Physical Deterioration, Disorder, and Crime

• Author: Timothy C. O’Shea
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403405280942
• Published date: 01 June 2006
• Date: 01 June 2006
• Subject Matter: Articles

10.1177/0887403405280942Criminal Justice Policy ReviewO’Shea / Deterioration, Disorder, and Crime

Physical Deterioration,

Disorder, and Crime

Timothy C. O’Shea

University of South Alabama

This study examines the role that disorder and neighborhood physical condition play in

explaining the variance in crime, controlling for theoretically relevant neighborhood

socioeconomic conditions. Three hundred forty-nine blocks were randomly selected

from two police precincts in Mobile, Alabama. Violentcrime, property crime, and disor-

der were measured by block from police department data. An environmental survey was

conducted by block to determine various physical characteristics that are believed to

attract or repel predatory criminals. Violentcrime and property crime were regressed on

disorder, physical condition, and several socioeconomic variables. Models were con-

structed to explore the interaction between disorder and physical condition. The findings

reveal an interaction between disorder and physical condition that are significantly re-

lated to crime, controlling for socioeconomic variables. Implications of the findings are

discussed with respect to the “broken windows” controversyand practical police tactical

operations.

Keywords: crime and disorder; police; crime prevention

Crime and disorder are not randomly distributed. As anyone who has ever found

himself or herself in an unfamiliar city knows, one must be careful where one

goes. In the 1983 film National Lampoon’s Summer Vacation (Simmons & Ramis,

1983), Chevy Chase’s character gets off the interstate highway in a big city at the

wrong exit. He and his family, in short order, are stripped of their belongings by an

assortment of offenders. The scene is entertaining because it makes light of the fear

that we all have of suddenly finding ourselves in that “wrong” place. The home pur-

chasing decision calculus, when one lives in a large urban area, almost always includes

consideration of the crime and disorder conditions. Location, location, location. Few,

if anyone, would argue that the safety (or conversely, the dangerousness) of geograph-

ical spaces varies and that clusters of safe and dangerous spaces remain relatively

stable across time.

The idea that crime and place are related dates back, in an academic sense, to the

mid-19th century. Guerry (1833/2002) and Quetelet (1842) looked at the distribution

of crime in French departments and found clear spatial variance. Studies around the

same time in Britain found that crime and disorder clustered within particular geo-

graphical spaces (Glyde, 1856; Mayhew, 1862/1968; Plint, 1851).

173

Criminal Justice

Policy Review

Volume 17 Number 2

June 2006 173-187

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