Local Institutions and Juvenile Violence

• In Event: Institutions and Neighborhoods

Abstract

Research on neighborhoods and crime finds that a number of structural conditions are positively related to criminal behavior (Sampson and Groves 1989). In order to further our understanding, more recent research focuses on the institutional base of neighborhoods and its relationship to crime (Peterson, Krivo, and Harris 2000). Research on neighborhood institutions and crime has found that stabilizing institutions decrease crime (Snedker, Herting, and Walton 2013) while destabilizing institutions increase crime (Stewart 2011). Neighborhood institution research has not fully examined mechanisms in the relationship between institutions and crime nor has it examined the relationship between institutions and crime in a nationally representative data set. The current study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine the relationship between local institutions and adolescent violence. Our study finds that public facilities decreases adolescent crime and is not mediated by neighborhood social control or neighborhood social capital. Schools increase adolescent violence, but the relationship is mediated by neighborhood social capital. Further analyses provide evidence that the relationship between local institutions and violence is moderated by neighborhood social capital whereby higher social capital is detrimental to the benefits of institutions. Implications and future research will also be discussed.

Authors

• Andrea Garber Krieg, Lewis University

• Jessica Ziegler, Bowling Green State University