NCJ Number
90998
Date Published
1983
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This teaching module for college-level classes presents six articles which document significant reductions in crime attributable to concentrated community crime prevention efforts, but emphasize that such programs' effectiveness depends on compatibility with a community's values and lifestyles.
Abstract
The initial presentation surveys key findings from research sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, with attention to organization of community crime prevention and control efforts and strategies that have produced the greatest payoff -- protective neighboring and environmental design. The next paper examines neighborhoods' social characteristics that encourage or inhibit the development of shared norms and a sense of mutual responsibility. The authors conclude that residents of low-income, culturally heterogeneous neighborhoods are unlikely to develop strong informal controls or community organizations, elements basic to many crime prevention strategies. This theory is illustrated by a description of San Francisco's unsuccessful efforts to implement Project SAFE in the Mission district. SAFE concentrated on reducing opportunities for crime to occur, whereas the multicultural, rapidly changing community felt that poverty, unemployment, racism, inadequate housing, and poor education caused crime. In contrast, the Asylum Hill project in Hartford, Conn., represents an effective approach to reducing residential burglary, street robbery, and fear of crime. It integrated police, community organizations, and physical design changes. The final papers analyze research projects on community involvement in crime prevention, based on a sampling of residents of Chicago and its suburbs, and the impact of neighborhood associations on crime rates in St. Louis neighborhoods. All papers provide references.