Crime, Social Capital, and Community Participation.

This article focuses on the relationship between crime and community organizing in poor communities. Social capital inheres in the aspect of social networks and norms that facilitate trust and the ability to achieve individual and collective goals. When neighbors exercise informal social control, they limit the likelihood of crime by creating the network conditions associated with social capital: communication, closure, and the ability to apply sanctions to enforce norms. The items used to measure collective efficacy derive from theories of social disorganization.