Pockets of Crime: Broken Windows, Collective Efficacy, and the Criminal Point of View

Why, even in the same high-crime neighborhoods, do robbery, drug dealing, and assault occur much more frequently on some blocks than on others? One popular theory is that a weak sense of community among neighbors can create conditions more hospitable for criminals, and another proposes that neighborhood disorder—such as broken windows and boarded-up buildings—makes crime more likely. But in his innovative new study, Peter K. B. St. Jean argues that we cannot fully understand the impact of these factors without considering that, because urban space is unevenly developed, different kinds of crimes occur most often in locations that offer their perpetrators specific advantages. Drawing on Chicago Police Department statistics and extensive interviews with both law-abiding citizens and criminals in one of the city’s highest-crime areas, St. Jean demonstrates that drug dealers and robbers, for example, are primarily attracted to locations with businesses like liquor stores, fast food restaurants, and check-cashing outlets. By accounting for these important factors of spatial positioning, he expands upon previous research to provide the most comprehensive explanation available of why crime occurs where it does. Why, even in the same high-crime neighbourhoods, do robbery, drug dealing, and assault occur much more frequently on some blocks than on others? One popular theory is that a weak sense of community among neighbours can create conditions more hospitable for criminals, and another proposes that neighbourhood disorder - such as broken windows and boarded-up buildings - makes crime more likely. But this study concludes that we cannot fully understand the impact of these factors without considering that, because urban space is unevenly developed, different kinds of crimes occur most often in locations that offer their perpetrators specific advantages. Drawing on Chicago Police Department statistics and extensive interviews with both law-abiding citizens and criminals in one of the city's highest-crime areas, St. Jean demonstrates that drug dealers and robbers, for example, are primarily attracted to locations with businesses like liquor stores, fast food restaurants, and check-cashing outlets. By accounting for these important factors of spatial positioning, he expands upon previous research to provide the most comprehensive explanation available of why crime occurs where it does Contents......Page 8 Foreword, by Robert J. Sampson......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 16 1 Introduction and Overview......Page 20 2 Explaining Crime Hotspots: Overview and Extensions of Broken Windows and Collective Effi cacy Theories......Page 50 3 Here’s the Neighborhood: A Video Ethnographic Tour of Grand Boulevard, 2000......Page 76 4 Perceived Sources of Neighborhood Disorder......Page 99 5 Where’s the Dope At? The Need to Understand Drug Dealing from the Ground Up......Page 117 6 “I Want It, I See It, I Take It”: The Robbery Hotspots......Page 168 7 “That’s the Way We Grew Up”: The Battery Hotspots......Page 185 8 What This All Means: Summary, Conclusions, and Implications......Page 214 Appendix A: Methodological Appendix......Page 246 Appendix B: Recent Trends in Research on Broken Windows......Page 270 Appendix C: Recent Trends in Research on Collective Efficacy ......Page 276 References......Page 284 Index......Page 290