Collective Efficacy and Violence in Selected Miami-Dade Neighborhoods Preliminary Evidence National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership Oakland, 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 efficacy Linkage of mutual trust and willingness to intervene for common good without necessity of strong personal ties Address gaps in social disorg/capital theories Build on multi-year Project on Human Development (Chicago)

Miami-Dade County Homicides

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 Hotspot Analysis

Miami-Dade County Violence Hotspot Index

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 Findings Liberty 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, Thanks to JSS researchers: – Craig Uchida, – Shellie Solomon, – Christine Connor, – Corry Putt,