In Guns We Trust: A Reexamination of the Collective Security Hypothesis

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (12) ◽  
pp. 1936-1954 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Kelsay ◽  
Jordan Papp ◽  
Jennifer Wareham ◽  
Brad W. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Collective Security ◽  
Gun Ownership ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Security Hypothesis ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Using Data

This study reexamines the collective security hypothesis of gun ownership using data collected from residents of the city of Detroit, Michigan. In addition, we seek to determine whether the effects of perceptions of police, fear of crime, and victimization on individual-level gun ownership are attenuated by neighborhood levels of informal social control. Our findings indicate that police satisfaction remains a robust predictor of gun ownership, in that those who are less satisfied with police are more likely to own a firearm for defensive purposes. Moreover, the effects of this variable remain unaffected by the inclusion of informal social control. These results confirm a number of previously identified correlates of gun ownership remain influential and suggest that improving perceptions of police among the public may lead to fewer firearms in circulation among the public.

Cross-cultural nuances of the sources and consequences of subjective feelings of unsafety: A qualitative analysis in four cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 324-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Valente ◽  
Lucrezia Crescenzi Lanna
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Social Involvement ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Depth Interviews

The research aims at analyzing the fear of crime and its consequences on social cohesion and informal social control. The study is based on data collected through a triangulation of qualitative techniques (in-depth interviews, participant observation, and semi-structured focus groups) throughout eight neighborhoods of four European cities. Challenging the initial expectations, the results obtained show that, under certain circumstances, the fear of crime might foster genuine forms of social involvement and problem-solving participation. Nevertheless, the general trend indicates that crime-related anxieties are fueling the emergence of nostalgic, passive-aggressive, and violent forms of identity, which might promote potentially dangerous types of collective action.

Economic anxieties, fear of crime, and punitive attitudes in Latin America

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa J Singer ◽  
Cecilia Chouhy ◽  
Peter S Lehmann ◽  
Jessica N Stevens ◽  
Marc Gertz
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Opinion Dynamics ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
Punitive Attitudes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Economic Anxiety ◽  
Using Data

Using data from the 2012 AmericasBarometer survey collected in nine Latin American countries ( n =  14,705), this study examines two theoretically relevant potential sources of punitiveness: economic anxiety and fear of crime. Focusing on these two sources, we explore whether the public opinion dynamics often highlighted by punitiveness scholars also apply to the Latin American context and can thus be of value to explain recent movements towards punitive policies in that region. Generalized Structural Equation Modeling (GSEM) and bootstrapping are used to assess the direct effects of perceived national and personal economic insecurity on punitive sentiments as well as the indirect effects of these attitudes on punitiveness through fear of crime during a time of reduced economic growth, increased economic inequality, and harsh criminal justice policies. Results show that economic anxieties are positively associated with fear of crime, though their effects on support for increased punishments are mixed. Additionally, the effects of economic insecurity on punitiveness are partially mediated by fear of crime, supporting theoretical notions that insecurity produces fear of crime and subsequently influences punitiveness.

scholarly journals Exposure to Discretionary Arrests Increases Support for Anti-Police Protests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Hsuan Yun Chen ◽  
Paul McLachlan ◽  
Christopher Fariss
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Fairness ◽  
Police Records ◽  
Study Support ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Using Data

The legitimacy of the state rests on individuals' perceptions of fairness when interacting with state institutions and state agents. The police as an institution and as individual agents have wide latitude to detain and use force against individuals. We argue that encounters with state bureaucracy and civil servants, specifically the police, can generate individual-level grievances against the state, and that these grievances make it more likely an individual participates in protest against the state. We study support for and the legitimacy of policing in the context of the anti-police protests in Baltimore, MD following the death of Freddie Gray in April, 2015. Using data from police records and social media, we show that individuals with higher exposure to discretionary arrests --- arrests that are potentially viewed as illegitimate or arbitrary --- are more likely to support protests against the police. In contrast, we demonstrate that exposure to arrests for major crimes such as murder does not follow the same pattern. Thus, support for the police as an institution varies systematically with exposure to arbitrary and capricious encounters with police agents. As these grievance generating encounters become more widespread, we expect to see increased protests against the police and further erosion in support of the police as an institution. Alternatively, shifting institutional resources to focus on major crimes and limiting the discretionary authority of police agents when interacting with the public may help to repair the legitimacy of policing institutions over the long term.

scholarly journals Do neighborhood social processes moderate the etiology of youth conduct problems?

