NCJ Number
75882
Journal
Criminology Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: (February 1981) Pages: 557-570
Date Published
1981
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The value of defensible space was examined in a variety of household types using observation and interview data.
Abstract
Households included in the survey were drawn from the Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey and were matched on demographic characteristics. Interviewers recorded the characteristics of public areas adjacent to the households, and conducted interviews with members of 37 of the sample household group. Neither the accessibility of public areas to strangers and the opportunity for residents to observe the space play a role in the incidence of crime in a given area. In the public areas of apartment buildings the opposite was true. Residents felt more responsibility for areas having limited access and which provide ample opportunities for observation. The fact that the defensible space concept fails to allow for social considerations limits viability. Implementing this concept in neighborhoods with limited residential mobility, high employment, and considerable community integration might be effective. In less stable communities, the concept does not justify the considerable cost required to implement it. Twenty references are included.