Fear and Its Relationship to Crime, Neighborhood Deterioration, and Informal Social Control (From Social Ecology of Crime, P 47-62, 1986, James M Byrne and Robert J Sampson, eds. - See NCJ-103082)

• NCJ Number: 103084
• Author(s): S W Greenberg
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 16 pages
• Grant Number(s): 81-IJ-CX-0080
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: Springer-Verlag
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This is a revised version of a paper presented at the meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Denver, Colorado, November 1983.

Annotation

This study tests a model which hypothesizes that crime level and neighborhood physical deterioration directly and indirectly affect the fear of crime through their effect on perceptions of the seriousness of the crime problem and social disorder. This in turn affects confidence in the neighborhood's economic viability and citizens' perception of the availability of social support.

Abstract

The study reanalyzed a data set collected by Taub and associates in eight Chicago neighborhoods. The data collection efforts relevant to the present study are the resident survey and the housing and neighborhood appearance rating, which consisted of a series of ratings of the physical appearance of buildings and surrounding grounds. A 25-percent random sample of survey respondents was selected, and the blocks on which they resided were rated. The study analyzed the relative effects of independent variables related to victimization (crime rate and personal or household victimization), social control (physical deterioration, perceived disorder, and social support networks), and economic viability (confidence in the economic viability of the neighborhood). Hierarchical stepwise regression was used to predict safety satisfaction and the worry index. The analysis indicates that perceptions of disorder and crime and confidence in the neighborhood's economic well-being were pivotal variables linking objective neighborhood characteristics with fear of crime. This suggests that enhancing confidence in a neighborhood's economic well-being and reducing citizen perceptions of a high crime rate and deteriorating social order will lower the fear of crime. 8 tables and 6 footnotes.