Crime and Poverty in Richmond, Virginia

The most successful, long term, low-income housing projects are those that use sustainable design and address the social, cultural, and economic needs of residents. Traditionally built low-income housing projects are associated with high crime rates and high mortality rates among the residents who live in them. They do not provide for the needs of residents, resulting in many of the problems these low-income housing projects face today. These problems range from endangerment of human life, psychological afflictions due to the high stresses that are endured by residents, disease epidemics caused by overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions (in combination with a substandard public

Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, is located in the northern portion of the state on the Patapsco River estuary, a division of Chesapeake Bay. The city is self-governing and does not fall within any county. (Baltimore, Md., 2015) The vast majority of this city is poverty stricken, which makes it vulnerable to high crime rates. In the first six months of 2013 Baltimore had reported 117 homicides, with a population of 622, 104, (CITY DATA, 2015) this gives the city a rate of 18.8 per 100,000. It was one of few cities that year to actually see an increase in homicides; it was stated by Their City Police Commissioner that more than half of their homicides were related to drugs. Even though, the amount of violent crimes dwindled in 2013,

Culture in urban communities, also referred to as inner-cities, are growing increasingly violent. In the article, The Code of the Streets by Elijah Anderson, he begins to take an in-depth look at the root of the evil. He deduces that economic factors, parenting and the troublesome environments largely influence the violent norms within this culture.

When discussing how exposure to community policing can affect low economic neighborhoods, one must ask what is community policing? Miller, Hess, and Orthmann (2014) stated, it is a philosophy or orientation that emphasizes working proactively with citizens to reduce fear, solve crime-related problems, and prevent crime. Community policing can be a positive change in the community and for the law enforcement personnel that serves the community. An important concept to always remember is that the police are the community, and the community are the police (Miller et al., 2014). To successfully integrate this into police departments, we must examine several factors that have made police departments what they are today, what are ways to implement this new form of policing without resistance from law enforcement and citizens, and how community policing can affect the community and the work of law enforcement in the long run.

In the 1960s through 1990s, the Urban Crisis and Crack Epidemic had reached its peak and Washington Heights was one of the central areas of the crisis. It was referred to as “the crack and murder capital of the city” (Snyder, 2015). This low-income area was susceptible to the influx of drug distribution and abuse. America’s “War on Drugs” criminalized drug use, but was ineffective in resolving the issue. It also was a factor in alienated the police from the community. The city was ambivalent in their course of action as conservatives and liberals were at odds. Conservatives supposed the only solution was to allow the police to take control and eradicate the crime. Liberals believed that this was not a viable solution and the true issue was inequality (Snyder,

The correlation between gangs and drugs has always been an issue for the United States government. Major cities often overlooked the problem of youth gang violence, thinking it was only a 1960’s trend. Sixty years later, gangs and drugs continue to be a problem, but in an increasing number within urban, suburban and rural areas in the United States. People may characterize this problem with words such as violence, increase drug activity, and delinquencies, but not many seem to see the bigger picture. Lack of interaction, collaboration, and strategies from law enforcement, youth centers, businesses, churches, and political icons are increasing gang violence and drug related offenses in major cities. In such cities as Chicago, minority groups are the most vulnerable to joining a gang, which then leads to an involvement with drugs; they are faced with barriers – lack of family support, poverty, segregation, unemployment, etc. An incident that happened in Chicago history is the closing of the Cabrini-Green Project, where people involved with gangs had to find a new home, scattering gang-members throughout the city, and eventually leading to their spread and growth.

59% of rape cases and 36.2% of murder cases in the United States are never solved. In 2011, less than half of all violent crimes committed found any resolution. This dilemma poses the question, why are so many violent criminals walking free while so many non-violent offenders are locked up? Although it is not responsible for all of the justice system’s failures, the War on Drugs has been a key factor in exemplifying these failures since 1971. For instance, New York City can be used as the perfect example of just one city in the U.S., representative of so many others, which distinctly illustrates this particular issue. Michael Bloomberg was the mayor of New York City from January 1, 2002 until December 31, 2013. In that time, police spent over one million man hours working 440,000 arrests for marijuana possession alone. This is a lot of police time and resources spent on busting parties instead of tracking down violent criminals. However, this goes beyond any one city or state. Nationwide, the U.S. would save 41.3 billion dollars every year by ending the War on Drugs. This includes tens of millions of man

One of the biggest potential problems however, is society. Chicago’s government affects violence by creating a disadvantageous environment within communities. Certain areas within Chicago have experienced the brunt of this through the closing of public schools and overall lack of funding. This results in children traveling far distances to school or even families taking time out of their work day to drive their children. Without easily accessible education and the funds for schools to create opportunities to keep children off the streets, children are at a higher risk to participate in anti-social behaviors. Another societal cause results from the stigma that certain Chicago communities are inherently dangerous. Just as a self-fulfilling prophecy may cause an individual diagnosed with schizophrenia to develop schizophrenic symptoms, a public perception that a community is violent may cause individuals within that community to act out

