Crime Prevention - Wilson and Kelling (1982)

Pruitt-Igoe, Missouri?

1950s - 12,000 people relocated from slums to 43 new, 11 storey buildings

2762 apartments over 57 acres, with apartments built off of narrow hallways

within a couple of years there were broke lifts, glass, abandoned car etc - urban decay meant that by 1970, 27/43 buildings were vacant

Newman - Defensible Space?

Inspired by Pruitt-Igoe, investigated 2 estates in NYC:

• Van Dyke - High-rise flats

• Brownsville - Walk-up buildings each built around a courtyard

Same social density housing 288/acre

Brownsville had a common area that meant people would meet and talk reducing the crime rate cf Van Dyke

If there are people around, vandalism is less likely

Key Factors for Defensible Space:

1. Zone of territorial influence

2. Opportunities for surveillance

3. Image (individuality?)

4. Milieu (surroundings = open?)

Newman & Franck (1982)?

Field experiment in Van Dyke and Brownsville

Sound team in a van played a tape of people having an argument

Brownsville - challenged very quickly with people coming out to investigate

Van Dyke - people would lock doors/windows and didn’t often challenge the team, turned up stereo/TV when sound of argument was increased

fear and lack of surveillance gave criminals greater opportunity

Bramley and Power (2009)?

people in high density areas see crime as a greater problem

cycle of fear of crime leads to people not challenging individuals, increasing crime rate, increasing fear

Zero-tolerance policy, William Bratton?

NYC Police Officer in 1990, noticed high levels of petty crime, fare evaders etc

Became Police Commissioner in 1994

• sent lots of POs into the subway to catch fare evaders, others to catch squeegee people and minor crimes

• hired 5000 more POs

• ‘assertive’ policing reduced crime by 40% in 3yrs (murders down by 50%)

Zero-tolerance in the UK - Hartlepool (1994)?

Crime reduced by 27% in 2yrs and car theft reduced by 56%

Zimbardo (1969)?

Broken Windows theory → some urban decay leads to further due to apparent lack of care (if there’s one broken window, why can’t there be another?)

Left Cars in different areas of US cities, found that after a week most cars were untouched

He would then smash one window and within hours the car was often found damaged (slashed tires, on fire, further broken windows)

Wilson and Kelling (1982) method?

review study, case study, naturalistic participant observation (Kelling accompanied POs)

Wilson and Kelling (1982) aims?

to study the links between fear of crime and the role of the police

to study the features of the neighbourhood that links to high levels of crime

to study the effectiveness of foot patrols

Wilson and Kelling (1982) sample?

Newark City, New Jersey and the state-wide “Safe and Clean Neighbourhoods” programme

Wilson and Kelling (1982) sections?

Part 1 = Safe Neighbourhoods

Part 2 = Changing role of the Police

Part 3 = Maintaining Order

Wilson and Kelling (1982) part 1?

Individuals frightened of disorder and crime

Kelling followed foot patrols:

• found there were informal social rules formed between community and police officers

• police presence increased confidence in the reporting of crimes

• no actual reduction in crime

• fear of disorder is linked to actual disorder

When POs who weren’t on foot patrols arrived in squad cars they were seen as more uncaring about the community

the presence of foot patrols elevated public order and reduced fear of crime

Wilson and Kelling (1982) part 2?

Community policing had declined with an increase in universal policing

there was a move from order maintenance to law enforcement

the application of universal laws removed the power of order maintenance → Chicago housing project (1960s), the 2000 black residents had poor relations with the police and high levels of crime

Foot patrols improved community-police relationships improving order maintenance

Wilson and Kelling (1982) part 3?

fear of disorder lead to greater urban decay (Estrich - 75% of adults would cross the street when seeing a group of teenagers)

Police could identify areas on the tipping point of urban decay and crime and introduce measures to reduce crime however, budgets are stretched

ways to reduce crime without police investment:

• security guards

• tennent organisations

• officers to wear their uniform whilst travelling to/from work on public transport

• community POs

• citizen patrols

situational applications?

reducing factors of the environment and opportunity

• target hardening

• defensible space

• CCTV (Brown 1975, showed a 56% decrease in Newcastle burglaries)

• Alley-gating (Bowers 2004, showed a 37% decrease in crime in Liverpool areas with gated alleys)

Huddersfield (October 1994 - March 1996)?

tiered responses for repeat victims of domestic burglary and theft from cars:

• crime prevention officers,

• victim liason officers

• data analysis

• local media delivered information about crime prevention

burglary reduced by 30%

theft from cars reduced by 20%

little evidence of criminal displacement