Objectives

Living in close proximity to recent, violent crime may undermine sense of safety in the home territory by increasing perceived crime risk. Yet it is also possible that practicing active guardianship by responding to local problems will moderate this association by reducing perceived vulnerability to crime. In this study we examine the association between residents’ proximity to recent violence, perceived safety and the moderating effect of active guardianship.

Methods

Controlling for individual characteristics and features of the individual’s home territory, we estimate mixed effects regression models to investigate the effect of proximity to violence and active guardianship on feelings of safety. We also examine the moderating effect of active guardianship.

Results

The findings indicate that individuals living in closer proximity to recent violence feel less safe and those who report taking action when they observe local problems feel safer than those who do not engage in guardianship action. Despite the direct association between active guardianship and feeling safer, active guardianship did not moderate the association between proximity to violence and feelings of safety.

Conclusions

While this study cannot ascertain temporal ordering, the findings suggest people who feel safer are more likely to engage in active guardianship, rather than active guardianship leading to reduced vulnerability. On a promising note, the direct association between active guardianship and feeling safer suggests that empowering residents via grass-roots crime prevention strategies has the potential to benefit communities by both addressing crime and improving perceived safety.

中文翻译：

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接近暴力生活并感到安全：在本国领土上积极监护的作用是什么？

目标

住在附近最近的，暴力犯罪可能会破坏家居安全意识境内通过提高感知的犯罪风险。然而，通过应对当地问题来实行积极监护也可能通过减少人们对犯罪的脆弱性来缓和这种联系。在这项研究中，我们研究了居民与近期暴力行为的接近程度，感知到的安全性与积极监护的调节作用之间的关联。

方法

控制个人的个人特征和个人居住领土的特征，我们估计混合效应回归模型，以调查接近暴力和积极监护对安全感的影响。我们还将研究积极监护的调节作用。

结果

调查结果表明，与最近的暴力事件相距较近的人的安全感较差，而在观察到本地问题时报告采取行动的人则比没有监护权的人要安全。尽管主动监护和感觉更安全之间有着直接的联系，但是主动监护并没有减轻接近暴力和安全感之间的联系。

结论

尽管这项研究无法确定时间顺序，但研究结果表明，感到更安全的人更有可能从事主动监护，而不是主动监护，从而导致脆弱性降低。有希望的是，积极监护与更加安全之间的直接联系表明，通过基层犯罪预防策略增强居民权能有可能通过解决犯罪和改善人们的安全感而使社区受益。