The lecture and the readings discuss the importance of strengthening informal systems of social control, such as families, neighborhood groups, friends, and social supports.

Why is informal social control important for reducing crime? What are some ways in which criminal justice organizations strengthen informal social control in communities?

What are some ways in which criminal justice organizations weaken informal social control?

Only these sources below

CRJ 270: Lecture 2.1: Criminal Justice and the Community

Slide 1: In this lecture we will discuss the idea of community justice and how it can be incorporated into

the community. Community justice is a way of thinking about criminal justice, but reformulating those

ideas so that they are tailored to the needs of different communities. In this lecture, we will discuss how

community justice attempts to strengthen communities and reduce crime by adapting criminal justice to

the needs of individual communities.

Slide 2: Community justice is a broad strategy that is characterized by the following three factors. First,

community justice is best implemented in high impact areas--places where public safety is significant

issue. Crime is not evenly distributed across the neighborhoods of a city, there are neighborhoods that

are "high crime" neighborhoods, and other neighborhoods that are not. In these high crime or high

impact areas, the criminal justice system is prominent because there is a large police presence to deal

with the crime problem and individuals in these areas are often sent to prison or return to these areas

after prison. High impact areas are places where criminal justice problems are the most concentrated,

and therefore, implementing community justice strategies will have the biggest impact. The impact for

purposefully tailored strategies is much higher in these locations than in other areas in which problems

are less severe. Second, the community justice approach aims to strengthen informal control

mechanisms. This means strengthening the capacity of a neighborhood or community to address and

deal with problems on their own. The formal criminal justice system is not the only or even the best way

to control behavior. Strengthening other organizationsthe family, neighbors, friendshipscan have a

power effect on offending. Third, partnering with these informal social control mechanisms with formal

control mechanisms in the criminal justice system might be most effective. In other words, the

community justice approach attempts to develop partnership with residents, businesses, and other

social services to coordinate how problems and needs within a community are addressed. By addressing

these needs/problems, crime will be reduces.

Slide 3: The community justice approach attempts to integrate two perspectives that are typically in

opposition to one another, criminal justice and social justice. Criminal justice is concerned with just

dessertsusually the "negative" side of justice. It is concerned with the way a society allocates

undesirable experiences to its members, in this case, criminal sanctions and punishments. In contrast,

social justice is concerned with the distribution of "good" things within a society. A socially just society is

one in which benefits are provided by a fair set of rules and are applied to everyone equally. So how are

these two things connected? Well, both criminal justice and community justice are concerned with what

people "deserve". Criminal justice is a set of institutions and procedures for determining which people

deserve to be sanctioned because of their wrongdoing and what kind of sanctions they deserve to

receive. Social justice is the set of rules by which people get the good things they deserve as a

consequence of their talents and by the fruit of their efforts

Slide 4: Community justice is a strategy of criminal justice because it is concerned with the problems

that contribute to and result from crime. The essence of community justice as a strategy is to strengthen

the capacity of places that are hard hit by crime; in that sense, community justice has a concern for

broader matters of social justice. The marriage of criminal and social justice is most evident in the way

community justice approaches local areas with an eye toward building social capital. The central premise

of social capital is that social networks have value. Social capital refers to the collective value of all

"social networks" (who people know) and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things

for each other ("norms of reciprocity"). The term social capital emphasizes not just warm and cuddly

feelings, but a wide variety of quite specific benefits that flow from the trust, reciprocity, information,

and cooperation associated with social networks. Social capital creates value for the people who are

connected and - at least sometimes - for bystanders as well.

Slide 5: Criminal justice strategies are typically individual and negative: they remove residents, one by

one, from their everyday lives and impose negative, undesirable sanctions on each. Community justice

gives attention to the social justice component, in that it is not merely negative and individual in its

orientation. It seeks a positive, collective outcome as a response to crime: better communities.

Community justice is not simply about a desire to increase public safety, it is also concerned with the

quality of public safety. It is also concerned with the quality of public life and the efficacy of collective

community action. Using crime as a focal point to leverage social capital, community justice seeks to

improve communities by attacking public safety issues that undermine the ability of social groups within

a community to participate in the cultivation and advancement of their own community.

Slide 6: Community justice begins with an important insight about contemporary life: places matter.

Where a person lives turns out to be one of the most important aspects of what that person's life is like.

America, one of the wealthiest nations in history, is extremely segregated in the layout of its living areas

- its neighborhoods. The place where a person lives greatly affects which schools that a person's

children attend, the leisure-time activities used to occupy time, the places a person eats, and so on.

Often the terms "neighborhood" and "community" are used interchangeably. The term "neighborhood"

is almost always used to refer to a particular geographic area within a larger jurisdictional entity. The

term "community" can used to indicate a neighborhood, but usually it has more personal significance.

