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Article 1: Types of Crime and Types of Mechanisms: What Are the Consequences for Neighborhoods Over Time?                                   

Abstract: Using a longitudinal data set of 317 neighborhoods from 1996 to 2002 in Utrecht, The Netherlands, this study tests whether types of crime differentially impact (a) the mechanisms of social disorganization theory and (b) residents’ mobility behavior and attitudes toward the neighborhood. Neighborhoods with more cohesion have less violence two years later. Also, neighborhoods perceiving more violence experience lower levels of cohesion two years later. Higher levels of perceived violence were most important for explaining who moves out of the neighborhood, as such neighborhoods had more non-Whites and more lower income households at the next time point. Burglaries (a crime that occurs in private space) appear to increase residents’ sense of feeling responsibility for the neighborhood.
 

Article 2: Residence-Based Fear of Crime A Routine Activities Approach

Abstract: Most fear-of-crime research uses resident’s neighborhood as a key reference location to measure fear, yet the location effects of one’s own dwelling unit on crime-specific fear have not been explicitly studied theoretically in the literature. Drawing upon routine activities theory, this study undertakes an investigation into the levels and determinants of residence-based fear of crime across three racial/ethnic groups—Whites, African Americans, and non-White Hispanics. Data used in the analyses were collected from a random-sample telephone survey of 1,239 respondents in Houston, Texas. The results derived from factor analyses revealed that residents do distinguish between fear in the neighborhood and fear at home. Proximity to motivated offenders measured by perception of crime was found to be the most salient predictor of fear, followed by the measures of target vulnerability and capable guardianship. In addition, residence-based fear varies significantly across racial/ethnic groups. The significance of these findings and the policy implications are highlighted.