The relationship between disorder, perceived risk, and collective efficacy: a look into the indirect pathways of the broken windows thesis

The broken windows thesis suggests that disorder is a key part of a cycle of community decline that leaves neighborhoods vulnerable to crime. Some recent research has challenged this thesis by finding limited support for a direct relationship between disorder and crime. However, others argued that such studies ignore the indirect pathways posited in the thesis. The current study sheds light on this debate by examining the relationships between disorder, fear of crime, and collective efficacy and finds support for the relationships suggested by the broken windows model. However, the findings also suggest that the model is overly simplistic and needs to consider other mediating factors in addition to fear. Additionally, the findings show that perceptions of disorder may have different impacts for residents of an area vs. people who work at a business in the area. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.