Sometimes the term is used to refer to a group of people who share a common personal identity

Slide 7: Community and neighborhood are related because people who share common backgrounds or

collective purposes often live near each other. Think about the different neighborhoods in Phoenix.

Certain populations are located in specific neighborhoods or areas of the city. Many European

immigrants have been able to keep their identity as community, but they have been able to leave

restrictive neighborhoods in a pattern of upward mobility. Ethnic integration and even intermarriage

have occurred, a process called the "melting pot"

Slide 8: People of color have not had the same experience as many immigrants. In fact, African

Americans and Latinos continue to be concentrated in poor areas of the city, and this persists over time,

generation after generation. These communities are often isolated, or cut off from other parts of the

city or other residents in the city. When social isolation is coupled with economic disinvestments, we

face a growing problem of concentrations of poor members of certain communities in certain

neighborhoods with little prospect of change. Many times the conditions affecting those with little or no

resources are unknown until a major event occurs. Evacuation of victims during Hurricane Katrina. Many

minorities were unable to escape the city and these parts of the city were some of the last to be

rehabilitated.

Slide 9: The place where a person lives is important in that it can influence the institutions and

individuals that a person might interact with. For example, location of residence might influence what

school someone attends, the leisure activities that are available to them, where they eat, what types of

businesses they are able to access. For example, if someone lives in a neighborhood with bad schools,

then the children who attend those public schools are going to have a poor education. If there are not a

lot of employment opportunities in a neighborhood, then there might be high rates of joblessness.

Neighborhoods are important not only because of the resources that they offer, but also because of the

access they provide to other neighborhoods providing resources that are not available internally to the

neighborhood. Neighborhoods might not provide everything that a citizen might need. For example if

your neighborhood doesn't have a grocery store, do the neighborhoods nearby? If they don't and one

has to travel far, is there good transportation or accessible roads that make it easy to get to other

neighborhoods? This is important because when neighborhoods are cut off or isolated from other

neighborhoods, they don't generally have a lot of resources. In addition, they have few opportunities

because they can't access resources in other neighborhoods. This can create crime. Lack of

transportation opportunities can very much affect "place" issues, since it limits the types of services and

amenities an individual might be exposed to. In other words, it helps limit opportunities.

Slide 10: Neighborhoods differ dramatically in the degree to which they experience crime and criminal

justice. This is why a "cookie-cutter" approach will probably not be effective everywhere. Recent

scholarship has uncovered the importance of place as an element of public safety. This is most

commonly understood through the idea of hot spots. Crime is much more likely to occur in hot spots

than in immediate surrounding areas. A small number of specific locations account for a

disproportionate number of police calls for assistance and reports of criminal events. What almost all

hot spots have in common is not so much their physical attributes but the fact that they are configured

to allow criminals to engage in crime with relative ease, and they exist in neighborhoods where crime is

generally higher than elsewhere. On the right hand side of the slide, you can see a hot spot map of sorts

of Phoenix. From this map, you can clearly see that there are certain areas that have higher rates of

crimein this case violent crimethan others.

Slide 11: There are three main schools of thought about how to overcome problems of public safety that

concentrate in certain areas. First, Disorder models often use Broken Windows theory to explain the

relationship between disorder and crime. The "Broken Windows" theory is one of the most popular

ideas about why crimes comes about in urban settings. Law abiding citizens feel uncomfortable in

disordered areas and do not remain there long. Offenders, however, feel empowered in these locations

and when they are not deterred in small offenses, they interpret this as encouragement. The Broken

Windows idea has led law enforcement to arrest minor offenders. Second, The social disorganization

model focuses on the characteristics of neighborhoods associated with higher rates of crime. Three

characteristics, poverty, ethnic heterogeneity, and mobility were associated with higher levels of crime.

When these attributes are present, the society in these places becomes disorganized and young people

are not socialized correctly. Not only have poverty and mobility contributed to crime, but reciprocally,

crime itself has come to perpetuate poverty and mobility. Social disorganization theorists seek strategies

that "organize" neighborhoods by building social groups and creating political capacity. Because of

poverty, differences in background/culture, and a constant flow of people moving in and out of a

neighborhood, social relationships among residents are not established. Because there is no sense of

"community" or a common set of values established by residents, the ability of social groups to come

together to informally deal with problems in the neighborhood is prohibited. The idea that a community

is organized can counter the forces of poverty, ethnic conflict, and outward mobility, which serves to

promote disorganization in an area. Third, informal social control models, such as collective efficacy

assert that crime is reduced when there are strong forces of informal social control at work in the

neighborhood. Collective efficacy is defined as social cohesion among neighbors combined with their

willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good, is linked to reduced violence. This social

cohesion requires a level of informal social control. Informal social control comes from two sources:

families and other loved ones who exert controlling influences on young people who live near them, and

from social groups and friendship networks that serve a similar function either in addition to or in place

of families. Advocates of collective efficacy try to prevent crime by building social relationships in

problem neighborhoods.

