Criminal Justice System: The Neighborhood Watch Program

Due to the high rate of crimes committed throughout big cities by gun violence, it is essential for Law Enforcement to enforce a solution to prevent violent, brutal crimes from occurring. Both Federal and local Law Enforcement must work together to promote a solution for reducing gun violence. Back in Bush’s first term as President it was significant for the Bush administration to create a project to “get the message out there” about deterrence and the increasing number of crimes committed through the use of guns. The Bush administration came up with the project known as the Project Safe Neighborhoods. The goal for Project Safe Neighborhoods is to inhibit criminal behavior by using deterrence and incapacitation. Through deterrence and

Decreasing crime is a major effect of installing a Neighborhood Watch program. Adults can take turns on who watches for crime on an agreed schedule. Someone may even volunteer to buy video cameras to ensure safety. This will make crime reduce significantly in the Alpena community. Realistically, not everyone will be willing to participate, but even a few volunteers will suffice. Imagine a community where there is little to no crime, because every criminal know they will be seen by their neighbor, friends parents, or family members. Every neighborhood will be at least a little bit safer.

Community crime prevention programs incorporate practices that target changes in a community’s culture, physical environment, or infrastructure to reduce crime such as gang involvement and violence (Citation Needed). This paper will examine the following three different strategies used in crime prevention programs: focused deterrence strategy, problem-solving policing, and situational crime prevention. Deterrence strategy or theory states that crimes can be prevented when the costs of committing the crime are perceived by the offender to outweigh the benefits of committing the crime (Braga et al., 2001). Programs that use the theory of situational crime prevention believe that crime can be reduced by identifying and then eliminating the forces that facilitate would-be offenders’ criminal acts (Clarke, 1992). Problem-oriented policing is an analytic method used by police to develop strategies that prevent and reduce crime. Under this method, a law enforcement agency will systematically analyze the problems of a community, search for effective solutions to the problems, and evaluate the impact of their efforts (Weisburd et al., 2004).

The Highlands is a low-income community that is facing a major issue with crime caused by adolescents. Instances of criminal activity inflicted by the youth in a community is an issue that plagues many areas in our country. The Highlands is facing types of criminal activity that frequently ranges from vandalism, theft, burglaries and assaults on other members of the community. There is also a fear from the community that gangs from neighboring areas are going to move into The Highlands. The areas schools have about a 40% drop out rate and a not very diverse, but committed, police department. City officials and leaders of the community want to decrease the area’s crime rate by being more proactive with its adolescents and the opportunities

Law enforcement agencies together with the entire criminal justice system of the United states have for a long time been accused of exhibiting biasness when it comes to the implementation of the law. The two systems have been accused of being harsh on particular ethnic communities and being too lenient on other communities. One perfect exemplification of the discrimination and bias exhibited by law enforcement agencies regards the criminalization of Black and Latino communities. Recent statistics indicates that members of the black and Latino communities are increasingly being exposed to harsher treatment by the criminal justice system and law enforcement, and the rates of victimization for these two communities are at all-time high. Incidences of random stopping, questioning and frisking of black and Latino people have been on the rise particularly in large cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago and so on. In addition, the number of prosecution and conviction of Latino and Black suspects in courts is also very high. Perhaps this is why a large percentage of incinerated individuals is made up of members from the black and Latino communities. The observed victimization and criminalization of blacks and Latinos has been the subject of much literature and press releases. This essay aims to explore how this criminalization has been reported in books, media outlets and so on.

Attorney’s Office and District Attorney’s Office, actively work to stop or curtail criminal acts as they are occurring (BPD, n.d.). One of the intervention tactics discussed involves working in areas of high gang violence to ease tensions and directly address ongoing disputes, in an ultimate attempt to curb the violence associated with gang disputes (BPD, n.d.). This is an example of an intervention method because it attempts to tackle a problem that already exists by directly injecting law enforcement into the situation. Another innovative intervention approach used by the Boston Police focuses on a joint effort between the police and the probation department, wherein the two groups work together to encourage at-risk youth to stay in and maintain curfews, while also violating more dangerous offenders as soon as they break the rules (BPD, n.d.). A final example of an intervention technique is the unique Youth Service Providers Network, which allows police to refer at-risk children for services like counseling, emergency housing and tutoring (BPD, n.d.) In doing so, Boston police can intervene in a child’s life without having to arrest the youth. As Siegel and Welsh (2012) point out, youth crime rates often stem from a lack of other important supportive services, so this type of program is an incredibly powerful response to intervene in the lives of children who might otherwise simply be arrested and funneled into the justice

Continuing on how there must be other ways to reduce crime, modern law enforcement is currently focused on preventing crime before it actually occurs. Crime prevention is possibly our biggest ally in helping us to decrease crime in the United States. Suppose your next-door neighbor has had someone break into their home and your entire neighborhood is scared of being the next victim. So, you and the rest of your neighborhood set up a neighborhood watch and have police scan the area ever so often. Chances are the thieves or criminals will not want to risk being caught so they avoid the area and your neighborhood is safe once more.

