The Effect of Aggregate Levels of Female Victimization on Neighborhood Collective Efficacy

• In Event: The Complex Role of Collective Efficacy in Crime and Crime Control

Abstract

Qualitative researchers have uncovered alarmingly high rates of female victimization in high crime areas. Women and girls growing up in dangerous neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage describe long histories of poly-victimization including sexual and physical abuse from both intimates and strangers. Additionally, in areas of concentrated disadvantage,out-mobility is highly constrained by race and social class which leads to the possibility that many victims have subsequent contact with their victimizers. Research on the aggregate effects of neighborhood disorganization suggests that in areas with low collective efficacy, victimization rates are high. We, however, suggest a reciprocal relationship between female victimization and collective efficacy; that high aggregate rates of female victimization, contribute to low, aggregate levels of collective efficacy. We test these questions using multi-level data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods.

Authors

• Constance Chapple, University of Oklahoma

• John Billington, University of Oklahoma

• Brandon Crawford, University of Oklahoma

• Renee Phillip, University of Oklahoma

• Marshall Schmidt, University of Oklahoma

• Candace Smith, University of Oklahoma