Slide 12: There are a number of criminal justice strategies aimed at community improvement. One

strategy is to focus on the attributes of places more so than the individuals or the individual cases that

come from places. The most important way that criminal justice changes its strategic approach in a

community justice organization is by focusing on the attributes and circumstances of places more than

on cases. In other words, what are the characteristics of places that have high rates of crime, and how

can we change those characteristics? For instance, cleaning up the broken windows aspect of

neighborhoods that tend to encourage criminal behavior and organize residents so that more effective

services can be provided to improve their prospects. Another strategy is to become proactive rather

than simply reactive to crime. Proactive means that community-oriented criminal justice tries to head

off problems before they occur, particularly by identifying the causes of public safety problems and

overcoming them. Traditional criminal justice has been described as a "blaming" and "sanctioning"

institution. Community-oriented criminal justice recognizes that a much broader view of the problem of

criminal justice is needed. There is also recognition that crime effects more than just the offender and

the victim, but the family and the community. And these entities should also be considered when

meting out justice. Because criminal justice so often places a premium on the use of authority in

response to crime, there is a tendency for criminal justice organizations to have a hierarchical,

authoritarian style. In this kind of an organization, authority is concentrated at the top, and discretion is

limited at the bottom. Criminal-oriented criminal justice strategies cannot operate within a rigid,

hierarchical organizational culture. Two reasons for this are prominent: Because these strategies tend to

be oriented to particular places - neighborhoods - that exist within larger legal jurisdictions, it is

necessary to decentralize leadership to those subjurisdictional levels. Neighborhoods are not all alike, so

a degree of flexibility is needed to tailor activity to fit the particulars of the given neighborhood

Slide 13: Comprehensive Community Change Initiatives, or CCCs are local organizations that attempt to

address problems in the community/neighborhood within which they work. These organizations

attempt to build partnerships with other businesses and organizations and entities within the

neighborhood. CCCs attempt to build the political power of communities, generally through aligning

themselves with the political interests of others for a mutual benefit. They also attempt to build

economic power by enticing businesses to locate in communities, or by getting investors to redevelop or

improve housing or to renovate the community. They might also get service providers to locate in these

neighborhoods, especially if the population in that community has a specific need for those services.

Slide 15: Community justice approaches can also be integrated into existing criminal justice

organizations. In policing, this is often in the form of community-oriented policing, or police-community

partnerships with civic organizations as opposed to individuals within a neighborhood. In the courts, this

might be a assigning a prosecutor to a particular area as opposed to individual cases as they come up.

This might allow prosecutors to better serve areas and to have more knowledge and insight into why

crimes might be occurring in a particular area. Finally, in corrections, the community justice approach is

largely centered on probation and parole. One aspect of this is development partnerships with entities

in a community that might assist offenders on parole or probation, for example, service providers that

might give employment assistance or employment opportunities, or even residential facilities that might

provide housing. Now that you have an idea of what community justice is and how it integrates criminal

justice with social justice, the next presentation will discuss a case study that highlights the placement of

a probation office in the community.

CRJ 270 Lecture 2.2: Coronado Probation Office

Slide 1: We have just discussed how community justice can and should be integrated into the

community, let's discuss about a specific case where this was put into action. We are going to talk about

neighborhood probation offices, and we are specifically going to look at an example of this in Phoenix in

the Coronado neighborhood.

Slide 2: As discussed in your book, locating a probation office within a neighborhood would allow

opportunities for community development and to involve neighborhood residents in crime prevention.

There were at least 5 neighborhoods where neighborhood probation offices were sited, but your book

focuses largely on the probation office in Coronado. Establishing a probation office in a neighborhood

helps to develop partnerships with residents, increases accountability among probationers to the

community itself, and involves the entire community in helping to supervise and rehabilitate

probationers

Slide 3: The Coronado neighborhood is located in the midtown section of Phoenix and is the largest

historic districts in Phoenix. It is approximately 2 square miles in size. There was a strong core of

residents who were interested in revitalizing the neighborhood, so they were particularly proactive in

these efforts, including getting a grant of over $800,000 to help with revitalization efforts. With the help

of probation officers, residents began to see the need to be invested themselves, to have resident

involvement with community action.

