NCJ Number
118274
Date Published
1988
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The two main views of community crime prevention are discussed in terms of their differences on many crucial dimensions, particularly their views of what a community is and their recommended strategies for combatting crime.
Abstract
The uses of these views in other chapters in this volume are also noted. The view called Phase One involves a symbolic view of community, in which a community is mainly a matter of collective attitudes and styles of interpersonal behavior. Thus, Phase One overlooks the tangible structures and institutions that underlie and shape community attitudes. It also misunderstands the relationship between the offender and the community, regarding offenders as outsiders rather than as community members. Thus, Phase One thinking is virtually silent on the issue of community prevention of domestic violence. It also fails to acknowledge the damage that poor living conditions can cause, although statistics show that crime is heaviest in poor areas with high concentrations of poor people. Phase Two thinking is not yet fully developed. However, it views a community as an interlocked set of longstanding institutions that are affected by larger social and economic forces. It also recognizes that real communities are healthy or pathological mainly as a result of the strength or weakness of their basic institutions and their economy. Phase Two thinking is much more aware of the depth of the personal and structural damage that serious crime reflects and of the need to strengthen the institutions of family, neighborhood, and work. Phase Two efforts are more difficult than Phase One efforts in terms both politically and programmatically. In the long run, however, they will prove more constructive and more realistic. 1 reference.