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U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Justice ProgramsNational Institute of Justice R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f By Robert J. Sampson and Stephen W. Raudenbushtorycrime because prospective offendersinfluenced crime control policy, withNew York City best exemplifying the useder. Many other cities have adopted simi-There is no doubt that understandingurban neighborhoods. Certainly, visualof prospective homebuyers, real estateThe extent of disorder reflects the extenttheir neighborhoods and may affect theirof many of the NationÕs urban cores. ThatRethinking disorderDiscussed in this Brief:between disorder and crime;specifically, whether manifesta-der, such as public drunkenness,graffiti, and broken windows,lead directly to more seriousoffenses. The study, part of thelong-range Project on HumanÒbroken windowsÓ thesis and its implications for crime controlsocial and physical disorder cana major influence on law enforce-ment in many urban areas, result-minor incivilities. The research,proposing that crime stems fromthe same sources as disorderÑconcentrated poverty. ÒCollective efficacy,Ó defined asresidents combined with sharedcontrol of public space, is pro-posed as a major social processder. Disorder was measured bydirect observation rather thanthrough the subjective percep-tions of neighborhood residents.The informal social control mech-anism of collective efficacy (andthe broken windows thesis asJulie E. Samuels, Acting DirectorThis publication summarizes the authorsÕ article, ÒSystematic Social Observation of Public Spaces: A New Look at Disorderin Urban Neighborhoods,Ó which appeared in by the University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved

. The summary is published with permission of the University ofChicago Press, publisher of the that disorder does not directlypromote phenomena are related, and thatcollective efficacy is a significantcrime and disorder. Disorder and crime alike werefound to stem from certain neigh-notably concentrated poverty.best measures of violence, wasamong the offenses for whichthere was no direct relationshipwith disorder. Disorder was directlylinked only to the level of robbery.In neighborhoods where col-lective efficacy was strong, ratesof violence were low, regardlesstion and the amount of disorderobserved. Collective efficacy alsoappears to deter disorder: Whereit was strong, observedphysical and social disorder werelow, after controlling for sociode-residentsÕ much crime and disorder therereducing disorder may reducecrime, this happens indirectly, bycollective efficacy.Target audience:enforcement officials and policy-areas; researchers, particularlyprevention.itself. Typical activities categorized associal disorder, such as soliciting prosti-tutesand loitering, and incivilities likecrime or ordinance violations. The forcesdegree of seriousness. Viewed this way,What lies behind crime and disorder? and disorder stem from structural char-of the population on another, and lack ofor solely economic. Residential stability,social organizationstake in the community. Still other socialmay promote crime and disorder, thereare forces working to inhibit them. Com-live in safe environments free of preda-tory crime and disorder, and they sharesocial order and safety. These effortsare initiated or otherwise pursued infor-means, and are an expression of the self-cy, public drinking, vandalism, or

othermanifestations of disorder. unclear and people mistrust one another,cacy,Ó a key social process proposed incrime and disorder. Concentrated disad-mine collective efficacy, in turn fosteringlic disorder. If the broken windows thesisis correct, and disorder directly causesrelationship between disorIn other words, the disorder-crime link R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f 3 R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f Measuring disorderwas different from the one used by thetions of disorder are associated withof residentsÕ perceptionsÑthe amountied was measured by directly observ-during the day. This method of obser-vation is consistent with the informalefficacy, which also focuses on what isÒsystematic social observationÓ(SSO),method is systematic in the sense thatviewed more or less as they occur. he Project on Human DevelopmentpeopleÕs social development. As a studyof crime in the context of community, theproject examines not just the activities ofties. Social scientists from a range of fieldsare conducting the study and NIJ has pub-several reports of the findings. structures of ChicagoÕs neighborhoodsare being examined, as are the changesplace in them over time. Theponent of the project is apersonal circumstances of children, adolescents,their primary caregivers. Informa-been collected from nearly9,000 residents of 343 Chicago neigh-borhoods, more than 2,800 key commu-nity leaders, and a sample of more than6,000 children and adolescents (rangingin age from birth to 18 years). The studyaims to unravel processes working at thelevels of the individual, family, and com-others dangerous. the Harvard School of Public Health. Theproject is cofunded by the John D. andCatherine T. MacArthur

