NCJ Number
87804
Journal
Journal of Offender Counseling Services and Rehabilitation Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (Summer 1982) Pages: 29-42
Date Published
1982
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The purpose of this paper is to describe the major issues related to the resistance to community based care facilities that occurs in urban areas.
Abstract
Information for the paper was gathered through interviews with representatives of four community based residential treatment facilities and interviews with local and state officials involved in community care controversies. The following critical variables were found to be significant in understanding community resistance and overcoming it: (1) overconcentration resulting in 'group home ghettoes,' (2) client characteristics perceived by local residents as being threatening to the safety or aesthetics of the neighborhood; (3) type of neighborhood, e.g., socioeconomic level, ethnic composition, and land use; (4) type of opposition and resistance used by local groups, including the circulation of petitions and flyers, law suits, the organization of residents' associations to oppose, refusal of local government to grant necessary permits, testimony before public hearings, use of issue by politicians, informal alliance between citizen groups and police; (5) the extent and nature of the organizational network of the community based facility; (6) inter-governmental relations and processes which are frequently complicated and lacking in coordination; (7) critical incidents that seem to trigger resistance; and (8) strategies for entering communities and/or overcoming resistance, the success of which may be contingent upon the type of community. (Author abstract)