The authors explore the effectiveness of neighborhood watch in its ability to reduce crime through the use of a literature review and meta-analysis; they discuss their objectives, criteria for inclusion of studies, search strategies, data collection and analysis, and results.
The primary aim of this Campbell systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of neighborhood watch in reducing crime. The narrative review was based on 19 studies (covering 43 evaluations) and the meta-analysis was based on 12 studies (covering 18 evaluations). The authors included data from police-recorded crimes and self-reported victimizations, and studies were identified by searching 11 electronic databases. In addition, studies were sought using online library catalogues, literature reviews, lists of references, and published bibliographies. The narrative review was based on 19 studies (covering 43 evaluations) and the meta-analysis was based on 12 studies, covering 18 evaluations. The main finding of the narrative review was that the majority of the schemes evaluated indicated that neighborhood watch was effective in reducing crime, and the main finding of the meta-analysis was that the weighted mean odds ratio for all studies combined was 1.19 using the fixed effects method and 1.36 using the random effects method. The results of both methods show that neighborhood watch was associated with a reduction in crime of between 16 percent and 26 percent. Publisher Abstract Provided