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Disorder in Urban Neighborhoods U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice National Institute of Justice R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f Julie E. Samuels, Acting Director February 2001 Issues and Findings Disorder in Urban Neighborhoods— Discussed in this Brief: The link between disorder and crime; Does It Lead to Crime? specifically, whether manifesta- tions of social and physical disor- By Robert J. Sampson and Stephen W. Raudenbush der, such as public drunkenness, graffiti, and broken windows, According to a now-familiar thesis, social Disorder is indeed related to crime. The lead directly to more serious and physical disorder in urban neighbor- broken windows metaphor is apt insofar as offenses. The study, part of the hoods can, if unchecked, lead to serious it asserts that physical signs of decay sig- long-range Project on Human crime. The reasoning is that even such nal neighbors’ unwillingness to confront Development in Chicago minor public incivilities as drinking in strangers, intervene when a crime is being Neighborhoods, assesses the the street, spray-painting graffiti, and committed, or ask the police to respond. “broken windows” thesis and breaking windows can escalate into preda- Disorder may in fact be more useful than its implications for crime control tory crime because prospective offenders crime for understanding certain troubling policy and practice. assume from these manifestations of dis- urban processes, such as the abandonment Key issues: The assumption that order that area residents are indifferent of many of the Nation’s urban cores. That social and physical disorder can to what happens in their neighborhood.1 is because disorder can be observed, escalate to serious crime has had The “broken windows” thesis has greatly while crime, by contrast, is largely unob- a major influence on law enforce- influenced crime control policy, with served. But the contention that disorder ment in many urban areas, result- New York City best exemplifying the use is an essential cause in the pathway to ing in police crackdowns on even of aggressive police tactics to stem disor- predatory crime is open to question. Re- minor incivilities. The research, der. Many other cities have adopted simi- ported here are the results of research that conducted in 196 Chicago neigh- lar “zero tolerance” policies, cracking revisits the assumption of disorder as pro- borhoods, assesses this thesis, down on even the most minor offenses. viding cues that entice potential predators. proposing that crime stems from the same sources as disorder— There is no doubt that understanding Rethinking disorder structural characteristics of certain physical and social disorder in public neighborhoods, most notably The research was part of the Project on concentrated poverty. spaces is fundamental to understanding urban neighborhoods. Certainly, visual Human Development in Chicago Neigh- “Collective efficacy,” defined as signs of decay silently but forcefully con- borhoods, a long-term study of the cohesion among neighborhood vey messages about affected neighbor- antecedents of antisocial and criminal residents combined with shared hoods. Disorder triggers attributions and behavior being conducted among a large expectations for informal social predictions in the minds of insiders and group of people in a number of Chicago control of public space, is pro- outsiders alike, changing the calculus neighborhoods. (For a description, see posed as a major social process of prospective homebuyers, real estate “The Roots of the Study: The Project on inhibiting both crime and disor- Human Development in Chicago Neighbor- der. Disorder was measured by agents, insurance agents, and investors. direct observation rather than The extent of disorder reflects the extent hoods.”) The major goal of this phase of through the subjective percep- of residents’ effectiveness in improving the study was to rethink the consequences tions of neighborhood residents. their neighborhoods and may affect their of disorder and examine its sources. The informal social control mech- willingness to sustain their activism. anism of collective efficacy (and the broken windows thesis as This publication summarizes the authors’ article, “Systematic Social Observation of Public Spaces: A New Look at Disorder well) focuses on what is visible in in Urban Neighborhoods,” which appeared in American Journal of Sociology 105 (3) (November 1999): 603–51. © 1999 by the University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved. The summary is published with permission of the University of public places. continued… Chicago Press, publisher of the American Journal of Sociology. R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f Issues and Findings The research produced an alternative common standards that underlie any col- … continued interpretation of the link between disorder lective effort on their part to establish and crime, one that sees many elements social order and safety. These efforts Key findings: The study suggests of disorder as part and parcel of crime are initiated or otherwise pursued infor- that disorder does not directly itself. Typical activities categorized as mally through relatively noncoercive promote crime, although the two phenomena are related, and that social disorder, such as soliciting prosti- means, and are an expression of the self- collective efficacy is a significant tutes and loitering, and incivilities like regulating capacity of a social unit. Thus, factor in explaining levels of painting graffiti are evidence of either neighborhood residents might use these crime and disorder. crime or ordinance violations. The forces means—informal social control mecha- producing these minor crimes may be the nisms—to intervene in preventing truan- G Disorder and crime alike were same as those that produce more serious cy, public drinking, vandalism, or other found to stem from certain neigh- crimes, with the difference only in the manifestations of disorder. borhood structural characteristics, degree of seriousness. Viewed this way, notably concentrated poverty. disorder and crime are manifestations of The degree of informal social control G Homicide, arguably one of the the same phenomenon. is not the same in all neighborhoods. best measures of violence, was Where the rules of comportment are among the offenses for which What lies behind crime and unclear and people mistrust one another, there was no direct relationship they are unlikely to take action against disorder? with disorder. Disorder was directly disorder and crime. Where there is cohe- linked only to the level of robbery. The study proposes that both crime sion and mutual trust among neighbors, and disorder stem from structural char- the likelihood is greater that they will G In neighborhoods where col- acteristics specific to certain neighbor- lective efficacy was strong, rates share a willingness to intervene for the of violence were low, regardless hoods, most notably concentrated poverty common good. This link of cohesion and of sociodemographic composi- and the associated absence of social trust with shared expectations for inter- tion and the amount of disorder resources. The concentration of disad- vening in support of neighborhood social observed. Collective efficacy also vantage refers not only to low incomes control has been termed “collective effi- appears to deter disorder: Where but also to high unemployment, a high cacy,” a key social process proposed in it was strong, observed levels of ratio of financial dependence of one part this research as an inhibitor of both physical and social disorder were of the population on another, and lack of crime and disorder.4 low, after controlling for sociode- investment potential.2 mographic characteristics and These two sets of forces—structural residents’ perceptions of how Structural constraints are not necessarily characteristics of neighborhoods and much crime and disorder there or solely economic. Residential stability, human intervention—are interrelated, was in the neighborhood. typically measured by levels of home working jointly and reciprocally to affect G The findings imply that although ownership and transience, has long been crime and disorder. Concentrated disad- reducing disorder may reduce considered a key element of strong urban vantage and residential instability under- crime, this happens indirectly, by social organization3 and its absence a mine collective efficacy, in turn fostering stabilizing neighborhoods via lost opportunity for residents to build a increased crime and, by implication, pub- collective efficacy. stake in the community. Still other social lic disorder. If the broken windows thesis constraints, among them inordinate pop- is correct, and disorder directly causes Target audience: Local law enforcement officials and policy- ulation density (which can overwhelm crime, then disorder should mediate the makers, particularly those in urban public services) and mixed land use, are effects of neighborhood structural charac- areas; researchers, particularly also proposed as obstacles to overcoming teristics and collective efficacy on crime. those focused on violence public incivilities. By contrast, if disorder is a manifestation prevention. of the same forces that produce crime, At the same time these social constraints then collective efficacy and structural may promote crime and disorder, there characteristics should account for the are forces working to inhibit them. Com- relationship between disorder and crime. munity residents are assumed to want to
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