(Press-News.org) Los Angeles, CA (June 2, 2015) Neighborhoods with more interpersonal conflict, such as domestic violence and landlord/tenet disputes, see more serious crime according to a new study out today in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency (JRCD). Private conflict was a better predictor of neighborhood deterioration than public disorder, such as vandalism, suggesting the important role that individuals play in community safety.
"Private conflicts, for example, domestic violence or friendship disputes over money or girlfriends, can and do spill over into public spaces, be it on stoops or street corners, in bars or local parks." reported study authors Daniel O'Brien and Robert J. Sampson of Northeastern University and Harvard University.
Analyzing census reports and geographical data of 911 dispatches and 311 service requests in 121 Boston residential areas from 2011-2012, O'Brien and Sampsom found the following relationships across time:
Neighborhood rates of interpersonal conflict in 2011 were associated with increases in social disorder (noise disturbances and public intoxication), private neglect (infestation and uncivil use of private property), crime, and physical and gun violence in 2012.
Physical disorder (infestation, graffiti, improper disposal of trash) and social disorder were only slightly predictive of future violence and further disorder.
Incidents involving guns in 2011 predicted more homicides in 2012.
Homicides in 2011 were unrelated to any measures of violence, crime, and disorder in 2012.
"Private conflict and public violence are likely to increase in severity over time, leading to the more consistent use of guns," commented O'Brien and Sampson. "Notably, this progression has been largely invisible to previous work because its primary antecedents occur behind closed doors, out of view of many measurement techniques."
The researchers speculated that people facing stressful conflicts with others may respond violently to issues within their community, neglect private property, and be less inclined to take a stand against neighborhood decline. Such examples of external disorder may also stress individuals in the community, intensifying conflicts within private lives.
INFORMATION:
This study, "Public and private spheres of neighborhood disorder: Assessing pathways to violence using large-scale digital record", is featured in a special issue of Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, dedicated to the Broken Window Theory. For an embargoed copy of the article's full text, please email camille.gamboa@sagepub.com.
Mike Maxfield, Editor, JRCD, commented, "The impact of "Broken Windows" on police practice and research cannot be overstated. Virtually every police officer, criminologist, big-city mayor, and journalist has some degree of familiarity with the concept. Increased attention to policing practices often points to the role of broken windows in crime control and police practice."
The special issue, "Reimagining Broken Windows: From Theory to Policy", will be published in print in July 2015 and will include the following research articles:
"Reimagining broken windows: From theory to policy" by Brandon C. Welsh, Anthony A. Braga, and Gerben J. N. Bruinsma
"Disorder and decline: The state of research" by Wesley G. Skogan
"Public and private spheres of neighborhood disorder: Assessing pathways to violence using large-scale digital records" by Daniel O'Brien and Robert J. Sampson
"Where broken windows should be fixed: Towards identification of areas at the 'tipping point'" by Wouter Steenbeek and Christian Kreis
"Do we 'see' the same thing? An experimental look into the black box of disorder perception" by Sue-Ming Yang and Chih-Chao Pao
"Can policing disorder reduce crime? A systematic review and meta-analysis," by Anthony A. Braga, Brandon C. Welsh, and Cory Schnell,
"Understanding the mechanisms underlying broken windows policing: The need for evaluation evidence" by David Weisburd, Joshua Hinkle, Anthony A. Braga, and Alese Wooditch
"Broken windows, neighborhoods, and the legitimacy of law enforcement, or why I fell in and out of love with Zimbardo" by Tracey L. Meares
"An author's brief history of an idea" by George L. Kelling
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency (JRCD), peer-reviewed and published bi-monthly, offers articles, research notes, review essays and special issues to keep you up-to-date on contemporary issues and controversies within the criminal justice field. For more than fifty years, this international forum has explored the social, political, and economic contexts of criminal justice and examined victims, criminals, courts, and sanctions. http://jrc.sagepub.com/
Founded 50 years ago by Sara Miller McCune to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community, SAGE publishes more than 800 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. A growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies, conference highlights and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company's continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Boston. http://www.sagepub.com
Contact:
(US) Camille Gamboa camille.gamboa@sagepub.co.uk / Tel: 805-410-7441
(UK) Katie Baker katie.baker@sagepub.co.uk / Tel: +44 (0)20 7324 8719
Scientists from the University of Louvain have discovered that a key element of infant brain development occurs years earlier than previously thought.
