Criminology & Criminal Justice
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Item A Multilevel Exploration of Neighborhood Disorder, Family Management and Antisocial Behavior(2012) Lobo Antunes, Maria; Simpson, Sally S; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Tremendous research has been dedicated to unpacking the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and youth development. Despite these efforts conclusions have been generally mixed and it is the lack of consensus regarding the importance of community that has in part fueled this dissertation. Much of the research dedicated to examining community and neighborhood effects on parenting and child behavior have been focused on community structural characteristics. Even though there is much evidence to suggest that disorder can affect both individuals and communities alike there is a paucity of literature on how neighborhood disorder may simultaneously influence family practices and child problem behavior. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) and borrowing from the conceptual framework developed by Furstenberg, Cook, Eccles, Elder and Sameroff (1999), the current investigation explores the relationship between disorder, family management and youth antisocial behavior by posing four research questions. First, what are the effects of neighborhood disorder on family management practices? Second, how do family management strategies influence youth involvement in antisocial behavior? Third, how does neighborhood disorder affect youth antisocial behavior? Fourth, what is the multilevel relationship between disorder, family management and antisocial behavior? A series of models analyzed using Hierarchical Linear Model indicate that although disorder significantly influences several parenting strategies, in the end, family management practices tend to have a greater impact on youth involvement in antisocial behavior. Parents living in disordered neighborhood are more likely to limit their child's access to the surrounding neighborhood which in turn is shown to reduce antisocial behavior. These findings suggest that protective family management practices can be effective in curbing youth deviant behavior. Moreover, the analyses also revealed a significant relationship between proximal mechanisms of antisocial behavior (exposure to violence and peer deviance), family management and antisocial behavior. In essence, parental efforts in reducing exposure to violence and peer deviance have a protective effect in reducing antisocial behavior, especially in highly disordered neighborhoods. In keeping with these findings, several avenues for future research are discussed, as are theoretical and policy implications.Item MAKING SENSE OF BROKEN WINDOWS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEPTIONS OF DISORDER, FEAR OF CRIME, COLLECTIVE EFFICACY AND PERCEPTIONS OF CRIME(2009) Hinkle, Joshua Conard; Weisburd, David; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The broken windows thesis has had a profound impact on policing strategies around the world. The thesis suggests that police can most effectively fight crime by focusing their efforts on targeting disorder--minor crimes and nuisance behaviors such as loitering, public drinking and vandalism, as well as dilapidated physical conditions in a community. The strategy was most prominently used in New York City in the 1990s, and has been often credited for the crime drop observed in the city over that decade. Despite the widespread influence of the broken windows thesis, there has been relatively little rigorous empirical research which has sought to test the validity of its theoretical propositions. This dissertation aimed to address this shortcoming by using structural equation modeling to test the relationships between perceived disorder, fear of crime, collective efficacy and perceptions of crime suggested by the broken windows thesis using survey data collected during a randomized, experimental evaluation of broken windows policing in three cities in California. The results are supportive of the broken windows thesis, but also raise some challenges. Perceptions of disorder were found to increase fear of crime, reduce collective efficacy and lead to crime as suggested. However, fear of crime was not significantly related to collective efficacy as suggested, and the direct effect of perceived social disorder on perceptions of crime was the strongest effect in every model. Nevertheless, the findings do suggest that a reduction of disorder in a community may have positive effects in the form of reducing fear and promoting collective efficacy, and suggest the limitations of studies which only test for direct effects of disorder on crime and/or do not examine the variables at the perceptual level. Future research needs to further examine the broken windows thesis, ideally involving a prospective longitudinal study of crime at place.