Does Social Disorganization Impact Fear of Crime? Results from a Community Survey

• In Event: Posters II

Abstract

This study will examine the impact of neighborhood-level variables on fear of crime. Shaw and McKay (1942) identify ethnic heterogeneity, poverty, mobility, and rapid population growth as four structural antecedents of social disorganization. While the theory of social disorganization is traditionally employed to explain the presence of crime and deviance, we will utilize the model to better understand variations in fear of crime. Fear of crime can impact individual’s behavior both positively and negatively. While a degree of fear may be useful to encourage individuals to take precautions that reduce their risk of victimization, excessive fear can actually facilitate behavior that, when aggregated at the neighborhood level, can increase levels of crime. This study will use individual characteristics and structural antecedents of social disorganization to model the variation in fear of crime in Fairfax County, Virginia. Informal social control will be assessed indirectly by measuring its neighborhood-level determinants and is supplemented by one more direct measure—the ability of a community supervise teen peer groups. The study relies on block-group data from the U.S. Census to measure the structural antecedents of social disorganization. Measures for fear of crime are drawn from the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy’s Fairfax Community Survey.

Author

• Jordan L. Nichols, George Mason University