Abstract
In this chapter we argue, both from a theoretical (Situational Action Theory) and methodological(homogeneity of environmental conditions) point of view, that smallenvironmental units are preferable to large in the study of environmentaleffects on crime.
Most empirical research in the field of communities and crimeutilizes fairly large spatial units of several thousand residents,such as U.S. census tracts or even clusters of census tracts, thus evoking doubts about internal homogeneity. If geographical areas are heterogeneous in their environmental conditions, associations between structural conditions, social organization, and outcomes such as crime may be clouded or rendered insignificant. On the other hand, due to common financial restrictions, choosing more units often (but not necessarily) imply fewer subjects per units which may cause a ‘small number problem’, that is, that the prediction of events as rare as crime will lose precision (compared to the use of larger units with more subjects). The question then is how small can you go before this potential problem outweighs the benefits of more homogeneous areas? This chapter assesses the added value of using very small area units in a community survey on environmental influences on crime. This survey was carried out in 2005 as part of the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+) and covers the UK city of Peterborough and some rural surroundings. For the purpose of this study, we used the smallest administrative unit which subdivides the city, isolating 550 areas with about 300 residents each. We sampled an average of 13 respondents per unit for a total sample of 6,600 respondents. Multilevel analyses and Sampson’s (1999a) ecometric approach are applied to compare the aggregate-level reliability of survey scales on this very small geographical level to the larger spatial level conventionally used for geographical analysis. The results show a considerable increase in between-neighborhood variance, reflecting a higher degree of homogeneity and statistical power for detecting particularly moderate to weak area-level effects. We use the collective efficacy scale and its subscales to illustrate these results.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bailey, T. C., & Gatrell, A. C. (1995). Interactive spatial data analysis. London: Longman.
Bellair, P. E. (1997). Social interaction and community crime: Examining the importance of neighbor networks. Criminology, 35, 677–703.
Hox, J. (2002). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and applications. Mawhaw: Erlbaum.
Kubrin, C. E., & Weitzer, R. (2003). New directions in social disorganization theory. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 40(4), 374–402.
Land, K. C., McCall, P. L., & Cohen, L. E. (1990). Structural covariates of homicide rates: Are there any invariances across time and space. American Journal of Sociology, 95(4), 922–963.
Martin, D. (2000). Towards the geographies of the 2001 UK census of population. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 25, 321–332.
McCord, E. S., Ratcliffe, J. H., Garcia, R. M., & Taylor, R. B. (2007). Nonresidential crime attractors and generators elevate perceived neighborhood crime and incivilities. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 44(3), 295–320.
McVie, S., & Norris, P. (2006). Neighbourhood effects on youth delinquency and drug use (Edinburgh study of youth transitions and crime, working paper 10). Edinburgh: Centre for Law and Society.
Miethe, T. D., & Meier, R. F. (1994). Crime and its social context: Towards an integrated theory of offenders, victims, and situations. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Murrey, D. M., Varnell, S. P., & Blitstein, J. L. (2004). Design and analysis of group-randomized trials: A review of recent methodological developments. American Journal of Public Health, 94(3), 423–432.
Oberwittler, D. (2003). Die Messung und Qualitätskontrolle kontextbezogener Befragungsdaten mithilfe der Mehrebenenanalyse - am Beispiel des Sozialkapitals von Stadtvierteln. ZA-Informationen, 53, 11–41.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. (2004). The English Indices of Deprivation 2004: Summary. London.
Openshaw, S., & Taylor, P. J. (1981). The modifiable areal unit problem. In: N. Wrigley & R. J. Bennet (Eds.), Quantitative geography: A British view (pp. 60–70). London: Routledge.
Openshaw, S. (1984). Modifiable areal unit problem. Norwich: GeoBooks.
Ouimet, M. (2000). Aggregation bias in ecological research: How social disorganization and criminal opportunities shape the spatial distribution of juvenile delinquency in Montreal. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 42, 135–156.
Raudenbush, S. W. (1999). Statistical analysis and optimal design in cluster randomized trials. Psychological Methods, 2(2), 173–185.
Raudenbush, S., & Bryk, A. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: applications and data analysis methods (2.A.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Raudenbush, S. W., & Sampson, R. J. (1999). Ecometrics: Toward a science of assessing ecological settings, with appliance to the systematic social observation of neighborhoods. Sociological Methodology, 29, 1–41.
