Date of Award

Fall 2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Sociology & Criminal Justice

Program/Concentration

Applied Sociology

Committee Director

Ruth Triplett

Committee Member

Randy Gainey

Committee Member

William Agyei

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.S62 C65 2007

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the effects of collective efficacy and dissatisfaction with law enforcement on neighborhood crime rates. A data set was obtained from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research titled, Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods: Community Survey 1994-1995 (PHDCN). This is one of the only studies which ask specific questions concerning collective efficacy and dissatisfaction with law enforcement, accompanied with a large, diverse sample. This research is important because it looks at two concepts, collective efficacy and dissatisfaction with law enforcement and their combined effect on neighborhood crime rates; violent and non-violent crimes. A research study focusing on those concepts in relation to neighborhood crime rates has never been examined before.

The following four hypotheses that were explored were (1) Dissatisfaction with law enforcement is significantly and inversely related to collective efficacy; the higher the dissatisfaction with law enforcement, the lower the collective efficacy. (2) Collective efficacy is significantly and inversely related to violent and nonviolent neighborhood crime rates; the greater the level of collective efficacy, the lower the neighborhood crimes rates. (3)Dissatisfaction with law enforcement is significantly related to violent and non-violent neighborhood crime rates; the higher the dissatisfaction with law enforcement, the higher the neighborhood crime rates. (4)Collective efficacy mediates the relationship between dissatisfaction and violent and non-violent neighborhood crime rates; lower levels of dissatisfaction lead to high levels of collective efficacy which in turn is significantly related to crime rates in neighborhoods.

The results could have implications for the way police departments handle crime in certain neighborhoods. Today, many police departments are undergoing a change in the way business is conducted. This research will help to provide a better understanding, at the neighborhood level, of resident's perceptions of police and will hopefully help to implement preventative crime measures in neighborhoods.

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DOI

10.25777/wdhg-9j59

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