Community Cohesion and Violent Predatory Victimization: A Theoretical Extension and Cross-national Test of Opportunity Theory

Abstract

This study extends the research on the opportunity theory of criminal victimization. Specifically, it is proposed that living in a cohesive community directly reduces the likelihood of experiencing violent predatory criminal victimization. Tightly knit communities have higher levels of informal guardianship, and members of such communities are more active in intervening in public deviant or criminal activities, thus limiting opportunities for the commission of violent crimes. This theoretical model is tested with a sample of more than 19,000 respondents to national-level victimization surveys from 15 countries. A replication is also performed with data from over 10,000 respondents to city level surveys in another 12 countries. The results provide strong support for the hypothesis that people who live in communities which they perceive to be cohesive have a lower likelihood of violent victimization. The data indicate that net of relevant socioeconomic, demographic, lifestyle, and neighborhood status characteristics, community cohesion consistently reduces the likelihood of robbery and assault near the home, and robbery and assault near the home by strangers. The consistency of the results suggests that community cohesion may be a major determinant of victimization risk. Although it has long been known that community characteristics are associated with their levels of crime, the bulk of the research investigating this link has focused on explaining neighborhood differences in offendingfrequency. In the last twenty years, criminologists have broadened their focus to develop theories explaining a different phenomenon: individual differences in victimization.