Territorial functioning and victimisation: conceptualisation and scale development Aldrin Abdullah & Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali & Helen Woolley & Azizi Bahauddin & Mohammad Javad Maghsoodi Tilaki Published online: 23 October 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract The purpose of this study was to develop and validate territorial functioning measures and to examine the link between territorial functioning and victimisation in a high-crime context. To this end, four sequential stages of scale development were undertaken: conceptual model development, item generation and content validation, exploratory study and confirmatory study. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the three dimensions of territorial functioning, namely, neighbourhood attitudes, sense of control and marking behaviour, as dimensions of the second-order territorial functioning construct. The results of the structural model support findings reported in the literature that associate high territorial functioning with low victimisation. The theoretical and practical implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed in the concluding sections of this study. Introduction There is substantial empirical evidence that links territorial functioning (TF) to low crime rates. Territorial functioning originates from the action of protecting a space and Crime Law Soc Change (2014) 61:335–354 DOI 10.1007/s10611-013-9490-6 A. Abdullah : M. Hedayati Marzbali (*) : A. Bahauddin : M. J. Maghsoodi Tilaki School of Housing, Building & Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia e-mail: hedayati@usm.my A. Abdullah e-mail: aldrin@usm.my A. Bahauddin e-mail: azizi@usm.my M. J. Maghsoodi Tilaki e-mail: maghsoodi.tilaki@gmail.com H. Woolley Department of Landscape, The University of Sheffield, Floor 13, The Arts Tower, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK H. Woolley e-mail: h.woolley@sheffield.ac.uk