NCJ Number
173119
Journal
Science Volume: 277 (August 15 Issue: Dated: Pages: 2-25
Date Published
1997
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article proposes that collective efficacy, defined as social cohesion among neighbors combined with their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good, is linked to reduced violence.
Abstract
The hypothesis that collective efficacy is linked to reduced violence was tested on a 1995 survey of 8,782 residents of 343 neighborhoods in Chicago, Illinois. The basic premise of the survey was that social and organizational characteristics of neighborhoods explain variations in crime rates that are not solely attributable to the aggregated demographic characteristics of individuals. Multilevel analyses showed that a measure of collective efficacy yields a high between-neighborhood reliability and is negatively associated with variations in violence, when individual-level characteristics, measurement error, and prior violence are controlled. Associations of concentrated disadvantage and residential instability with violence are largely mediated by collective efficacy. Notes, references, tables