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Criminal Justice System: The Neighborhood Watch Program

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The last point in this five point plan is arguably the most important. The criminal justice system can’t prevent crime and combat the underlying causes of it alone. As you have seen, all of the previous four points require the involvement of many parts of the community, particularly families, to be successful. Clergy, schools, doctors, and coaches should all work together with the different parts of the criminal justice systems to collaborate and combat the issues together. Communication is necessary and cooperation with the police can help greatly. If the only exposure to a well-known crime problem is through 911 calls, prevention has been lost and a partnership with the community does not exist Community crime prevention programs …show more content…

What has proven to be effective is the Neighborhood Watch Program. Neighborhood Watch is the largest single organized crime prevention activity in the nation (Bennett, Holloway, & Farrington, 2008). The idea is that members of a community will look out for other members of the community and report anything that is suspicious or out of the ordinary. This program is well established and rooted in most communities. It is not radical, new, or tailored to only certain communities. All communities will benefit from the continued use and expansion of this …show more content…

Most importantly, Neighborhood Watch may lead to a reduction in crime through the various mechanisms of social control. Groups may indirectly serve to enhance community cohesion and increase the ability of communities to control crime (Greenberg, Rohe, and Williams, 1985). With most single parent or two parent families working full time or multiple jobs, children may rely on direction from others in their neighborhood who are vested in the community. This may not involve crime or bad behavior. Supervising youth or mentoring is not listed anywhere as a part of the Neighborhood Policing concept, but it is certainly a welcome unintended outcome. Increased collaboration between the members of the community and the police can lead to the prevention of crime through these social interactions and the guidance that may push people away from drug use, bad behavior, and petty

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