CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 99Crime Patterns and InterventionsUrban, Neighborhood, and Segregation StudiesCriminal Justice and Penology

Socioeconomic Dynamics of Neighborhoods and the Risk of Crime Victimization: A Multilevel Study of Improving, Declining, and Stable Areas in the Netherlands

Open access
VAN WILSEM, JOHAN, WITTEBROOD, KARIN, DE GRAAF, NAN DIRK·2006·Social Problems
DOI 10.1525/sp.2006.53.2.226
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Changes in neighborhood status result primarily from the selective migration of income groups into and out of areas. These changes, in turn, are related to the chance of becoming the victim of a crime in a locality. Drawing on social disorganization theory, this study argues that victimization is more likely in disadvantaged neighborhoods as well as in neighborhoods where socioeconomic improvements are taking place. Gentrifying neighborhoods may suffer from social instability caused by the strong influx of new residents and from social heterogeneity, which is caused by the simultaneous presence of different income groups and, depending on local context, different ethnic groups. We test these hypotheses with Dutch victimization survey data among approximately 70,000 respondents, distributed across 2,500 neighborhoods within 500 municipalities in the Netherlands. The results show that, controlling for various individual, neighborhood, and city characteristics, intensive socioeconomic improvement of neighborhoods is related to higher victimization risk for theft, violence, and vandalism. In the Netherlands, high levels of residential instability in gentrifying areas are the mediating mechanism responsible for this relationship, while varying levels of ethnic and income heterogeneity are not. The results confirm that social disorganization is dependent not only upon the socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods, but also upon their socioeconomic dynamics.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1525/sp.2006.53.2.226

Cites

62 of 62 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Kornhauser, Ruth. 1978. Social Sources of Delinquency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  2. Shaw, Clifford R. and Henry D. McKay. 1942. Juvenile Delinquency in Urban Areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  3. Wilson, William J. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Under Class, and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
VAN WILSEM, J., WITTEBROOD, K., & DE GRAAF, N. D.
Venue
Social Problems
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2006-05
Volume
53
Issue
2
Pages
226-247
ISSN
  • 0037-7791 (ISSN-L)
  • 1533-8533
DOI
10.1525/sp.2006.53.2.226
OpenAlex
W2165844328
Cited by
99
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
FWCI
12.78
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Social Problems (publishedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
  • Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
Keywords
crime victimization, gentrification, social disorganization theory, residential instability, income heterogeneity, ethnic diversity, neighborhood improvement, theft, violence, vandalism

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review