discussions, in‐depth interview, records, journals, and publications). The records showed that there were more child delinquents in the communal conflict areas and the factors responsible were as follows: a gap in family communication, regulation and control mechanism deficiency, institutional and social lapses, excessive drugs abuse, persistent economic hardship and social disorganization, long communal hatred, and negative social variables. There was a significant relationship between the variables of communal conflicts and child delinquency. The study concludes that social control failed because of children learning violence acts from birth and the environment. There is a need for more cemented social ties among neighboring towns, for perpetrators of conflict to face the wrath of law, and for security agents to not overstay in conflict areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social disorganization theory is one of the most widely tested theories in criminology, yet few studies consider the temporal and spatial dynamics of neighborhood composition, neighborhood informal social control, and crime. To better understand these relationships, we use census data, police data, and three survey waves of data from a unique longitudinal dataset with over 4,000 respondents living across 148 neighborhoods in an Australian city undergoing rapid population growth. We employ cross-lagged reciprocal feedback models to test the central tenets of social disorganization theory and its contemporary advances for three crime types: violent crime, property crime, and drug crime. Further, we examine the reciprocal relationship between neighborhood composition, three components of informal social control (neighborhood social ties, expectations for informal social control, and the exercise of informal social control), and crime and whether socio-demographic changes in nearby neighborhoods shape these relationships over time. We find that changes in the socio-demographic composition in both focal and nearby areas influence neighborhood informal social control; however, in contrast to cross-sectional studies of social disorganization theory, our results reveal little support that neighborhood informal social control significantly decreases crime over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social disorganization theory positions informal social control as central to neighborhood crime reduction. Although neighborhood ties, fear of crime, and perceived disorder influence the exercise of informal social control, there are significant sex differences for these drivers that might differentially influence men and women's informal social control actions. Furthermore, these differences may be exaggerated under conditions that activate gendered divisions of labor. We use survey data from 4,000 residents in 148 neighborhoods and employ multilevel logistic regression to examine the relationship between sex and informal social control actions. We find that men are more likely to take action than women; however, our three-way interactions reveal family arrangements moderate the relationship between ties, fear of crime, disorder, and these actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Human trafficking has generated growing concern among both policy makers and researchers. However, research has been hampered by a lack of valid data and appropriate methods. Our study attempts to improve understanding of this issue by developing a macro-level social disorganization perspective which suggests that trade openness may be an important vector of human trafficking such that countries in transition between high and low levels are likely to face major challenges in controlling trafficking and will therefore be especially likely to experience high rates. Our analysis is based on United Nations panel data containing 163 time points for 43 countries from 2003 to 2008 where there is full information across the variables of interest. Methods: The study first relies on semi-parametric fixed effects regression estimators to determine the 'true' functional form of the relationship between trade openness and human trafficking. Next, we utilize random and fixed effects regression analysis and negative binomial regression analysis to assess the existence of an inverted U-relationship between trade openness and human trafficking. Results: Consistent with our theoretical prediction, the spline approximation of the relationship between trade openness and human trafficking rates exhibits a clear inverted-U. The random and fixed effects regression results support the same conclusion. The turning point is estimated to be 1.995 and two sensitivity analyses confirm this finding through a parametric and a nonparametric bootstrap method with replications. Finally, using negative binomial and fixed effects negative binomial regressions, we again confirm that there is an inverted-U relationship between trade openness and human trafficking counts. Conclusions: In line with a macro-level social disorganization perspective we argue that countries with relatively weak social control will have high rates of crime and deviance. We operationalize social control in terms of the openness of a country's trade to the international community and as expected we find a curvilinear relationship between levels of trade openness and human trafficking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By drawing on the work of Jacobs (1961), we hypothesize that public contact among neighborhood residents while engaged in day-to-day routines, captured by the aggregate network structure of shared local exposure, is consequential for crime. Neighborhoods in which residents come into contact more extensively in the course of conventional routines will exhibit higher levels of public familiarity, trust, and collective efficacy with implications for the informal social control of crime. We employ the concept of ecological ('eco-') networks-networks linking households within neighborhoods through shared activity locations-to formalize the notion of overlapping routines. By using microsimulations of household travel patterns to construct census tract-level eco-networks for Columbus, OH, we examine the hypothesis that eco-network intensity (the probability that households tied through one location in a neighborhood eco-network will also be tied through another visited location) is negatively associated with tract-level crime rates ( N = 192). Fitted spatial autoregressive models offer evidence that neighborhoods with higher intensity eco-networks exhibit lower levels of violent and property crime. In contrast, a higher prevalence of nonresident visitors to a given tract is positively