Introduction
For much of the twentieth century criminologists
wrestled with questions regarding how community
context affects crime. Most of the research that arose
from these questions was based on social disorganization
theory, and addressed how neighborhood context
affected the quantity of crime. Recently, however,
questions regarding the effects of neighborhood context
on crime have been broadened to also address potential
variation in the nature of crime. This is an important
next step in further understanding the community
context of crime. As Kubrin (2003, p. 141) has pointed
out, “neighborhoods not only experience different levels