Urban Sociology - Essay Example

1 (a What is 'broken windows' theory According to the Broken Window theory one problem can be solved easily before it becomes a big problem. It means to solve a problem in its initial occurrence is much easier rather than waiting to solve a problem when it becomes a big problem. As the problem becomes big & big it is very hard to solve the problem and also the control the reoccurrence of the problem. With this example we can easily came to know the exact definition of the broken window theory: Suppose we are having a house in an area outside the city, and due to some reason we are not living in that house and no one is taking care of this house. After some time we have seen that the lock on the main door was broken & the door is open. Due to lack of time we are not able to repair the lock & the door remain open. After some time we found the glasses fixed on windows are also broken and the floor of the house is full of waste material. Time to time the condition of the house became worst. The material inside the house was theft and every thing was broken within a short span of time. If the lock of the door was repaired in time then definitely there will not be such damage in the house. So the broken window theory clearly state that if we take action initially then we can prevent big damage and crime. For this State of New Jersey announced a "Safe and Clean Neighborhoods Program designed to improve the quality of community life in twenty-eight cities. According to this program, police officer should move in the city without vehicle means they need to move on foot to minimize crime. The objective is to secure the citizen. Citizens in the foot patrol areas had a more favorable opinion of the police than did those living elsewhere. And officers walking beats had higher morale, greater job satisfaction, and a more favorable attitude toward citizens in their neighborhoods than did officers assigned to patrol cars. (b.) Compare this with Jacobs' ideas about deterring crime. Jacob found the relationship between the environmental factors and the people. Jacob found how physical & social urban factor affect the life of people. Jacob discovered how environmental factors cause prevention of crime. Jacob hypothesized that urban residential crime could be prevented by reducing conditions of anonymity and isolation in that area. Jacob thought that crime rate is increasing due to attitude of the people towards their neighbors. Even neighbors do not recognize each others. That's why they do not know whether the stranger entering into the society is a member of society or not. Jocb stated that high levels of natural surveillance created a safe environment. According to Jacob one of our best protections against crime is to live in a community where neighbors watch out for each other and stand ready to call the police or to intervene directly where they spot a criminal. (c.) Explain Duneier's criticism of the broken windows theory as applied to the Greenwich Village vendors and panhandlers he studied. Greenwich vendors & panhandlers were first studied by Jane Jacobs in 1961, after that she wrote a book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which represented Greenwich Village sidewalk interaction as the ideal for what makes up a "great" American city. Duneier revisited the Jacobs principal by went back to the neighborhood. On the sidewalk, he studied the vendors who are not having houses, scavengers, and panhandlers. While side walking he found that the people are filled with illegality, personal defect, and shame and also a world of mutual support, struggles for respectability, ingenuity, and resilience. Duneier's main agenda was to understand the ways in which "moral" behavior and "decency" affects the crime. He also found that the sidewalk was quite different than it was when Jacobs described it, when "eyes and ears upon the street" were presumed to make sidewalk life safe and comfortable. His method was participant observation, and he worked as a magazine scavenger and street vendor on and off during more than five years. He developed and systematically employed an extended place method for expanding the boundaries of the traditional neighborhood study. (d.) Describe the alternative 'fixed windows' theory that Duneier proposes. Duneier proposed fixed window theory, for reducing the crime done by scavenger and panhandlers. According to this theory crime can be prevented if the problem can be rectified initially before it becomes the big problem. Suppose a window of a house is broken, then it is much easier to repair or fix the broken window rather than repairing all the broken windows. It means if we fix the broken window, then the chances of breaking the other window is very less. It is the behavior of the panhandlers and scavengers to destroy the thing completely if there is no one to care for that thing. Another important aspect of broken windows theory is the almost complete dismissal of the various social causes of crime, so well documented by social science research during the past 100 years. Many supporters of broken windows theory often display contempt for sociological theories of crime, with derisive statements, such as referring to such theories as "root causes" theories. Kelling and Sousa (2001: 2, emphasis in the original) make the following point as they respond research that questions the value of certain police policies. By using the fixed window theory the official crime rate drop significantly in New York City, with murder decreasing by 72 percent between 1990 and 1998, while total violent crime went down by 51 percent. More specifically, in New York City two main factors were alleged to have caused the drop in crime: (1) changes in police tactics and (2) greater use of incarceration. In the case of the former, it was NYPD's "strict crackdown on nuisance offenses, and its use of computer-drawn maps to reveal local hot spots and patterns of criminal activity". There was also a new "corporate-style devolution of responsibility by headquarters to precinct commanders" who were given the main responsibility to "show results" (Karmen, 2001). They also began using a new form of crime mapping called "Compstat," a computer system introduced in 1994 that provides data for each precinct on arrests, complaints and other information about crime. It was claimed to have been part of the reason for the drop in crime in New York City.So the fixed window theory's main objective is to reduce the crime rate. 5. Based on your reading of Sidewalk, critique (positively or negatively) Baltimore's "feeding meters to help the homeless" plan (described in the following New York Times article). Baltimore is a nonprofit group which is urging the public to give money to help homeless people. For this they installed recycled parking meters in the route where most of the tourist and panhandlers visit. Drop a coin in the meter, and the needle jumps from "Despair" to "Hope." But no matter whether it is a nickel or a quarter - or how many coins are tossed into a meter - hope flashes for only a few seconds before the needle drops to despair. The money in the recycled parking meters, which are painted green and blue goes to Baltimore Homeless Services, the arm of the city Health Department that provides shelter and treatment programs for homeless people. Analysis or Critique of Baltimore's "Feeding meters to help Homeless Plan" The positive points of the Baltimore's "feeding meters to help homeless" plan is that the money donated by the public is going in hand of the panhandlers who really need houses & shelters. Instead of giving money directly to panhandlers the donators are very happy to give it through feeding meter to ensure the productive use of the donated money. Because it is not necessary that all panhandlers are not having houses. Some of them are having houses. So official should work on the analysis of the panhandlers who are not having houses or shelters. They should make a list of actual panhandlers. Officials in Philadelphia started a campaign to get homeless people off the streets in the late '90s, committing $5.6 million for housing and treatment programs. Now the city spends about $17 million a year on homeless services and the number of people sleeping on the street has been cut by two-thirds. The negative point of the Baltimore's "Feeding meters to help homeless" plan is that collection of money from the feeding meters. It requires recruitment of manpower to collect money from feeding meters on daily basis. And also the control on the manpower should be required, so that money should reach in the right hand only. References: 1.RelativeResourceManager;JSESSIONID=d5qRLLVB6t7PfBtyp3Zt8y2GQn48h3QmQVTCp27tqVlKZmvH4K69!-703170243!w 2.janejabobs.pdf 3.RelativeResourceManager;JSESSIONID=R2krLQ1hf9k1vbJyvZXMBvtQty2lHQ660nPSs12Jt61P3H7R8F0V!-703170243!w Read More