Environmental Correlates of School Vandalism (A Methodological Review) (From Link Between Crime and the Built Environment, Volume 2, P C469-C482, 1980, by Tetsuro Motoyama et al - See NCJ-79544)

• NCJ Number: 79586
• Author(s): T Motoyama; P Hartjens; H Rubenstein
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 14 pages
• Corporate Author: American Institutes for Research
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche from NCJRS as NCJ-79544.

Annotation

This review assesses Pavel Pablant's and James Baxter's examination of the relationship between a variety of environmental factors (e.g., esthetic quality, activity levels, and habitation density) and the incidence of school vandalism.

Abstract

Thirty-two schools, located in the Houston Independent School District in Texas were paired on the basis of geographic proximity, enrollment size, racial and ethnic composition of students, and grade level. One school of each pair was characterized by a high rate of vandalism, the other by a low rate. Each school was rated for its environmental characteristics by three independent observers. The raters used a standardized rating scale, the School-Neighborhood Attribute Scale, which consists of 10 subscales and 29 environmental attributes. The schools were then compared on the basis of the scores given by observers. The study concluded that (1) there is a relationship between vandalism rates and the esthetic quality and level of preservation of school property; (2) the activity level of the surrounding neighborhood is significant in differentiating between schools with high and low vandalism rates; and (3) vigilance is a deterrent to vandalism. Overall, the study's conclusions are justified, with some qualifications, and the study should be used as a basis for generating further research where the vandalism level is treated as a dependent variable.