A questionnaire was administered to 780 adult residents randomly selected from among 78 administrative blocks within the precinct of one police station in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Respondents were asked to answer questions regarding their involvement in community activities, their evaluations of the residential environment and public agencies as well as their experience of criminal victimization and fear of crime. Their demographic information was also obtained. Since an administrative block was the unit of analysis, the responses to the questionnaire were aggregated to produce block-level variables, which were analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The survey found that in the blocks where residents were more cohesive, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) was more likely to be pursued by mobilizing activities of public agencies, such as police and a municipal government. In the block where CPTED was more active, misdemeanor activities were less likely to be found. A residual effect was that residents were less likely to be victimized by more serious criminal conduct, such as burglary, and they were less likely to be fearful of street crime. These study findings empirically support the importance of controlling minor infringements to prevent more serious offenses, which is the major tenet of the "broken windows" thesis by J.Q. Wilson and G.L. Kelling. 3 tables, 3 figures, and 18 references