Collective Efficacy and Violence in Selected Miami-Dade Neighborhoods

Preliminary Evidence

National Neighborhood Indicators PartnershipOakland, CA

October 21, 2010

Overview

• Project Background and Expectations

• Methodology• Study Areas• Initial (Curious)

Findings• Next Steps

Racial / Ethnic

Segregation Miami-Dade

County, Florida

Project Background Neighborhood violence – youth homicides

Multi-year research – JSS & The Trust

Based on theory of collective efficacyLinkage of mutual trust and willingness to

intervene for common good without necessity of strong personal ties

Address gaps in social disorg/capital theoriesBuild on multi-year Project on Human

Development (Chicago)

Miami-Dade County

Homicides2004-2008

Project Expectations

Shed new light on youth violence

Establish baseline with spatial analysis

Test theory of collective efficacy

Provide information for resource targeting

Provide analytic support to foster solutions

and guide violence prevention work

Study Methodology Three components:

Socio-economic risk factors for crime collected and mapped

Violent hotspots mapped using income and data on homicides and 911 calls re aggravated assaults, robberies

Collective efficacy measured by direct observations and door-to-door surveys

Miami-Dade County

Violence HotspotAnalysis

Miami-Dade County

Violence HotspotIndex

Study Area – Bunche Park Visual Assessments and Documentation - CPTED

Study Area – Liberty City

Initial Findings – Survey Measures• Social Cohesion (11 items):

degree of connectedness to neighborhoods and each other

– “good area to raise children” and “people here are generally friendly”

• Social Control (6 items): likelihood neighbors would get involved when government fails to meet its obligations

– likelihood of neighbor doing something if “a large pothole on street needed repair” or “city planned to cut funding to your community center”

• Intervene (12 items): extent neighbors would intervene to help solve neighborhood problems

– likelihood of neighbor intervening if “someone was trying to break into a house” or “suspicious people hanging around the street” or “people having a loud argument in street”

• Collective Efficacy (29): integrates all prior items into a unified scale representing all 3 dimensions

Initial Findings: Survey Respondents

Initial FindingsLiberty City reported

significantly higher levels of:– social cohesion– social control– collective efficacy

as well as lower:– fear of crime– perceived

incivilities than Bunche Park

• Across both communities, these variables were significantly related to collective efficacy:

• Directly:– Education level– Satisfaction with

police services– Homeownership

• Inversely:– Perceived incivilities

in neighborhood

Next Steps Select six more neighborhoods with variety of characteristics to conduct and compare observations and surveys

Integrate other data into the analysis, including violent crime and systematic social observations

Determine where community groups and individuals have effects on crime

Involve neighborhoods in future design / discussion to support work, contribute to positive change

That's All for Now!Contact me with questions or ideas:Lisa Pittman, lisa@thechildrenstrust.org

Thanks to JSS researchers:–Craig Uchida, cduchida@jssinc.org–Shellie Solomon, sesolomon@jssinc.org–Christine Connor, cconnor@jssinc.org–Corry Putt, cputt@jssinc.org