Reynolds, H. D. (1998). The modifiable area unit problem: empirical analysis and statistical simulation. PhD thesis, University of Toronto.
Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. J. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277, 918–924.
Sampson, R. J., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1999). Systematic social observation of public spaces: A new look at disorder in urban neighborhoods. American Journal of Sociology, 105(3), 603–651.
Sampson, R. J., Morenoff, J. D., & Gannon-Rowley, T. (2002). Assessing “neighborhood effects”: Social processes and new directions in research. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 443–478.
Sampson, R. (2006). How does community context matter? Social mechanisms and the explanation of crime rates. In: P.-O. H. Wikström & R. Sampson (Eds.), Crime and its explanation: Contexts, mechanisms and development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shaw, C., & McKay, H. D. (1969 [1942]). Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Silver, E., & Miller, L. L. (2004). Sources of informal social control in Chicago neighborhoods. Criminology, 42(3), 551–583.
Smith, W. R., Frazee, S. G., & Davison, E. (2000). Furthering the integration of routine activity and social disorganization theories: Small units of analysis and the study of street robbery as a diffusion process. Criminology, 38(2), 489–523.
Snijders, T., & Bosker, R. (1999). Multilevel Analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel analysis. London: Sage.
Taylor, R. (2001). Breaking away from broken windows: baltimore neighborhoods and the nationwide fight against crime, grime, fear, and decline. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Taylor, R. (2002). Fear of crime, social ties, and collective efficacy: Maybe masquerading measurement, maybe Deja Vu all over again. Justice Quarterly, 19(4), 773–792.
Wikström, P.-O. H. (2004). Crime as alternative: Towards a cross-level situational action theory of crime causation. In: J. McCord (Ed.), Beyond empiricism: Institutions and intentions in the study of crime (pp. 1–37). New Brunswick: Transaction.
Wikström, P.-O. H. (2005). The social origins of pathways in crime. Towards a developmental ecological action theory of crime involvement and its changes. In: D. P. Farrington (Ed.), Testing integrated developmental/life course theories of offending (pp. 211–145). New Brunswick: Transaction.
Wikström, P.-O. H. (2006). Individuals, settings and acts of crime. situational mechanisms and the explanation of crime. In: P.-O. H. Wikström & R. J. Sampson (Eds.), The explanation of crime: Context, mechanisms and development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikström, P.-O. H. (2007a). The social ecology of crime: The role of the environment in crime causation. In: H.-J. Schneider (Ed.), Internationales Handbuch der Kriminologie (Vol. 1). Berlin: de Gruyter.
Wikström, P.-O. H. (2007b). Deterrence and deterrence experiences: Preventing crime through the threat of punishment. In: S. Shoham, O. Beck, & M. Kett (Eds.), International handbook of penology and criminal justice (pp. 345–378). London: CRC Press.
Wikström, P.-O. H. (2007c). In search of causes and explanations of crime. In: R. King & E. Wincup (Eds.), Doing research on crime and justice (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wikström, P.-O. H., & Dolmen, L. (2001). Urbanisation, neighbourhood social integration, informal social control, minor social disorder, and fear of crime. International Review of Victimology, 8, 121–140.
Wikström, P.-O. H., & Ceccato, V. (2004). Crime and social life: A space-time budget study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology. Nashville, TN. November 2004.
Wikström, P.-O. H., & Butterworth, D. (2006). Adolescent crime: Individual differences and lifestyles. Collumpton: Willan Publishing.
Wikström, P.-O. H., & Treiber, K. (2007). The role of self-control in crime causation: Beyond Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime. European Journal of Criminology, 4(2), 237–264.
Wikström, P.-O. H., & Treiber, K. (2008). What drives persistent offending? The neglected and unexplored role of the social environment. In: J. Savage (Ed.), The development of persistent criminality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wooldredge, J. (2002). Examining the (Ir)Relevance of aggregation bias for multilevel studies of neighborhoods and crime with an example comparing census tracts to official neighborhoods in Cincinnati. Criminology, 40(3), 681–709.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Oberwittler, D., Wikström, PO.H. (2009). Why Small Is Better: Advancing the Study of the Role of Behavioral Contexts in Crime Causation. In: Weisburd, D., Bernasco, W., Bruinsma, G.J. (eds) Putting Crime in its Place. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09688-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09688-9_2
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0973-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-09688-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)