Summary: Preventing Neighborhood Crime

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Question one

Informal social control, collective efficacy, and social capital all play an important role when it comes to preventing neighborhood crime efforts. Informal social control does not involve any formal social institutions such as the police. Instead, it involves a group of individuals outside the government spectrum that come together to try to prevent crime for the common good. This concept is often hard to achieve when individuals cannot conform and help define social norms. On the other hand, it can be very helpful when preventing neighborhood crimes because it brings people from the neighborhood together and creates bonds between neighbors. When bonds exist within communities, it is more likely that the residents will look
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Social disorganization happens when a community cannot work together towards something they want to achieve. The factors of social disorganization are high poverty rates, diverse cultures, and high residential mobility rates (Lowenkamp, Cullen & Pratt, 2003). Having a neighborhood with a high poverty rate most likely indicates that the population is spending more of their time working, compared to having leisure time and looking after their children. Individuals who work for long periods of time do not have spare time to create bonds with their neighbors. Also, having many different cultural norm from different groups of individuals in one area could lead to a clash of ideas and customs. Residential mobility means that individuals do not live in the same place for very long. Therefore, these people do not have enough time nor do not care enough to engage in relationships with their …show more content…
The article “A general theory of Criminal Justice” says there are many characteristics that people with a low self-control level may display. The first characteristic they display is behavior that demonstrates not wanting to wait for anything. They want instant gratification and do not want to work for it. The second characteristic involves individuals with self-control that desire easy tasks. The third characteristic involves a person that engages in risky and/or dangerous activities, in order to fulfil their adrenaline rush. The fourth characteristic involves an individual that chooses not to be part of any social institutions because they do not feel like it will benefit them in anyway. The fifth characteristic involves individuals that want to engage in activities that don’t take much skill or that need little preparation. Lastly, the sixth characteristic of low self-control is self-center or mean behavior. Individuals that have low self-control do not think about the consequences of their actions before they act on them, which makes them more likely to be involved in criminal behavior. A child develops their level of self-control for a life-time before the age of ten (DeLisi, Hochstetler, Higgins, Beaver, & Graeve , 2008). Children develop self-control from their parents. If parents do not properly supervise their children, recognize if their child has unfitting or bad behavior, and discipline

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