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 1519-1529
Author(s):  
S. Alexandra Burt ◽  
D. Angus Clark ◽  
Amber L. Pearson ◽  
Kelly L. Klump ◽  
Jenae M. Neiderhiser
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Conduct Problems ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
State University ◽  
Child Conduct Problems ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Moderation Model ◽  
Adolescent Twins

AbstractBackgroundPrior work has robustly suggested that social processes in the neighborhood (i.e. informal social control, social cohesion, norms) influence child conduct problems (CP) and related outcomes, but has yet to consider how these community-level influences interact with individual-level genetic risk for CP. The current study sought to do just this, evaluating neighborhood-level social processes as etiologic moderators of child CP for the first time.MethodsWe made use of two nested samples of child and adolescent twins within the Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR): 5649 families who participated in in the Michigan Twins Project (MTP) and 1013 families who participated in the Twin Study of Behavioral and Emotional Development (TBED-C). The neighborhood social processes of informal social control, social cohesion, and norms were assessed using neighborhood sampling techniques, in which residents of each twin family's neighborhood reported on the social processes in their neighborhood. Standard biometric GxE analyses evaluated the extent to which they moderated the etiology of CP.ResultsThe ‘no moderation’ model provided the best fit to the data in nearly all cases, arguing against neighborhood social processes as etiologic moderators of youth CP.ConclusionsThe neighborhood social processes evaluated here do not appear to exert their effects on child CP via etiologic moderation. The documented links between neighborhood social processes and child CP are thus likely to reflect a different etiologic process. Possibilities include environmental main effects of neighborhood social processes on child CP, or genotype-environment correlations.

Fear of Victimization Among Incarcerated Youths: Examining the Effects of Institutional “Neighborhood” Characteristics and Gang Membership

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jodi Lane ◽  
Gaylene S. Armstrong ◽  
Kathleen A. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Correctional Institutions ◽  
Gang Members ◽  
Fear Of Victimization ◽  
Using Data

This study examines whether neighborhood factors found to predict fear of crime among the general population can be adapted to explain inmate fear of victimization inside juvenile correctional institutions. We test (a) whether institutional physical disorder, resident trust, and formal social control can predict fear of victimization, and (b) whether the importance of these factors for fear of victimization varies based on preincarceration street gang status. Using data from a large national sample of incarcerated youths, findings indicate non-gang members are more afraid of institutional victimization than gang members, confirming findings about levels of fear between these groups on the street. “Neighborhood” (institutional) physical disorder and resident trust predicted fear for gang and non-gang youths, whereas formal social control was significant only among non-gang youths. We discuss policy implications and directions for future research.

The Informal Social Control of Business in Britain: 1880–1939

1983 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Boswell
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public

Professor Boswell here discusses how informal social control was exercised over business conduct in the six decades from 1880 to World War II. He seeks to explain why some firms were more responsive to the public than others.

Across the wide prairie: Exploring fear of crime in a small Canadian municipality

2021 ◽  
pp. 000486582199908
Author(s):  
Tarah Hodgkinson ◽  
Kate Lunney
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Social Predictors ◽  
Fear Reduction ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Urban Contexts ◽  
Criminological Theories

Although fear of crime is well-researched in urban domains, the predictors of fear of crime in non-urban contexts are less established. Using a sample of 559 people, this study aims to address this gap by evaluating the role of individual and ecological-level predictors on fear of crime in a small Canadian municipality. Key findings of this study include support for the influence of social cohesion, informal social control and social and physical disorder on fear in a small municipality. However, no clear relationship is found between gender and fear of crime. Additionally, nuanced relationships between social predictors and fear emerge that may be uniquely explained by non-metropolitan context. The findings have implications for the use of urban-based criminological theories of fear and for the use of crime prevention and fear reduction strategies in non-metropolitan contexts.

Do the Police Believe That Legitimacy Promotes Cooperation From the Public?

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 951-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Nix
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Legitimate Authority ◽  
The Public ◽  
Police Executives ◽  
Stratified Sample ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Using Data

Tyler’s process-based model of regulation suggests that when citizens perceive the police as a legitimate authority, they are more likely to cooperate in the form of reporting crimes and providing information to the police. Yet most studies have considered citizens’ perceptions of police legitimacy—few studies have asked the police what they feel makes them legitimate in the eyes of the public. Likewise, no studies have considered whether the police believe legitimacy is associated with cooperation from the public. The present study addresses this gap using data from a stratified sample of U.S. police executives. Findings suggest police believe performance, rather than procedural justice, is the key to generating cooperation from the public.

Fear of Crime Out West: Determinants of Fear of Property and Violent Crime in Five States

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (12) ◽  
pp. 1299-1316
Author(s):  
Heeuk D. Lee ◽  
Bradford W. Reyns ◽  
David Kim ◽  
Cooper Maher
Keyword(s):  
Violent Crime ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Mail Survey ◽  
Property Crime ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Crime Type ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Using Data

Fear of crime research has been around for decades, and many studies of its extent, nature, and consequences have been published. In this study, we build upon existing research to examine the effects of vulnerability, disorder/incivilities, social cohesion, prior victimization, and perceptions of police upon fear of property crime and fear of violent crime. Using data from a random mail survey of residents from five different states, the current study offers a view of the determinants of fear of crime within an often overlooked population—residents of the Western United States. Results support leading theories of fear of crime, finding that women, perceptions of disorder/incivilities, perceptions of social cohesion, prior victimization, and assessments of police quality of service each influence fear of crime. Findings also suggest that the determinants of fear of crime vary somewhat according to crime type.

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