This reader summarises ecological and contextual studies of offending, victimisation and fear of crime that were conducted in Belgium between 2000 and 2009. The book has been written from a ‘social disorganisation perspective’ and combines ecological and multilevel studies of offending, fear and victimisation. It evaluates the problems and prospects of such a contextual approach that takes into account area characteristics (such as urbanisation, residential stability and disorder). The results clearly demonstrate that some classic findings from studies conducted in Anglo-Saxon context also apply to the urban settings of Belgium. The authors also propose some directions for future inquiries.

Social disorganisation, offending, fear and victimisation has been compiled by Professor Lieven Pauwels (Ghent University), who wrote his PhD on the status of the social disorganisation perspective on adolescent offending, for which he was awarded the Willem Nagel Award 2009, a Dutch award for the best PhD written by a Dutch-speaking scholar in the fi eld of criminology between 2006-2009. Co-writers are Wim Hardyns (Ghent University), who is writing his PhD on the contextual effects of collective effi cacy on individual differences in victimisation and fear of crime, and Maarten Van de Velde (Ghent University), who will start his PhD on trust in justice.

Target group

Academics

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