How does crime relate to the quality of life in communities? What role does fear play in influencing crime patterns? What is the effect of crime on a community's school's teachers, and pupils? How does environmental design affect crime? Can household and community mobilization change crime patterns?

Examining the ways in which communities both affect crime and are affected by it, this volume seeks to explain the wide variation of crime levels among different communities. As it attempts to redress the bias toward describing crime in terms of individuals, Communities and Crime brings concentrated attention to crime at a community level, suggesting ways in which neighborhoods can change their crime patterns.