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Rethinking Community Organization and Robbery: Considering Illicit Market Dynamics

NCJ Number
227330
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 26 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 211-237
Author(s)
Mark T. Berg; Andres F. Rengifo
Date Published
June 2009
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This study examined the degree to which illicit drug markets account for the association between informal social control and violence.
Abstract
Results found that social structural constraints, sub-cultural forces, and the drug trade might either operate independently, or in conjunction with one another to enhance the probability of violent outcomes in urban communities. Research shows higher levels of neighborhood social control were related to lower robbery rates. Also uncovered was evidence suggesting that drug market activity mediated both the relationship between social structural factors and violence between informal social control and robbery. Findings suggest that drug markets are a manifestation of a weakened social organization, in that they are situated within communities characterized by lower levels of informal control and they produce higher rates of violence. Government mandated strategies should be enacted that are geared towards improving the socioeconomic position of urban locales. A restoration of urban structural conditions might diminish the enticement for people to participate in the underground economy; this could invigorate local institutions of social control and enable neighborhoods to contain illicit activity. Data were collected from 2,309 residents of 2 Kentucky cities, Louisville and Lexington. Tables, figures, references, and appendixes