ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the community, the outermost layer of the ecological framework considered in the book, shapes youth experiences with exposure to community violence and engagement in violent behaviors. The authors describe how the community conditions foster or hinder offender motivation, which is ubiquitous according to routine activity theory/lifestyles perspective. The community can also create conditions where motivated offenders are more likely to congregate. The community also operates to determine who becomes a suitable target of violence and can increase targets’ attractiveness. Community conditions such as collective efficacy, disorder, and structural characteristics impact the availability and effectiveness of capable guardianship by informal and formal social control agents.
