Understanding Crime

Understanding Crime covers new criminology and criminal justice research for a general audience. Launched September 2023.

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RESEARCH SHORTS

Police Trustworthiness Helps Neighbours Work Together

Aaron Jacklin
Understanding Crime
2 min readJul 20, 2023
Photo by Small Giant on Unsplash

Researchers sought the contribution, if any, of policing to neighbourhood collective efficacy (“a neighbourhood social process that emphasizes social ties among neighbours and a willingness to intervene to solve local problems”). They found being trustworthy was the main thing police can contribute to collective efficacy, perhaps because trustworthiness reassures “people that the police will be there if needed.”

Research: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between policing and collective efficacy, published in Journal of Experimental Criminology.

This research short originally appeared in a roundup article that didn’t get many reads. I’m experimenting with publishing each on its own to see if readers are more interested in that format. What do you think?

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As Research Shorts, these blurbs could only cover some of the most important findings of this research, but could not dig deeper into other elements, such as its methods or limitations. If you’d like to know more, let me know by commenting.

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Understanding Crime
Understanding Crime

Published in Understanding Crime

Understanding Crime covers new criminology and criminal justice research for a general audience. Launched September 2023.

Aaron Jacklin
Aaron Jacklin

Written by Aaron Jacklin

Creating quality, ethical nonfiction crime content. Criminology Journalist & Writing Coach.

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