Legal Theory Commons^™

Fear Of Crime, Incivilities, And Collective Efficacy In Four Miami Neighborhoods, Marc L. Swatt, Sean P. Varano, Craig D. Uchida, Shellie E. Solomon

Justice Studies Faculty Publications

Purpose: Extant literature indicates that individual perceptions of collective efficacy and incivilities are important in explaining fear of crime. These studies, however, often implicitly assume that the relationships between key variables do not differ between neighborhoods. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between perceptions of collective efficacy, perceptions of incivilities, and fear of crime and determine whether these relationships are constant between neighborhoods.

Methods: Surveys were conducted using a sample of residents from four neighborhoods within Miami-Dade County. Structural equation models were used to examine the relationships between perceptions of collective efficacy, perceptions of incivilities, and …