NCJ Number
102307
Date Published
1985
Length
262 pages
Annotation
An analysis of a program to reduce the fear of crime in Newark, N.J., suggested that efforts to reduce this fear should focus on the broad community and should provide frequent and lasting assurance of positive steps to maintain order.
Abstract
A field test in Newark during 1983 and 1984 aimed to reduce fear of crime by reducing the deterioration and disorder that represented the social and physical signs of crime. The program's components were a cleanup program directed at physical deterioration and an intensified law enforcement effort. Random samples of residents were surveyed before and 10 months after the program's introduction. Although the program was implemented as planned, it had few statistically significant effects. None of the desired effects were achieved. However, residents of the area served by the program took significantly more steps to protect their homes from crime than did those in the comparison area. The shortness of the program period may have been the source of the lack of effects on fear of crime. Findings did not permit any conclusions about the validity of the theory underlying the Newark effort. Footnotes, tables, list of task force members, 28 references, and 12 appendixes giving methodological details and additional results. For executive summary, see NCJ 102306.