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The Salience of Social Disorganization and Criminal

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The Salience of Social Disorganization and Criminal THE SALIENCE OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION AND CRIMINAL OPPORTUNITY THEORIES IN EXPLAINING CHRONIC VIOLENT CRIME PLACES: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY by LEIGH S. GROSSMAN A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-Newark Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Criminal Justice Written under the direction of Dr. Anthony A. Braga And approved by Newark, New Jersey May, 2016 © 2016 Leigh S. Grossman ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Salience of Social Disorganization and Criminal Opportunity Theories in Explaining Chronic Violent Crime Places: A Case-Control Study in Newark, New Jersey by LEIGH S. GROSSMAN Dissertation Chair: Dr. Anthony A. Braga 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 ii 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. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................ ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1 - Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Neighborhoods, Social Disorganization, and Crime .................................................................. 3 Chronic Crime Places and Criminal Opportunity Theory.......................................................... 5 Integrating Social Disorganization and Opportunity Theories to Explain Chronic Crime ........ 7 Places......................................................................................................................................... 7 Critique of Blending Social Disorganization and Opportunity Theories to Explain Crime Places....................................................................................................................................... 11 The Current Study .................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2 - A Review of the Literature: Neighborhoods and Crime......................... 18 The Chicago School ................................................................................................................. 19 Resurgence of Interest in the Neighborhoods and Crime Research Tradition.......................... 26 New Approaches to Neighborhoods and Crime ....................................................................... 31 Importance of Informal Social Control .................................................................................... 37 Chapter 3 - A Review of the Literature: Crime and Place ......................................... 40 Crime Concentrations .............................................................................................................. 41 The Characteristics of Places that Influence Crime Events...................................................... 43 Early Studies on the Built Environment and its Influence on the Spatial Distribution of ......... 46 Crime ....................................................................................................................................... 46 Rational Choice Perspective .................................................................................................... 48 Routine Activity Theory ............................................................................................................ 55 Crime Pattern Theory .............................................................................................................. 60 Broken Windows and Disorder ................................................................................................ 64 Linking Opportunity Theories to Neighborhood and Crime Perspectives ................................ 67 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 69 Chapter 4 - Research Setting and Analytic Framework ............................................. 71 Research Setting....................................................................................................................... 72 iv Unit of Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 79 Neighborhood Concentrations ................................................................................................. 82 Crime Concentrations at Street Segments ................................................................................ 89 Trajectory Analysis .................................................................................................................. 92 Matched Case-Control Design ................................................................................................. 94 Binary Regression Model ......................................................................................................... 96 Chapter 5 - Data Sources and Key Variables ............................................................... 98 Data Sources ............................................................................................................................ 98 Systematic Social Observations................................................................................................ 98 Routine Activities and Opportunity Variables ........................................................................ 102 Accessibility ....................................................................................................................... 102 Motivated Offenders .......................................................................................................... 104 Suitable Targets ................................................................................................................. 105 Guardianship ...................................................................................................................... 107 Measures of Collective Efficacy ............................................................................................. 108 Block Groups and Tenant Associations.............................................................................. 109 Churches ............................................................................................................................ 111 Community and Nonprofit Organizations .......................................................................... 112 Additional Variables .............................................................................................................
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