Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Broken Windows, Police, &Traffic Safety, Carol Servino

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

Abstract This research explores application of the “broken windows” theory of public disorder and urban decline to the pattern and problem of police officer fatalities in motor vehicle crashes. It contextualizes the influential theory into a 45-year timeline of significant events related to legislative efforts and traffic safety behavioral safety programs in the United States. It finds one police agency that reported fewer crimes and fewer crashes after implementing a community-wide Safe Streets program designed around “broken windows” theory in 1997. It pays particular attention to states with the highest percentages of law enforcement officer fatalities in motor vehicle crashes, …

Examining The Role Of Life Satisfaction And Negative Emotionality In A Social Disorganization Framework, Jeremy Waller, Timothy C. Hart

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

At the core of the social disorganization perspective is the notion that neighborhood structural factors (i.e., socio-economic status, residential mobility, racial heterogeneity, family disruption, and urbanization) disrupt a community’s ability to self-regulate, which in turn leads to crime and delinquency.

Exogenous neighborhood characteristics believed to be causally linked to crime and delinquency are consistently derived from official Census data and endogenous community characteristics are typically measured from self-reported surveys.

The body of literature supporting the social disorganization explanation of criminogenic places is growing and supports the idea that neighborhood structural determinants of crime influence residents’ feelings of social capital and …