In 2009, news broke announcing the indictment of five Camden, New Jersey Drug Task Force police officers that operated in South Camden, New Jersey’s deteriorated neighborhoods. Specifically, the officers were alleged to have stolen money and drugs from dealers and used the funds and drugs to pay informants and plant evidence to stiffen charges against suspects. Moreover, these officers falsified police reports, paid for false witness testimony and used some of the stolen cash for personal use. South Camden, NJ has been struggling with criminal activity for years. Consequently, hardworking citizens and police officers entangled in the community have failed to rid the drug problem that has evolved and produced other nondrug-related crime. Community policing has been in effect for several years in this rundown city and police continue to struggle with disappointment. Of the five officers indicted three pled guilty, one was convicted, and the fifth acquitted of all charges (Newall, 2010).

This was 12.6% higher than the state’s average and 10% higher than the nation’s average. In addition to rising unemployment rates the population of the City of Martinsville declined 10.35% from 2000. Slowly, the unemployment rates for the city have improved. According to the February 2016 reports from the Virginia Employment Commission, the unemployment rate for the city is 7.8% which is still 3.5% higher than the state’s average (U.S. Census Bureau, Virginia Employment Commission 2016).

Critics argue that legalization of certain drugs will not end the drug war and that instead, it will cause more violence and issues for the county’s well being. In the mid-1980’s the cocaine epidemic hit and a large amount of crime, deaths from overdoses and violence came with it. The result of this was laws being placed with minimum punishment for drug trafficking to attempt to control the issue. Throughout the early 1990s crime started to slowly decrease and in 2013 the amount of crime was reduced in half. One viewpoint is that once the title of being non-violent labeled drug traffickers crime started to rise anew. Some crimes included murders of innocent bystanders and more drug flow into the U.S (Cook1). William J. Bennett and John P. Walters, Boston Globe writers, complicate matters further when they write “For 25 years before President Obama, U.S policy confronted drug

So far, both theories are able to explain the crime inequality observed insides neighbourhoods; however, when it comes to explaining the difference in crime rates between neighbourhoods with similarly low levels of poverty, social disorganization theory is not able to fully explain why such difference may occur, as it places a greater focus on the internal dynamics of the neighbourhoods than on the external contingencies (Peterson & Krivo, 2010, p. 92). Based on Table 4.5 of Divergent Social Worlds: Neighborhood Crime and the Racial-Spatial DivideI, minority low-poverty areas have roughly two and a half times more violence than their white counterparts (Peterson & Krivo, 2010, p. 88). Social disorganization theory insists that residential instability (percent of those who owns and percent of those who rent) , population heterogeneity (internal differences, including ethno-racial differences), poverty (percent of those who live in poverty), income, deteriorating neighbourhood, and population loss (percent of those who leave due to deterioration) are mechanisms that leads to the absence of informal social control and increases social disorganization, causing the loss of control over youths who then hang out at spontaneous playgrounds and form gangs with delinquent traditions that get passed down through cultural transmission. If such was the case, then one would expect neighbourhoods with similar and comparable local conditions to have similar average rates of crimes. However,

This project is a focus on how variables such as population, ethnicity, and income affect crime rates throughout different neighborhoods throughout a city. I feel that this information finding this information could be useful to many people. For example if you are looking to buy a new home or even start a new business, you’ll probably want it located in a safe neighborhood. This study will help identify the signs of a safe neighborhood. Knowing why crime rates are higher in some areas may also help prevent the crime rate to rise in other neighborhoods. For example, if crime rates are higher in neighborhoods with

Many citizens have become annoyed with the crime in their neighborhoods. They have organized block watches, citizen patrols, along with neighborhood cleanups, and started harassing slumlords that allow drug dealers to use their properties. (Brown Art. 122). Among many of the crime fighting tools, the involvement of

Poverty and the relationship it has to crime is a long standing sociological, humanists and historical phenomenon. From the plight of the third world to the violence soaked inner city streets of the 1980’s, the relationship of crime and poverty has been the source of a great deal of social commentary. In societies throughout the world and throughout history there has always been a traditional measure of deviance through relative income gaps. Both poverty and crime as well as their connections are heavily weighed topics of political and social discourse. Opinions in these areas contain a great deal of variance. The prejudices of the old guard from the professional police era still utilize association with poverty as a measuring stick for social deviance. Meanwhile, intelligent social science continues to give insight to factors such as social disorganization, socialization into violence, as well as, the far reaching impact political, economic and justice based policies have on those in poverty.