Representations and Realities in Local Crime Prevention: Some Lessons From London and Lessons for Criminolgy (From Crime Control and Community: The New Politics of Public Safety, P 197-215, 2002, Gordon Hughes and Adam Edwards, eds. -- See NCJ-201097)

• NCJ Number: 201102
• Author(s): Simon Hallsworth
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In this chapter, a case study approach is used to investigate the dynamics of crime control as it unfolds in a London borough and tests several propositions which have formulated about crime control.

Abstract

In this chapter, a London borough characterized as a multi-ethnic, multiply deprived inner city area in South-East London is utilized in this study to examine crime control, specifically the use of street crime in the area and evaluate the current strategies that have been deployed to respond to and combat crime. It addresses two specific questions: (1) does the borough’s response to street crime reflect the values that are supposed to underpin the local crime prevention effort; and (2) is the formation of a control apparatus characterized by a dangerous escalation and intensification of state power being seen? Though the problem of street crime in the area has its roots in deprivation and escalating relative deprivation, nothing has meaningfully been undertaken by way of addressing these structural causes. A regeneration effort created a highly criminogenic environment in which street crime thrived. The lesson derived from the case study was how ineffective current expenditures of force actually are. Crime prevention measures based on this case study represents ineffective and inappropriate investments in social power. References