What theories can help explain and help solve the problems in this neighborhood?
Required Article Readings
- Weisburd and Piquero (2008)-How Well Do Criminologists Explain Crime? (UO6.1-UO6.3)
- Lavrakas (1995)-Community-Based Crime Prevention (UO6.4)
- Stone (1995)-The Criminal Justice System: Unfair and Ineffective (UO6.4)
- “Some things to think about…” Document (UO6.1-UO6.5)
Recommended Materials
- Explore Crime Solutions.gov website to learn about evidence-based practices used to address various crime concerns. https://crimesolutions.gov/
- I love being a police officer, but we need reform (TED Talk Video with Melvin Russell)
- How police and the public can create safer neighborhoods together (TED Talk Video with Tracie Keesee)
- John Oliver’s Year in Criminal Justice (A compilation of thought provoking arguments comically delivered.) https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/12/18/john-oliver-s-year-in-criminal-justice
Discussion Board Instructions:
You are an urban criminologist in the City of Chicago, hired by the Mayor to help develop policies to reduce crime. Chicago is a very large city with a diverse population of almost 3 million people. There are large inner-city neighborhoods that suffer from lack of community structure, poverty, and hopelessness. Buildings are decayed, businesses have fled, unemployment is high, and resources are low. Predatory delinquent gangs run free, terrorizing local merchants and citizens. The school system has failed to provide opportunities and educational experiences sufficient to dampen enthusiasm for gang recruitment. One of the biggest problems has been the large housing projects built in the 1960s. These are now overcrowded and deteriorated. Police are actually afraid to enter the buildings unless they arrive with a SWAT team. Each building is controlled by a gang whose members demand tribute from the residents.
Your goal is to develop a policy proposal to revitalize the area, help address the gang problem, and eventually bring down the crime rate.
Consider the following:
- What theories can help explain and help solve the problems in this neighborhood?
- How do population demographics (such as age, race/ethnicity, and gender, which are correlates of crime) affect your policy suggestions?
- How can unemployment be decreased?
- How can the gangs be addressed?
- What role will the public play, and what roll with the criminal justice system play, in reducing these problems?
One of the most important elements of a theory is that it have real-world policy implications.
Be sure you use examples and support explanations from the Required Article Readings and Recommended Materials.
