Titled: "EXAM" (2012-04) From Criminology

crime and how we create crime

how we attempt to control or prevent criminal acts

large scale legal interventions "get tough on crime" philosophy - general deterrent

(one way)

alternate way:

do so through changes in legislation

a change in legislation can have a dramatic effect on the criminal picture

one of the candidates for the liberal party- decriminalize marijuana

changing the law would have a dramatic effect on criminal events - if a common criminal occurrence suddenly becomes decriminalized -- changing crime rates by changing the definition of what is a crime

we as a society attempt to prevent criminal activity in a specific concept

i.e. subway system in Toronto

if get off at certain stations: hear beautiful Mozart, Bach, Beethoven etc. played at ear splitting levels with the clear intent of driving people (or certain people) out of the stations

is a use of classical music as a weapon, played at a high enough volume that is difficult to have conversations and annoying to have around near (especially if you don't enjoy classical music--teenagers)

in england in areas where kids tend to commit minor offences, they found a way to move them somethwere else by developing this mean strategy:

when cosmotitions are assessing clients for cosmetic treatments, they have a pinkish light they use on the clients face because the light shows all blemishes and imperfections etc. 

they have begun to take the lights that these cosmotitions use and installed them in the underground passages (underpasses) so that obviously any young people who are so inclined to hang around, would be shown as the "spotty little herberts that they really are"-police officer

 

tool used to make an environment undesireable to curb criminal behaviour

 

large and grand initiatives

 

building new neighbourhoods etc. with the intention that the new will deter old behvaiour

 

when it comes to environmental design, a lot of the ideas go back to an event that occured in st. louis, missouri

slump area after the war (50s) decided to clear it out fpr highrisses to house the people from the ghetto

-->ABSOLUTE disaster : crime central - buildings were quickly rendered to barely (if at all) habitable

later it was decided they would be fixed up, moved everyone out and put up electric fencing around the building while it was under construction and when they fixed it and moved the people back into the building, they decided to leave up the fencing because the people who had moved in started a massive fight to keep the fence because the fence meant security for them. 

by tearing down the ghetto, they had uspet the blaance and routine and social order of the streets (network)

 

people needed to feel safe and a lot of social housing was not designed to be safe

 

highly thought through conceptualized housing plans that were intended to achieve one effect but accomplished a far different one

 

concerns:

-creating a space that is protected where individul family units have control

-patios or courtyards help allowing them to feel like their in control, territoriality

 

-Surveilience: bricked in lobbies vs. glass

-if the lobbies were visible from the street, enabling a higher degree of surveilience, likely a lot of the criminal events that occur wouldnt because most are opportunistic

 

public wants distinction between what kind of housing they can have for themselves vs. what is "given" to others

 

thats is about environmental design

 

other major factor that we utilize: take away opportunity to commit crimes by pardoning or increasing the risk for what would be offenders attempting to commit specific crimes

i.e. the practise of street proofing kids: teaching young children to recognize risks or threats

a few weeks ago a young girl was approached at a public school adn that her mom had sent him to go get her

the girl had been taugh that if approached ask what the "secret number is" and when he couldnt come up with a number and therefore wouldnt go with him

 

number of different ways in which we go about ?? target hardening

many crimes occur out of opportunity therefore if there are deterrents in place that are suffuciently strong, they deter crimes

i.e. house security systems: as significant a component of the system-- stickers. 

put the stickers on doors and windows as a deterrent

80% of house burglaries are committed by teenagers and they decide its not worth it and find a house with no stickers

neighbourhood watch - premised on the notion that if someone in the neighbourhood is on the lookout for unusal occurances in that neighbourhood and calls the owner of the house etc. you have effectively created a network of surveillence. neighbours looking out for neighbours

-have it here in thunder bay but variably active - biggest challenge is getting people to volunteer to be the person to watch, or rather a designated block captain - requires work, also must acknowledge that not everyones keen on the idea of all their neighbours watching the comings and goings of them, their place and their lifestyle and therefore there is sometimes resistance

events that would occur in a similar neighbourhood get shifted to one that does not have neighbourhood watch 

or block parents?

works especially well for communities that have someone on the block that would always be there

electronic pens to mark expensive things in the house that may go missing that prevent the theif to resell such valuable items 

able to prevent criminal occurances because of prior intervention