Slide 4: Typically, probation offices are centralized. Probationers go to an office that they are assigned

to, and it might not necessarily be close to where they live. Officers are typically assigned caseloads

consisting of probationers from across the city. Moving the probation office to the neighborhood where

these probationers lived shifted their accountability from just the court and the probation officer, but to

the neighborhood. Probationers were now accountable to other residents in the neighborhood, and this

accountability included aspects of public safety. The Coronado Probation office illustrates some of the

key concepts of community justice discussed in your reading. First, it was located in a neighborhood that

was considered "high impact." Focusing on problem locations, as opposed to legal jurisdictions, is a key

aspect of the community justice philosophy. Second, there was an explicit effort to leverage resources

that would improve the community. In this case, resources were reallocated to concentrate more

heavily on these areas. The probation office demonstrates the need to strategically rethink how

funds/resources are allocated and make appropriate adjustments. Third, partnerships with community

members is critical for the success of community justice. Communicating with residents enabled the

probation office to understand and be aware of resident perceptions of the neighborhood, and to have

a better understanding as to what residents perceived were problems in the neighborhood. This enables

public agencies, such as the probation office, and the community to establish common goals and values

which can be used for the betterment of the neighborhood, particularly with regard to informal social

control.

Slide 5: The philosophy of the Coronado neighborhood probation office centered on three themes:

Awareness in the community, establishing partnerships, and developing supervision strategies. Officers

wanted to know what resources existed in the neighborhood and what issues/concerns existed among

residents. This was accomplished through surveys and by attending community and neighborhood

meetings. Probation officers asked residents how they could help and what they wanted to get out of

the probation office in their neighborhood. By understanding what improvements were important to

residents, relationships developed between residents and the probation officers, and it increased

confidence among residents that problems would be addressed. Additionally, community members

began to have more confidence that they could play an active role in improving the community. Further,

because the probation office was located in the neighborhood where probationers lived, officers could

stop them more, stop by their homes more, and residents could easily report any information about

probationers that might be a public safety concern. These factors helped to sell having the probation

office within the neighborhood

Slide 6: There were many benefits for having the probation office located in the Coronado

neighborhood. For instance, there were services provided to both probationers and residents, including

mental health treatment, GED classes and legal services. This enabled the probation officers to have

more meaningful contact with the community. Because the probation office was conveniently located

for probationers, they could just "pop" in if they needed something or just to chat. This helped officers

develop more meaningful relationships with probationers, and gave the officers greater legitimacy

among not just probationers, but also residents. Probationers felt that officers were genuinely invested

in helping them and the community. Additionally, officers could better supervise probationers due to

increased contact and better relationships. Finally, because they were located in the community,

residents were also inclined to stop by not just to use services, but to let officers know if there were any

problems with the probationers. This enabled the community and the officer to intervene with

probationers in a non-confrontational way.

Slide 7: A central component to housing a probation office in the community is to improve the quality of

community life in these "high impact" areas. Officers demonstrated this by accepting responsibility to

improve community life. Officers would attend community meetings where citizens discussed problems

that were important to them. Probation officers also volunteered to work on projects in the community,

and frequently assigned probationers to do community service and clean up as well. Citizens would ask

the probation office for assistance with projects in the community, and probationers would get credit

for assisting on these projects. Probationers became more intertwined in the neighborhood -they

developed stronger ties, making them more susceptible to informal social control mechanisms in the

neighborhood.

Slide 8: The community justice version of probation actively seeks to form partnerships in order to

pursue community justice specific aims. These partnerships, effectively built and sustained, contribute

to a significant improvement in the way a stronger community presence indirectly increases the quality

of supervision and services for probationers. The probation office did this by partnering the police. The

Phx police already had a strong community policing component, so this was a natural pairing that helped

to strength community-police relationships as well. Probation officers worked with job developers and

other service providers to help provide job contacts and employment opportunities for probationers.

Private citizens also provided a lot of information when they would casually stop by the office, and

officers often ask citizens for assistance as well for projects benefiting both the community and the

probationer.

Slide 9: there are many lessons to be learned from the Coronado experience. The community justice

philosophy is built on the idea that each neighborhood is different and therefore the experience will be

specifically tailored. In other words, a probation office in one neighborhood will be different from

another. However, there may be issues with equal protection when these neighborhoods are next to

one another. Coronado was not the poorest community in Phoenix, but certainly high impact areas are

associated with high levels of poverty. It is unclear how the community justice model, especially as it

unfolded in Coronado would be successful in poorer, more resource deprived neighborhoods. Finally,

the Coronado model did not incorporate the role of the victim. This is an aspect of the community

justice model that was not successfully implemented. Certainly the victim should have a voice in this

process, especially if the live in the same area.

Slide 10: ultimately, it is unclear whether or not the Coronado model reduced crime and reoffending.

Anecdotally, it seems to have at least improved resident satisfaction and quality of life in the

community, but without a formal evaluation it is difficult to know. An evaluation would need to assess

whether or not crime rates have decreased, if community satisfaction improvedincluding resident fear

of crime--, whether and to what extent victims were satisfied with changes in the community and the

way offenders were being supervised, and finally, if probationers felt that their needs were being met by

not only the officer, but by the community. Thus, while the Coronado office seems promising, its real

effect is unclear.