Evaluating Theories of Environmental Criminology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis T. Cullen ◽  
Teresa C. Kulig
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Environmental Criminology ◽  
Professional Ideology ◽  
Crime Event

This chapter examines the strengths and weaknesses of environmental criminology. Environmental criminology’s strengths include the shift in the focus from criminals to conventional people, thus enriching understanding of crime events and their prevention; challenging the view that some sort of “evil” condition generated the evil of crime; rejecting the root causes approach to crime, instead showing the benefits of a situational perspective; and rejecting the “nothing works” professional ideology of criminology in favor of practical solutions to reducing crime. The weaknesses of environmental criminology include neglecting the study of “motivated offenders,” treating them as a given in the crime event; reliance on the concept of “informal social control,” which is often ill-defined and its components left unspecified; and neglecting the role of inequality in the broader social environment.

Informal social control of sex offenders

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly R. Kras
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Support Function ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Informal Controls ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Insight Into

This essay discusses the role of informal social control for sex offenders who are reentering the community after imprisonment. The essay begins by reviewing the reintegration of sex offenders into communities, noting that they might reintegrate differently than other offenders. Considering how informal social control occurs across the life course for sex offenders may offer insight into specific mechanisms of desistance. The essay discusses the role in reentry of relationships, such as family, friends, and intimate partners, as well as the support function of social networks and community-oriented informal controls, such as school, employment, and other forms of civic engagement. The role of the community for sex offenders is tenuous, considering the legal and social policies that govern their movement and involvement in certain activities. The emerging role of the therapeutic community and the treatment group is examined. Controversies in the role of social support for sex offenders are also reviewed.

Guardianship and Informal Social Control

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle M. Reynald
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Key Points ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Neighborhood Level

This article provides a critical overview of the concepts of guardianship and informal social control. The discussion compares these fundamental criminological concepts and highlights areas where there is overlap, as well as key points of departure. The relationship between these concepts is scrutinized to illustrate their distinct origins as well as the distinctive ways each of these concepts have developed within the criminological literature. This article focuses on informal social control as a multi-level community process, and on guardianship as a multi-dimensional situational concept comprising, in its most fundamental form, the presence or availability of guardians, inadvertent and/or purposive supervision and direct or indirect intervention. In doing so it showcases the dimensions of guardianship which bear close resemblance to aspects of informal social control, while simultaneously emphasizing that there are important distinctions to consider when comparing some of these dimensions and the levels at which they operate. One core distinction is that informal social control is dependent on neighborhood social ties and collectively shared expectations. On the other hand, while guardianship can be strengthened by social ties at the street-block or neighborhood level, it does not necessarily require such ties to function effectively at the microlevel. Although these concepts do coincide the discussion stresses that theoretical and empirical clarification about what makes them distinct is important. In conclusion, this article shows how each concept makes a unique contribution to criminological understanding about the role of informal citizens in crime control at places.

scholarly journals Disagreement in Assessing Neighboring and Collective Efficacy: The Role of Social Distance

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 237802311876953 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Hipp ◽  
Seth A. Williams ◽  
Adam Boessen
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Error ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
General Measure ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Whereas existing research typically treats variability in residents’ reports of collective efficacy and neighboring as measurement error, the authors consider such variability as of substantive interest in itself. This variability may indicate disagreement among residents with implications for the neighborhood collectivity. The authors propose using a general measure of social distance based on several social dimensions (rather than measures based on a single dimension such as racial/ethnic heterogeneity or income inequality) to help understand this variability in assessments. The authors use data from wave I (2001) of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey ( n = 3,570) to aggregate respondents into egohoods of two different sizes: quarter-mile and half-mile radii. Consistent with expectations, neighborhoods with higher levels of general social distance have higher variability in reports of neighboring and the two components of collective efficacy, cohesion and informal social control.

Who will intervene to save news comments? Deviance and social control in communities of news commenters

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1840-1858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan R Watson ◽  
Zhao Peng ◽  
Seth C Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
News Media ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Online News ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Authoritarian Personality ◽  
White Males

Which bystanders will confront racist, misogynist, personal attacks in news comment sections? This article applies sociological concepts of deviance and social control to categorize efforts to moderate online news comments. Three dimensions of social control are theorized: affirming and sanctioning social control, formal and informal social control, and direct and indirect social control. Particular focus is on indirect informal social control (i.e. rating and reporting of news comments) in order to examine which users are likely to intervene to maintain social order. An analysis of secondary data from a survey of online news users found that demographics play an important role—younger, wealthier, White, males are most likely to report abusive comments. Trust in the news media and authoritarian personality traits also significantly predicted bystander intervention. Theoretical implications for the role of social control in enforcing social norms in news comment spaces and for professional comment moderation are discussed.

Across the wide prairie: Exploring fear of crime in a small Canadian municipality

2021 ◽  
pp. 000486582199908
Author(s):  
Tarah Hodgkinson ◽  
Kate Lunney
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Social Predictors ◽  
Fear Reduction ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Urban Contexts ◽  
Criminological Theories

Although fear of crime is well-researched in urban domains, the predictors of fear of crime in non-urban contexts are less established. Using a sample of 559 people, this study aims to address this gap by evaluating the role of individual and ecological-level predictors on fear of crime in a small Canadian municipality. Key findings of this study include support for the influence of social cohesion, informal social control and social and physical disorder on fear in a small municipality. However, no clear relationship is found between gender and fear of crime. Additionally, nuanced relationships between social predictors and fear emerge that may be uniquely explained by non-metropolitan context. The findings have implications for the use of urban-based criminological theories of fear and for the use of crime prevention and fear reduction strategies in non-metropolitan contexts.

A Tale of Two Confucian Capitals: The Role of Friends and Secrecy in Beijing and Seoul

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 458-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifton R. Emery ◽  
Shali Wu
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Sex Role ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
Role Norms ◽  
Combined Data

How do your friends respond to intimate partner violence (IPV), and does it make a difference? This article examines the relationships between wives’ IPV secrecy, Confucian sex-role norms, informal social control by friends, totalitarian style partner control by husbands, and husbands’ IPV in a study of Beijing and Seoul. Hypotheses were tested using a three-stage cluster sample of 760 married/partnered women from Beijing ( n = 301) and Seoul ( n = 459). Multilevel regression models run on the combined data found that totalitarian partner control by husbands was positively associated with husband IPV severity. Friends’ protective approaches to informal social control of IPV were associated with less husband IPV severity, but punitive approaches were marginally associated with more. However, the combined findings gloss over very different findings for the two cities. The authors argue that the etiology of much IPV in Beijing is better characterized by social disorganization, but the etiology of much IPV in Seoul is better characterized by totalitarian control (deviant order).

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