Current work on fear of crime centers largely around three dominant theoretical models: indirect victimization, community concern, and incivilities. Previous work (Taylor and Hale 1986) confirms the importance of the central construct in each model and shows that no one model has more explanatory power than another. But work to date has not examined ecological impacts of some key constructs, even though the models clearly imply processes operative at the neighborhood level. This study extends earlier work, combining central predictors from each model and distinguishing between-and within-neighborhood sources of impact, with data from surveys of 1622 residents of 66 Baltimore neighborhoods and from on-site assessments. Findings indicate ways in which these theories, particularly indirect victimization and incivilities, need further theoretical articulation of central constructs. The results also confirm the generalizability of Merry's diversity thesis-developed from field work in a multi-ethnic subsidized housing context-to urban neighborhoods in a major metropolitan area.

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We investigate links between ecological changes and changes in violence in Baltimore neighborhoods in the 19701 The two most salient ecological changes during the decade were (1) the emergence of a large number of gentrifiing neighborhoods and (2) the further absorption of several older, minority neighborhoods into an "underclass" status Relative deprivation and social disorganization each predict increasing violence in gentrifiing and emerging underclass neighborhoods. But, relative deprivation theory highlights the role of changes in economic status, whereas social disorganization highlights the role of changes in stability or family status. We further suggest that connections between ecological change and changes in disorder are contingent not only on historical context, but also on overall neighborhood structure at the beginning of the period. We hypothesize: (a) neighborhoods becoming more solidly "underclass" will experience increasing violence as status and stability decline and (b) emerging gentrif r n g neighborhoods will experience increasing violence as status and stability increase. Controlling for spatial autocorrelation, results support these hypotheses In emerging underclass neighborhoods status changes are most clearly linked to violence changes, whereas in gentrifiing neighborhoods violence shgts are most closely tied to changing stability.Perhaps the most obvious effect of the mobility of the population within a city is the striking instability of local life. Neighborhoods are in a constant process of change. (McKenzie, 1968(McKenzie, [1921: 62) We investigate links between changes in urban neighborhood structure in * CRIMINOLOGY VOLUME 26 NUMBER 4 1988 553 554 TAYLOR AND COVINGTON the 1970's and changes in violence levels, focusing on Baltimore, Maryland. Nationally, the two most prominent changes in urban neighborhoods during this period were the dramatic expansion of underclass, usually minority neighborhoods and the emergence of gentrifying neighborhoods. As a neighborhood becomes more clearly underclass, relative deprivation and social disorganization theories would anticipate increases in violence, albeit for different reasons. In addition, given the ecological nature of gentrifying neighborhoods, both views would anticipate increasing violence although, again, for different reasons.Our research builds on previous human ecological research on disorder. Accordingly, we focus on processual dynamics and develop measures indicative of changing neighborhood roles in the larger urban mosaic. We articulate the ecological approach by taking a differentiated view of change processes. EMPIRICAL LINKS BETWEEN COMMUNITY ECOLOGY AND DISORDERDespite the acknowledged importance of ecological change at the community or subcommunity (i.e., neighborhood) level (Choldin, 1984), until about 1980 the bulk of investigations were cross-sectional in nature and thus did not address change. Numerous studies considered ecology and delinquency (Bordua

Female crime has been explained in terms of feminist and traditional (control, cultural deviance, commitment to conventional institutions) theories. In this study, self-reported arrests were examined for 170 female and 202 male heroin users in treatment to determine if these theories differ in their capacity to account for female as opposed to male criminality. The results indicate that control theory best explains female arrests, perhaps because breakdowns in familial supervision have more devastating impact on females. On the other hand, it is conceivable that this relationship might reflect biased treatment of unsupervised females by the juvenile justice system, thus creating an association between crime and familial detachment. Cultural deviance predictors were fairly effective in explaining male arrests but had no impact on female arrests. In fact, the most criminal females were those least attached to deviant subcultures. It was argued that these results reflect the absence of a subcultural image to reinforce female crime. Finally, the analysis of feminist predictors indicates that it is the most traditional females who report the most arrests. It is suggested that the limited criminal opportunities available to deviant females and the consequent need for many to attach themselves to males in passive, dependent relationships may select for such traditionalism in female criminals.

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