An examination of the community-level variables associated with street crime and how they have been affected by the welfare state.

• Main Author: Weiske, Kiall E.
• Other Authors: Crelinsten, Ronald
• Format: Others
• Published: University of Ottawa (Canada) 2009
• Subjects: Geography.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/8764; http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-15983

The volume of conventional street crime in society is influenced, to a considerable extent, by numerous community-level variables. These community properties exert an influence over the frequency of predatory criminal behaviour which is independent from that of individual-level characteristics. There are two broad categories of community variables which affect the volume of criminal conduct within an area--cultural and structural. The former refers to the relative balance between commitment to individualistic and communitarian values. Although neither cultural condition can be described as entirely emancipatory or destructive in nature, by virtue of encouraging the establishment of social networks which evoke duties and responsibilities towards others which strengthens the primary institutions of social integration and control, moderately communitarian societies are prone to experiencing lower levels of street crime than moderately individualistic societies. Community structure refers to the actual neighbourhood properties which are directly associated with criminal behaviour. These include residential mobility, unemployment, poverty, the physical condition of the local infrastructure and building stock, and crime itself. Both community culture and structure are highly sensitive to the pressures of broad political economic forces, including those of the modern welfare state. The institutionalization of welfare provision in the United States has undermined communitarianism and has encouraged residential mobility, the concentration of poverty, the concentration of unemployment, and to a lesser extent, the physical deterioration of neighbourhoods.