지역무질서, 지역유대와 범죄피해의 관계

Neighborhood Disorder, Cohesion, and Victimization

Since social disorganization theory reemerged as one of the major theoretical perspective, neighborhood characteristics have been emphasized in explaining the level of crime or victimization. Among them, physical disorder or incivilities have also been noted as central to a neighborhood's crime. According to a theory of broken window, the level of disorder plays a major role in explaining crime. However, according to a theory of collective efficacy, the relationship between neighborhood disorder and crime is spurious and both of them are manifestation of the same causal factor, which is the level of neighborhood cohesion or informal social control. Using neighborhood-level data collected in Daegu, this study tests the relative efficacy of two theories. The results shows that neighborhood disorder and cohesion have a reciprocal relationship, which supports two theories, but disorder has no direct or indirect effect on personal victimization. This study found that disorder and crime(victimization) are both the products of weakened social control. The evidence presented in this study shows that the residents' organizational participation reduces the level of personal victimization. The policy implications of these results are discussed.