Social disorganization theory and the college campus

Researchers and the mass media have focused increasing attention on campus crime in light of a few high-profile incidents. While rare, these incidents are important because college students are less likely to attend, spend time on, or participate in social activities on high crime campuses. The current study contributed to research on campus crime by exploring the generalizability of the updated social disorganization model to campus communities by using data collected from Peterson's Guide to Four-Year Colleges and the Uniform Crime Report for the year 2000. While social structural features of campus populations are clearly associated with rates of campus property crime, the role of social organization is less certain. These results have implications for future research and crime prevention planning on college campuses.