This article assesses the sources and consequences of public disorder. Based on the videotaping and systematic rating of more than 23,000 street segments in Chicago, highly reliable scales of social and physical disorder for 196 neighborhoods are constructed. Census data, police records, and an independent survey of more than 3,500 residents are then integrated to test a theory of collective efficacy and structural constraints. Defined as cohesion among residents combined with shared expectations for the social control of public space, collective efficacy explains lower rates of crime and observed disorder after controlling neighborhood structural characteristics. Collective efficacy is also linked to lower rates of violent crime after accounting for disorder and the reciprocal effects of violence. Contrary to the "broken windows" theory, however, the relationship between public disorder and crime is spurious except perhaps for robbery.

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Systematic Social Observation of Public Spaces: A New Look at Disorder in Urban Neighborhoods

The macro-level approach reemerged as a salient criminological paradigm in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Prompted by new theories and reformulations of existing ones, over 200 empirical studies explored ecological correlates of crime. Few efforts have been made, however, to "make sense" of this literature. A "meta-analysis" was undertaken to determine the relative effects of macro-level predictors of crime. Indicators of "concentrated disadvantage" (e.g., racial heterogeneity, poverty, and family disruption) are among the strongest and most stable predictors. Except for incarceration, variables indicating increased use of the criminal justice system (e.g., policing and get-tough policy effects) are among the weakest. Across all studies, social disorganization and resource/economic deprivation theories receive strong empirical support; anomie/strain, social support/social altruism, and routine activity theories receive moderate support; and deterrence/rational choice and subcultural theories receive weak...

Assessing Macro-Level Predictors and Theories of Crime: A Meta-Analysis

Over the past decade, problem-oriented policing has become a central strategy for policing. In a number of studies, problem-oriented policing has been found to be effective in reducing crime and disorder. However, very little is known about the value of problem-oriented interventions in controlling violent street crime. The National Academy of Sciences' Panel on the Understanding and Control of Violent Behavior suggests that sustained research on problem-oriented policing initiatives that modify places, routine activities, and situations that promote violence could contribute much to the understanding and control of violence. This study evaluates the effects of problem-oriented policing interventions on urban violent crime problems in Jersey City, New Jersey. Twenty-four high-activity, violent crime places were matched into 12 pairs and one member of each pair was allocated to treatment conditions in a randomized block field experiment. The results of the impact evaluation support the growing body of research that asserts focused police efforts can reduce crime and disorder at problem places without causing crime problems to displace to surrounding areas.

Problem-oriented policing in violent crime places: A randomized controlled experiment

Book Review: Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers

Dealing with physical and social disorder to prevent serious crime has become a central strategy for policing. This study evaluates the effects of policing disorder, within a problem-oriented policing framework, at crime and disorder hot spots in Lowell, Massachusetts. Thirty-four hot spots were matched into 17 pairs, and one member of each pair was allocated to treatment conditions in a randomized block field experiment. The officers engaged “shallow” problem solving and implemented a strategy that more closely resembled a general policing disorder strategy rather than carefully designed problem-oriented policing responses. Nevertheless, the impact evaluation revealed significant reductions in crime and disorder calls for service, and systematic observations of social and physical disorder at the treatment places relative to the control places uncovered no evidence of significant crime displacement. A mediation analysis of the isolated and exhaustive causal mechanisms that comprised the strategy revealed that the strongest crime-prevention gains were generated by situational prevention strategies rather than by misdemeanor arrests or social service strategies.

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Policing crime and disorder hot spots: a randomized controlled trial*

To date, scholars have simply inferred the beliefs underlying sex offender laws from the passage and content of the legislation. Few researchers have directly spoken to legislators to determine their opinions of the sex offender problem. This study seeks to determine the perceptions of sex offenders and sex offending in the 1990s that drove the need for sex offender reform in Illinois and the degree to which these perceptions influenced the content of the laws. The findings suggest that policy makers had very distinct ideas about the nature of the sex offender problem in terms of who was responsible, who was in need of protection, and the degree to which legislative responses would address the issue. There was congruence between these personal perceptions and the content of sex offender laws. The results shed light on the degree to which public officials' personal perceptions influence the passage and content of legislation.

Sex Offender Laws: Legislators' Accounts of the Need for Policy

This article explores the role of place managers in controlling drug and disorder problems on 100 street blocks in Oakland, California. We use self-reports from a sample of place managers to explore their role in changing the social and physical conditions of street-block activity within the context of a randomized field trial in Oakland. On-site observations of the changes in the social and physical conditions of 100 street blocks were conducted and used as our outcome measures. Our results suggest that street blocks where place managers engaged in collective crime control activities had significantly fewer signs of disorder and greater levels of civil behavior. Our results also show that community cohesiveness on a street block was associated with fewer males selling drugs.

Controlling drug and disorder problems: the role of place managers*

This paper reports the results of a randomized field study conducted in Oakland, CA where civil remedies were used to target drug, crime and disorder problems in 50 "experimental'' places; and traditional police tactics (surveillance, arrests, field interrogations) were used in 50 "control" places. Oakland's civil remedy program uses citations for build- ing, health, sewer, sidewalk and rodent control code violations, drug nuisance abatement laws, and coercion of third parties (such as property owners, apartment superintendents, and business owners) to clean up blighted and drug nuisance places. On-site observations of social activity on the 100 face blocks in our study were used to measure changes in street behavior as a result of the interventions. Results reveal a decrease in drug dealing and a decline in signs of disorder on the Beat Health-

Controlling social disorder using civil remedies: results from a randomized field experiment in oakland, california

Police unions: an empirical examination

Prior research based on limited datasets has suggested AMBER Alerts do little to prevent harm to child abduction victims. However, to investigate the possibility of recent improvements in AMBER Ale...

Colleen Kadleck

Papers

Sex Offender Laws: Legislators' Accounts of the Need for Policy

Controlling drug and disorder problems: the role of place managers*

Controlling social disorder using civil remedies: results from a randomized field experiment in oakland, california

Police unions: an empirical examination

AMBER Alert Effectiveness Reexamined