Neighborhood Effect in Empirical Research on Crime

Abstract

    As with many other social phenomena, spatial patterns exist in crime and delinquency, and neighborhood contextual effects are known as its predictors. The exploration of neighborhood effects through quantitative methods, with multilevel analysis as a central pillar, has led to theoretical developments in criminology, providing a theoretical basis for social developmental crime prevention policies. The paper discusses the cartographic school, social disorganization theory, and systemic theory as ways to formulate neighborhood effects in criminological research, which focuses on spatial aspects. Section 2 discusses collective efficacy, multilevel crime opportunity theory, and devastation theory as important criminological theories that explain neighborhood effects using multilevel analysis. Section 3 introduces the development of empirical studies of neighborhood effects in Asia, including Japan, and Oceania. Section 4 presents examples of empirical research on the neighborhood effects on crime and crime insecurity in large Japanese cities through subregionally aggregable social surveys and systematic social observations. Finally, crime open data and collaboration between researchers and practitioners are presented as future prospects for the study of neighborhood effects of crime in Japan.