DOES NEIGHBORHOOD’S PHYSICAL FACILITIES INFLUENCE CRIME COMMISSION? EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT FROM KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of physical facilities on crime commission in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study specifically looked at the influence of built environment and natural environment on crime commission. The target population for this study was 245,820 subjects comprising of the business owners, security agents and area residents within the 3 locations of Thika West Sub-county, Kiambu County. The study adopted descriptive research design. Data was analyzed using categorical regression model. Stratified random sampling was used to classify the population into 3 locations. Simple random sampling was used to select 27 business owners and 97 area residents from each of the 3 locations. Also 12 police officers were randomly sampled from each of the two police stations within the Sub-county. The 3 chiefs from the three locations and Deputy County Commander (DCC) were also included in the study sample. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires administered to the study sample. The validity of research instruments was tested using content validity and reliability using Cronbach Alpha. The findings of this study were that increase in physical facilities measured in terms of unregulated number of bars, abandoned buildings, commercial areas etc. leads to rise of crime rates. The conclusion was that; physical facilities that exist in a neighborhood are related to crime commission. Different facilities attract different crimes. Some facilities attract more crimes than others. Facilities have a significant effect on crime at nearby places even controlling for socio-demographic variables. The study recommends a comparative research that focuses on the influence of one type of physical facility on crime commission in different types of neighborhood.