Foundation; theAdministration on Children, Youth andment of The research team includes Felton J. Earls,principal investigator and director of theproject, Harvard Medical School; StephenL. Buka, coprincipal investigator, Harvardson, scientific director for communitydesign, University of Chicago; StephenRaudenbush, scientific director for analy-sis, University of Michigan; JeanneBrooks-Gunn, scientific director for lon-gitudinal design, Columbia UniversityTeachers College; Maya Carlson, policyanalyst, Harvard Medical School; andDaniel Kindlon, research associate, Har-vard Medical School. NIJ reports on the project. To date,researchers have amassed a information that reveals signifiin which the social environment of atal pathways that lead individuals towardor away from a variety of antisocialeffective strategies for prevention, inter-vention, treatment, and rehabilitation,as well as sanctions. Among NIJ publica-tions of project findingsare the following: sion in the Development of Delinquency,by Dawn A. Obeidallah and Felton J. Earls(Research Preview, Washington, DC: U.S.Attitudes Toward Crime, Police, andD.J. Bartusch (ResearchPreview, Wton, DC: U.S. Department of Justice,vidual Development,(Research Preview, Washington, DC: U.S.Does It Help Reduce Violence?J. Sampson, Stephen W. Raudenbush,and Felton Earls (Research Preview,Washington, DC: U.S. Department ofVisher (Research in Brief, Washington,The Roots of the Study: The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods T To measure disorder, trained observersthe face blocksof more than 23,000any time. They also logged the obser-streets, litter, graffiti, abandoned cars,signs of social disorder were such activ-itiesas of

groups of young people manifestingTo find out the extent of neighborhoodcollective efficacy, some 3,800 resi-dents of these neighborhoods wereneighbors would take action if they sawhelp each other. The information abouta measure of collective efficacy. publicÑto be.)Police records werecrimeÑhomicide, robbery, and burgla-ry.Neighborhood structural character-the level of crime and disorder werepoverty, the concentration of immi-grants, and residential stability.of their neighborhood may also betype of land use. Presumably, the moreSimilarly, the commercial traffic den-use (in which residential and commer-What explains disorder?hoodÕs structural characteristics mattergreatly in affecting levels of disorder.physical and social disorder. correspondingly low. This finding is efficacy acts to inhibit disorder. Thisof land use, and residentsÕ perceptionsof the amount of crime and disorder. Broken windows revisitedship was not strong. SecondÑandrelationship with disorder. most affect crime. Where collectivewere low regardless of sociodemo-order. Levels of homicide and burglarywere affected by the amount of povertyand the strength of collective efficacy.grants were concentrated, crime victim-survey) tended to be higher. What is R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f ÒBroken WindowsÓ and Police(Research Report, Washington, DC:ÒCrime Control, the Police, andCulture Wars: Broken Windows and(Research Forum, Washington, DC: R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f between disorder and robbery. Of allrobbery, burglary, and homicideÑ afound only for robbery. Evidently, rob- collective efficacy by creating andmitment to their neighborhood. Such amobilization might also demonstrateto participants and obse

rvers alikerelied on to maintain public order. Byvery different response by residents.Wilson and George Kelling in ÒThe Police andNeighborhood Safety: Broken Windows,Ó 2. Wilson, William Julius, The Truly Disad-vantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, andPublic Policy,of Homicide Rates: Are There Any Invariancesacross Time and Space?Ó Crime and Inequality,munity Attachment in Mass Society,Ó and Felton J. Earls, ÒNeighborhoods and Violentcy,Ó Science 277 (1997): 918Ð924. This articleEfficacyÑDoes It Help Reduce Violence?Research Preview, Washington, DC: U.S.Department of of Justice, April 1998, FS 000203. 5. See Reiss, Albert J., Jr., ÒSystematic Obser-logical Methodology,vol. 3, ed. Herbert Costner,side of a street only. Thus, the buildings acrossViolent Crime.Ó The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs,which also includes the Bureauof Justice Assistance,the Bureau of JusticeStatistics,the Office of Juvenile Justice andDelinquency Prevention,and the Office forVictims of Crime. NCJ 186049This and other NIJ publications can be found at and downloaded from the NIJ Web site (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij).U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Justice ProgramsNational Institute of Justice Washington,DC 20531Official BusinessPenalty for Private Use $300PRESORTED STANDARDPOSTAGE & FEES PAIDPERMIT NO.GÐ91 R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f Robert J. Sampson, Ph.D., is Profes-sor of Sociology at the University ofStephen W. Raudenbush, Ed.D., isProfessor of Education and Statistics,of Justice (grant 93ÐIJÐCXÐK005), theJohn D. and Catherine T. MacArthurFoundation, the National Institute ofChildren, Youth and Families, and theU.S. Department of Educa