Police and other elements of the criminal justice system are at the center of efforts to reduce gang violence. Police are fully aware of the damage that gangs do to their communities, in terms of graffiti, vandalism, fighting, shoot-outs, robbery, rape and other violence. They understand that neighborhoods cannot function effectively under the reign of terror that many street gangs impose. At the same time, police leaders around the nation have frequently made the point that “we cannot arrest our way out of the crime problem.” Too many lawbreakers, limited police resources and high levels of long-term losses to communities make it vital that arrest not be the only answer. Community involvement, focused social services and community problem solving are other critical strategies that can reduce crime in the long term and strengthen neighborhoods.

Crime in the United States has been an important debate and continues to increase from year to year. Television show such as America’s Most Wanted, First 48, and CSI are a few that show Americans that crime is real and running ramped. The fear of crime has become a noticeable characteristic of today’s society and has led to government officials, practitioners, and the community to search for ways to effectively prevent and reduce the problems identified. So how do we attack crime and lower the fear of crime in our communities when traditional policing efforts aren’t working? How do we do this with a financial budget? Community-oriented policing is the answer that many cities across the United States and in other countries have turned to.

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The studies and research of crime prevention programs in a specific area may overlook the reasoning and effects of reduced criminal activities that are reviewed. Crime Displacement and Diffusion play a vital role in crime prevention in the society as a whole. Displacement is very important when determining if a program or initiative works, regarding crime prevention as well as reduction of crimes in a particular area. Neighborhood watch and block groups and crime television shows are different forms of crime preventions within a community and outside the community. The Bureau of Justice Assistance states, “There are a variety of crime prevention programs/ strategies that use specific approaches to anticipate, recognize, appraise, and address crime and/or the factors contributing to crime. Crime prevention may be targeted at different levels including the individual, community, family, or particular types of locations.” (Office of Justice Programs, 2015)

Community oriented programs that bring the police and corrections together are some of the most significant programs within the criminal justice system. They play a significant role in crime prevention and build community relationships with the police. Our program is called “Drug Alternatives for Adolescents (DAA)”; it is a community oriented program that focuses on drug use in adolescents within the Poughkeepsie school district. DAA works closely with the police as well as the community to keep drugs off the streets and out of the reach of our children. The heart of the program comes from the slogan; “Drug education is the foundation for cooperation; working together, learning together, BETTER together.” We chose this to be our slogan because our program revolves around drug education, and keeping adolescents away from drugs. The program wants to make juveniles comfortable enough to cooperate with the police in the district where they reside as well as feel a sense of safety within their communities. “Working together, learning together, BETTER together” really expresses what our program is all about. We want our program to get students, teachers, and police working closely to make the entire community a better place for everybody. Drugs tend to be prominent in less fortunate communities being that it is cheap and accessible.

The criminal justice system is undergoing a significant change in the twenty-first century. The focus of our criminal justice system used to be on punitive principles. However, our criminal justice system is diverting towards being focused on criminal rights. When society was focused on the crime control method (restorative justice) the overall population was willing to give up certain freedoms to produce massive conviction rates against felons. John Worrall (2015) states this idea by comparing the idea of the Crime Control method to an assembly line. Worrall states, “The criminal process should be automatic, predictable, and in uniform. In other words, every criminal should be treated the same, with minimal variations in terms of change and sentences” (pg. 14). However, our society is diverting away from the concept of crime control and being redirected towards

One way is Closed Circuit Television this is something like surveillance cameras. Public surveillance systems include a network of cameras and components for monitoring, recording, and transmitting video images. The ultimate goal of installing public surveillance cameras is to reduce both property and personal crime. Something else I already named was Neighborhood watch. Also known as block watch, apartment watch, home watch, and community watch, neighborhood watch programs involve citizens in efforts to prevent crime in their neighborhood or

Neighborhood Watch program was designed to prevent criminal activity then reduces crimes in the neighborhood by unitizing the people in the neighborhood. The program will unitize people who will volunteer to observe the neighborhood for any criminal activity. The volunteers will pick certain times of the day and week to watch the neighborhood. In their duties, the volunteer upon noticing any criminal activates will then contact the local police department. The program will have a meeting that is decided on either monthly or weekly as to what will be the best way to handle situations preventing the volunteer from taking the matter into their own hands creating a safety risk to them or someone else. The meetings will assess what if anything needs to be an improvement on the program then what part of the neighborhood that needs more attention due to criminal activity. The volunteers while performing their duties will know where the most criminal actives happen which then will require them to assess what they must do to prevent such activities. This program must require the assistance of the Local Police Department, who will help the citizens of the neighborhood in preventing criminal actives. I have reacted on administrative calls in some neighborhoods and houses that were empty, which are used for drug houses or drug use or anything of criminal activity. I have seen this multiple times on administrative calls in and around the neighborhoods and homes. I have observed too