The Disorder-Fear Nexus: Implications of Using Broad Scale Measures of Disorder

• In Event: Crime and Place: Examining the Formation and Impact of Disorder Perceptions

Abstract

Perceptions of disorder are central to the broken windows model as Wilson and Kelling (1982) argued that signs of untended disorder send signals to residents that no one cares about the area. This is said to increase fear and community withdrawal, which weakens social control and leaves the area vulnerable to criminal invasion. Most research on this topic has tested the model with scale measures of overall disorder, or separate scales of social and physical disorder. However, recent works suggest not all types of disorder send the same signals about an area (Innes, 2004). Moreover, other scholars have found that observations of disorder do not necessarily correspond to residents’ perceptions of the same phenomenon (Hinkle & Yang, 2014). The current study advances upon these two areas of research by examining how individual observational measures of specific types of disorder (rather than aggregate scales) relate to perceptual measures of the same items. This study also explores the different signals specific types of social and physical disorder may send by examining their impacts on fear of crime. Implications for broken windows theory and policy are discussed, as well as methodological suggestions for future research.

Authors

• Joshua C. Hinkle, Georgia State University

• Sue-Ming Yang, George Mason University

• Laura A. Wyckoff, University of Maryland