Digital Commons Network^™

Making The Case For Place: An Exploration Of Urbanization Measures On A Model Of Social Capital And U.K. Crime Rates, Kyshawn K. Smith

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Studies of social capital and crime have become quite popular in recent history, and a plethora of empirical tests have sought to clarify relationships between the two variables. However, most of these studies center on communities in the United States, and often overlook the many differentiating features between urban and rural communities that would affect such models. Reasons offered for such skew in the past and current research on this subject are middling at best, and largely cite either a lack of availability in data for crime and social capital in non-urban communities, or questionable accuracy for what data is …

Social Disorganization Theory: Examining The Mediating Effects Of Social Ties And Disorder On Crime, Matasha L. Harris

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Using study data collected for a larger research project entitled Project on Policing Neighborhoods in Indianapolis, Indiana, 1996, the relationship between social ties and disorder on neighborhood structural characteristics and crime rates was tested. Using two Structural Equation Models the mediating effects of social ties and disorder on neighborhood structural characteristics and crime received partial support from the analysis of Indianapolis data.

The results revealed that poverty and family disruption exerts a positive impact on crime rates. The results also revealed that neighborhoods with high levels of racial heterogeneity have a negative effect on social ties. As well, the study …