Community Crime And Disorder

Community dynamics shape the way communities function. Areas that suffer from high levels of crime and disorder often experience decreased social capital, declining property values; slow economic development; and high levels of fear of victimization among residents. Changing the dynamics that foster crime problems across urban communities is a challenge for policy makers, police, residents and local stakeholders. Drawing on unique longitudinal data at the community level, Crime and Disorder in Community Context entwines current ecological theories of crime with key debates on the relevance of ¿community¿ in contemporary urban life to examine the spatial and temporal relationships between community structure, community social capital, informal social control and the occurrence of crime and disorder.

This book fills a number of gaps in the 'community and crime' literature, makes important theoretical contributions, and is based on original research. Questions explored include: How do changes in the urban environment impact upon local (high crime) communities? How do changes in housing provision and consumption influence crime patterning? Can current community safety and urban policies address the needs of high crime, mixed tenure, inner-city areas? And how do community groups respond to neighbourhood change, crime and disorder?

Proactive policing, as a strategic approach used by police agencies to prevent crime, is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. It developed from a crisis in confidence in policing that began to emerge in the 1960s because of social unrest, rising crime rates, and growing skepticism regarding the effectiveness of standard approaches to policing. In response, beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, innovative police practices and policies that took a more proactive approach began to develop. This report uses the term "proactive policing" to refer to all policing strategies that have as one of their goals the prevention or reduction of crime and disorder and that are not reactive in terms of focusing primarily on uncovering ongoing crime or on investigating or responding to crimes once they have occurred. Proactive policing is distinguished from the everyday decisions of police officers to be proactive in specific situations and instead refers to a strategic decision by police agencies to use proactive police responses in a programmatic way to reduce crime. Today, proactive policing strategies are used widely in the United States. They are not isolated programs used by a select group of agencies but rather a set of ideas that have spread across the landscape of policing. Proactive Policing reviews the evidence and discusses the data and methodological gaps on: (1) the effects of different forms of proactive policing on crime; (2) whether they are applied in a discriminatory manner; (3) whether they are being used in a legal fashion; and (4) community reaction. This report offers a comprehensive evaluation of proactive policing that includes not only its crime prevention impacts but also its broader implications for justice and U.S. communities.

"Crime, disorder, and decay symbolize the decline of America's inner cities. Skogan's book is theoretically acute, methodologically sophisticated, and politically astute. It should be required reading for every urban sociologist, policy planner, and public official."--Jerome H. Skolnick, University of California, Berkeley "Panhandling, graffiti, prostitution, abandoned cars and buildings, and junk-filled lots are evidence of neighborhood disorder and decline. In this absorbing and valuable study, Skogan discusses the implications of disorder and skillfully analyzes experimental efforts undertaken to confront it in several American cities."--Gilbert Geis, University of California, Irvine "This timely book not only documents the relationship between disorder and neighborhood decline, but provides a cogent analysis of the currently favored solutions to problems such as community policing and citizen self-help."--Dr. Thomas A. Reppetto, President, Citizens Crime Commission of New York City

Drawing on unique longitudinal community-level data in Brisbane, this book entwines current ecological theories of crime with key debates on the relevance of ‘community’ in contemporary urban life to examine the spatial and temporal relationships between community structure, community social capital, informal social control and the occurrence of crime and disorder. Crime and Disorder in Community Context extends what is known about the concentration of crime in particular types of places, presenting a broad reaching explication of how community structural characteristics, community regulatory processes and crime influence each other over time. It looks at how growing levels of ethnic diversity, income inequality and increasing immigrant concentrations at the community level influence processes necessary for the regulation of crime; the crime control processes for various crime problems in different types of communities; the extent that exogenous shocks, like the 2011 Brisbane flood disaster and the global financial crisis impact on crime, crime prevention and crime control; and engages readers with the methodological complexities associated with the longitudinal study of crime and disorder in contemporary urban communities. An accessible and compelling read, this will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, geography, cultural studies and all those interested in the relationship between crime and community.

Cites successful examples of community-based policing.

This book is an excellent resource in examining the influence that community control can have on crime.

This book provides an analytic overview and assessment of the changing nature of crime prevention, disorder and community safety in contemporary society. Bringing together nine original articles from leading national and international authorities on these issues, the book examines recent developments in relation to a number of specific groups - the disadvantaged, the socially excluded, youth, women and ethnic minorities. Topics covered include: * the increase in local authority responsibility for crime control and community safety * the development of inter-agency alliances * the changing nature of policing * the passing of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

This anthology introduces students to the dynamic, rapidly changing field of Community-Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS). The context of community crime and its causes are brought to the forefront in this collection of articles by leading academics and practitioners. Coverage includes such diverse topics as: * The evolution of policing. * The role of citizens in social control, crime prevention, and prevention strategies. * What police officers need to know about crime. * The major changes required for organizations to successfully implement community policing. * The role of the community as well as public and private agencies in the movement toward COPPS. * Criminological factors which contribute to crime and disorder in our communities. * Articles on mobilizing communities. * Future trends in community policing. Despite the widespread implementation of community-oriented policing, its success has varied significantly from locale to locale. Policing Communities emphasizes (1) the role that the community plays in developing effective strategies for controlling and preventing crime, (2) new methods the police are using to examine the context of crime, and (3) procedures that agencies are using to implement COPPS. Brief, thought-provoking introductions are provided for each article, framing the piece in a larger context. These introductions serve as a useful "road map" for students.

"[This book provides] an intellectual history that traces how varying images of community have evolved over time and influenced criminological thinking and criminal justice policy. The authors outline the major ideas that have shaped the development of theory, research, and policy in the area of communities and crime. Each chapter examines the problem of the community through a defining critical or theoretical lens: the community as social disorganization; as a system of associations; as a symptom of larger structural forces; as a result of criminal subcultures; as a broken window; as crime opportunity; and as a site of resilience. Focusing on these changing images of community, the empirical adequacy of these images, and how they have resulted in concrete programs to reduce crime, [this book] theorizes about and reflects upon why some neighborhoods produce so much crime. The result is a tour of the dominant theories of place in social science today."--