Neighborhood and Crime: The Structural Determinants of Personal Victimization

This study examines the effects of neighborhood characteristics on rates of personal criminal victimization (rape, robbery, assault, and larceny). The data base is taken from the National Crime Survey (NCS) for the years 1973-1975. Building upon extant theory and empirical research in the social ecology of crime, the neighborhood factors studied are unemployment, income inequality, racial composition, structural density, residential mobility, and family structure. Previous victimization research reveals that these neighborhood characteristics predict victimization risk independent of individual characteristics such as age, race, sex, income, and marital status. Parameter estimates from analysis of variance models indicate that structural density, residential mobility, and female-headed families have strong positive effects on rates of personal victimization. A major finding is that inequality and racial composition have small effects on victimization when social integration (family structure, mobility) and opportunity factors (density) are included in the model. Implications of these findings for theories of victimization and offending are discussed.