Perceived collective efficacy and women's victimization in public housing

Abstract

Although it has not yet been applied to domestic violence and other types of crime in Canadian public housing, the social disorganization/collective efficacy model described in this article may help explain why people who live in such areas characterized by poverty and joblessness report higher rates of intimate partner violence and several other offenses than those living in more affluent communities. Using data generated by the Quality of Neighborhood Life Survey, a main objective of the Canadian study described here was to test this model. One of the most important findings is that community concerns about street crimes and informal means of social control designed to prevent such harms are not effective forms of alleviating intimate partner violence in public housing.