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theses

Most criminological research on the uneven distribution of crime across cities applies social disorganization concepts, such as collective efficacy or crime opportunity concepts, such as guardianship, to understand underlying risk factors associated with high-activity crime places. A recent longitudinal study of street segments examined why certain places experienced disproportionate amounts of crime (Weisburd, Groff, and Yang, 2012). This study analyzed readily-accessible data on varying characteristics of street segments and found support for both crime opportunity and social disorganization features. Some observers questioned whether the variables used in the study could be used to distinguish key theoretical concepts, such as the place-level application of informal social control mechanisms, in crime opportunity and social disorganization theories (see Braga and Clarke, 2014). This dissertation research seeks to apply more robust crime opportunity and social disorganization measures at street segments in Newark, New Jersey. This research was designed to use refined measures of collective efficacy and local guardianship to shed light on criminogenic dynamics associated with persistently violent street segments. Group-based trajectory models were used to identify street segments with stable concentrations of street violence between 2008 and 2013. A matched case-control design was then used to determine whether any statistically significant differences in a range of situational and other factors existed at the most violent segments relative to the least violent segments. A logistic regression model was used to identify statistically significant differences between the case and control streets on variables that represented key concepts from criminal opportunity and social disorganization theories. The analyses revealed many opportunity variables, such as particular local guardianship measures, were statistically significant predictors of whether street segments had persistent violent crime problems. In contrast, none of the local collective efficacy measures were statistically significant. From a theoretical perspective, this research suggests that informal social control at very small violent crime places may best be conceptualized in terms of local guardianship dynamics common to opportunity theories, rather than collective efficacy measures common to social disorganization theories. From a practical perspective, this dissertation research suggests situational measures that increase local guardianship may be productive in controlling violence in small places.

ETD_7304

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Leigh S. Grossman

doi:10.7282/T3WS8WG5

ETD doctoral

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