Individual, community, and macro levels of analysis

Abstract

This chapter introduces a comprehensive framework that considers three levels of analysis of crime: community, individual, and macro. The community level includes social disorganization, social ties, kinship ties, collective efficacy, residential stability and mobility, and formal and informal social control. The individual level analysis of crime, explained using routine activity theory, suggests that direct predatory crime has three elements: motivated offenders, suitable targets, and lack of guardians. People’s routines can have varying consequences on their vulnerability to crime. The behavioral response of an individual after crime occurrence can also determine one’s risk to revictimization. At the macro level, local politics and governance have an influence on crime through investing in infrastructure, managing resources, and enacting policy changes.