NCJ Number
198833
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior: An International Journal Volume: 30 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2003 Pages: 39-61
Date Published
February 2003
Length
23 pages
Annotation
Using neighborhood-level data from eight Chicago neighborhoods, this study tested a hypothesis that burglary victimization would vary across neighborhoods with different social orders.
Abstract
The systemic disorganization model posits a link between neighborhood social order and the character of the sustenance routines that constitute the patterns of people's daily lives. Under this model various strengths of social order result in different levels of control, which in turn affect the risk of victimization. The current research tested a structural variance hypothesis derived from Bursik and Grasmick's (1993) systemic victimization model, which posits an inverse relationship between the strength of neighborhood ecological social order and residential burglary victimization. Data from the Chicago Neighborhood Study (Taub, Taylor, and Dunham, 1984) were used in this analysis. The original researchers selected eight neighborhoods according to varying crime rates, different racial compositions, and various types of housing markets and conditions. In addition, victimization data were available for each neighborhood. Conducted in 1979, the survey sample was selected by the National Opinion Research Center's random-digit dialing program. The total sample size for the neighborhoods was 3,310 cases. The individual neighborhood samples ranged from 395 to 441. Household burglary victimization was the outcome of interest. One of the findings suggests that interaction between social order and household routines, rather than wealth, contributes to household victimization; thus, the assumed attractiveness of the target to a motivated offender may not matter so much as whether the level of systemic control is adequate to deter the offender. Further, the study found that structural setting conditions the effects of household routines on burglary victimization. Household size was positively related to burglary risk, but its effects were enhanced in a setting characterized by a relatively large youth population in a community with weak social orders. Similarly, the gender of household heads was a positive risk factor in settings characterized by single heads of households and weak social orders. The implications of these findings for refinements to the model are discussed. 5 tables and 22 references