The way we perceive faces -- using the right hemisphere of the brain -- is unique and sets us apart from non-human primates. It was thought that this ability develops as we learn to read, but a new study published in the journal eLife shows that in babies as young as four months it is already highly evolved.
"Just as language is impaired following damage to the brain's left hemisphere, damage to the right hemisphere ...
Children as young as 4 years old may reap better health from altruistic giving, a behavior that tends to be less common among kids from high-income families, according to new research on the nature and nurture of altruism published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
"The findings provide us with a new understanding of how children's altruistic behaviors, family wealth, and physiological health are intertwined," says psychological scientist and lead researcher Jonas Miller of the University of California Davis.
Previous ...
EVANSTON, Ill. --- At a time when teenagers are grappling with new and often confusing health concerns, the overwhelming majority -- 84 percent -- turn to the Internet, according to the first national study in more than a decade to examine how adolescents use digital tools for health information.
But while most teens tap online sources to learn more about puberty, drugs, sex, depression and other issues, a surprising 88 percent said they do not feel comfortable sharing their health concerns with Facebook friends or on other social networking sites, according to the study ...
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (JUNE 2, 2015). Researchers from the Canada North Concussion Network in Manitoba examined neuroimaging studies obtained in children and adolescents with sports-related concussions and found that the images appeared normal in 78% of cases. Detailed findings of this study are reported and discussed in "Neuroimaging findings in pediatric sports-related concussion" by Michael J. Ellis, MD, and colleagues, published today online, ahead of print, in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.
Expert opinion among physicians specializing in sports-related concussion ...
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (JUNE 2, 2015). Researchers from the Canada North Concussion Network in Manitoba investigated the frequency of vestibulo-ocular dysfunction in children and adolescents with sports-related concussion and found that its presence was predictive of a prolonged recovery. Findings in this study are reported and discussed in "Vestibulo-ocular dysfunction in pediatric sports-related concussion" by Michael J. Ellis, MD, and colleagues, published today online, ahead of print, in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.
Normally, if you are asked to focus on ...
New research presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia shows that use of public access defibrillation on people suffering cardiac arrest is associated with a large increase in chances of survival. However, despite the great potential, publicly accessible Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are not being used enough, concludes research by Dr Marianne Agerskov and colleagues at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Publicly accessible AEDs are now commonplace in many European countries, and they are often found in sport centres, transportation hubs, and ...
Office workers should be on their feet for a minimum of 2 hours daily during working hours, recommends the first ever UK guidance designed to curb the health risks of too much cumulative sitting time, and published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
This daily quota should eventually be bumped up to 4 hours a day, breaking up prolonged periods of sitting with the use of sit-stand desks, standing based work, and regular walk-abouts, it says.
The guidance, which evaluates and distils the available evidence, was drawn up by a panel of international experts, ...
Griffith University's Institute for Glycomics has developed a groundbreaking, combination vaccine that may finally beat Streptococcus A infections.
Human trials are set to begin, early as next year, for the vaccine which combines the protein, SpyCEP, with a previously developed vaccine J8-DT.
Infections caused by Streptococcus pyogenes are responsible for the deaths of almost 500,000 people worldwide each year. It is particularly prevalent in developing countries and Indigenous populations, including Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders.
Infections can ...
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - June 1, 2015 - Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center report progress in their quest to build replacement kidneys in the lab. The teams' goal is to make use of the more than 2,600 kidneys that are donated each year, but must be discarded due to abnormalities and other factors. The scientists aim to "recycle" these organs to engineer tailor-made replacement kidneys for patients.
"We believe the two studies we are reporting provide critical information to the booming field of organ bioengineering as it applies to the kidney," said Giuseppe ...
Soil erosion that occurs in rainy seasons leads to a significant amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere, a new study shows.
Investigators who analyzed 240 runoff plots from different regions of the world found that organic carbon losses from soils corresponds to about one-sixth of annual fossil fuel-induced carbon emissions with highest rates for semi-arid soils followed by tropical soils and temperate soils.
"The organic carbon lost from soils is more likely to reach the atmosphere under semi-arid sandy soils of weak structure compared to clayey tropical ...
