ime as a consequence of attitudinal schema suggesting that manifestations of disorder represent indifference (Sampson & Raudenbush, 2001). The so-called "broken windows" theory advanced by Wilson and Kelling (1982) proposes that if sufficient "broken windows" in a neighborhood go unattended, the neighborhood falls into a moral and material malaise. Correcting or eliminating this malaise is therefore regarded as instrumental in reducing crime and youth gang violence (Perry, 2001).
Statement of the Problem
The problem to be examined in this study focuses upon the degree to which one innovative strategy for preventing youth gang violence is effective in achieving this socially desirable goal. The strategy is known as neighborhood cohesion development and it was proposed in part by Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls (1997), who asserted that a reduction in neighborhood disorder of both the physical and social varieties can eliminate or at least reduce dramatically the appeal exerted by juvenile criminal gangs. Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls (1997) claimed that where there was cohesion and mutual trust among neighbors in a small community, the likelihood is greater that they will share a willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good. The linkage of cohesion and trust with shared expectations for intervening in support of neighborhood social control has been termed collective efficacy, a key social process proposed by Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls (1997) as an inhibitor of crime and violence.
Sampson and Raudenbush (2001) have pointed out that a long-term study of the antecedents of anti-social and criminal behavior is being conducted among a large group of people in a number of Chicago, Illinois neighborhoods. The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) is based on the theory that neighborhood cohesion emerges when neighbors work to mitigate disorder and to repair...