Violence and Aggression in Socially Disorganized Neighborhoods

Abstract

Social disorganization theory suggests that violence and aggression cluster in neighborhoods characterized by poverty, residential instability, and racial or ethnic diversity. These neighborhood factors create opportunities for violence by disrupting neighborhood networks necessary for the informal regulation of crime. In this chapter, we chart the development of social disorganization theory from early explanations of the spatial concentration of delinquency in 20th‐century Chicago to the development of the systemic model of community regulation and collective efficacy theory. We also consider the influence of social disorganization theory on community crime prevention initiatives. We conclude by discussing the changing nature of communities and the associated challenges for promoting community engagement and the development of informal social control at the local level.

Placial-Discursive Topologies of Violence: Volunteered Geographic Information and the Reproduction of Violent Places in Recife, Brazil

“…The study of space and violence is largely rooted in spatial criminology, a methodological tradition dating back to the Chicago School, which in a positivist scientific manner introduced external factors such as social circumstances and community environments to prior approaches focusing exclusively on individual dispositions to criminality [1] (Classical criminology itself dates back to the late Middle Ages in Europe when a call for a fair and balanced, and thus broadly accepted, justice system arose against the harsh and involuntary punishments of the mediaeval era [2]). In this context, disorganisation theory used the geographical distribution of crime and delinquency over administrative spatial units (e.g., city districts) to describe breakdowns of social ties and social control [3], leading to problematising and marginalising imaginaries of urban space, such as the broken windows theory.…”

Justiça restaurativa e reconhecimento

“…O que tais evidências mostram é que parte importante das ações delituosas são condicionadas por experiências ou circunstâncias determinadas que predispõem algumas pessoas -muito mais do que outras -a atos disruptivos. Muitos dos fatores de risco para as condutas criminosas e/ou violentas estão associados à tipologia do desrespeito proposta por Honneth (2003a), envolvendo, por exemplo: vitimização de crianças e adolescentes por maus tratos, negligência e abuso sexual (Éthier et al 2004;Kawabata et al, 2011;Braga et al, 2017); além de privação de direitos econômicos, sociais e culturais em ambientes sociais marcados pela exclusão, degradação e ofensa (Hawkins et al, 2000;Sarmiento, 1999;Zahnow;Wickes, 2017;McDaniel, 2012;Taylor et al, 2007). Essas condições ou situações marcam as várias formas de estratificação e de distinção social nas sociedades de países centrais e periféricos.…”