Urban park crime: Neighborhood context and park features

This work examined the determinants of park crime, drawing together into one conceptual frame three threads from community criminology - community demographic structural crime determinants; community cultural crime determinants, focusing specifically on social cohesion; and park features that are potentially crime and/or disorder relevant. Generalized structural equation models using data for 249 urban parks and their surrounds show: in the preferred model of disorder crime two aspects of nearby crime, and community social cohesion, both drive park crime; in the preferred model of violent crime, one aspect of nearby crime, community socioeconomic status, and one park feature, security fencing, all shape park crime. Implications for several domains within community criminology merit mention.