associated with property crime. The results of these analyses hold the potential to enrich insight into the ecological processes that shape variation in neighborhood crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, scholars have argued that local social and economic institutions, such as bars and payday lenders, can influence neighborhood crime outcomes. Drawing on routine activities theory and social disorganization theory, such research has posited that such institutions can directly affect crime rates by providing potential targets or encouraging criminal behavior, and can indirectly affect crime rates by discouraging social control efforts. We draw on this literature, as well as the literature on reactions to firearm prevalence, to examine the effects of gun shops on local crime rates. Using data for the year 2000 drawn from the National Neighborhood Crime Study (NNCS), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' Federal Firearms Licensees Database (FFLD), and the National Establishment Time-Series Longitudinal Business Database (NETS), we use hierarchical linear models to examine how the prevalence of gun shops at the tract and metro level contribute to tract-level rates of violent crime in eighty-nine large US cities. Our findings indicate that gun shop prevalence in urban areas is associated with increased rates of homicides and robberies, and that these effects are more pronounced in neighborhoods characterized by residential instability. We conclude with a discussion of policy considerations and avenues for future research on local institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past generation scholars have written about violence, crime, and conflict in Rio de Janeiro's favelas. While this scholarship has developed an extensive understanding of the problem of violence and criminal control of the city's favelas it has not yet effectively engaged in a discussion of the implications of differential types of crime creating local security orders. Building on research in two different city regions in Rio de Janeiro, this article examines how different types of crime groups emerge from varied forms of social disorganization and contribute to particular models of social control and order. The article examines the varying relationships and exchanges built by drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro's Zona Norte (Northern Zone) and milicias in the city's Zona Oeste (Western Zone). The actions of these criminal organizations emerge from and promote orders that affect the lived political, social, and economic experiences of residents of favelas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although classical theorists tend to believe that immigrant youth are more delinquent than native-born adolescents, the existing empirical studies have shown the opposite. The current paper first gives a comprehensive overview of major theoretical explanations for the relatively lower level of delinquency among immigrant youth, including cultural perspectives, strain theories, social control theory, social learning theory, and social disorganization theory. The main argument is that immigrant youth who have not yet acculturated to the youth subculture of the host society are more law-abiding due to protections from their traditional traits (i.e., being more realistic, stronger ties with family/schools, less access to delinquent friends, and higher level of collective efficacy in homogeneous neighborhoods). All these theories are also applied to explain the generational differences in terms of delinquency: compared to earlier generations, later generations of immigrant youth are often more delinquent because they are more acculturated and the protective factors from their origins wear off over time. The continuing public and political bias toward immigrant youth has been explained by social constructionists. We further discuss the necessity of a synthesis of these theoretical approaches and the importance to examine both internal and international migration under similar theoretical frameworks in the modern era.

This study integrates gender stratification and social disorganization theories to examine neighborhood effects on intimate partner violence ( IPV). Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, multilevel models assessed the influences of women's neighborhood-level socioeconomic resources relative to men's and collective efficacy on a woman's risk of IPV victimization by her spouse or cohabiting partner. The findings indicate that women's relative neighborhood resources protect against IPV victimization only in neighborhoods with sufficiently high collective efficacy. Likewise, the results show that collective efficacy protects against IPV victimization only when women have at least a modicum of control over neighborhood resources compared to men. The findings emphasize the importance of considering group resources along with neighborhood social organization to better understand IPV. More broadly, this study demonstrates how a group's position in a neighborhood social hierarchy helps determine the extent to which its members benefit from neighborhood social control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars in nonhuman animal studies and criminology have argued that more attention should be paid to the violence sanctioned by society, that of animal slaughter for industrial food production. Slaughterhouses and the communities surrounding these facilities present ideal sites for investigating how the violence of nonhuman animal slaughter work impacts individuals and society. The main research questions addressed in this study were whether the presence of a slaughterhouse in a rural community had an effect on violent crime arrest rates and what impact these facilities have on social disorganization in the community. Previous research on slaughterhouse communities has established a correlation between slaughterhouse employment and violent crime. This research examined the relationship between the presence of a slaughterhouse in the community and violent crime rates. Findings indicated that the location of a slaughterhouse in a county was associated with increases in the total arrest rate, arrests for rape, and arrests for offenses against the family in comparison to counties without a slaughterhouse, pointing to a relationship between the violence of killing nonhuman animals and violence towards humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Criminal Investigation & Criminology / Revija za Kriminalistiko in Kriminologijo is the property of Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, Police and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)