One of the steps taken to deal with crime across the US is having neighborhood watch programs. However, while this initiative has been successful in some areas, it is not effective since it does not consider the differences in geographical areas where it is applied. Based on previous research, the prevalence of crime is different with geographical areas, and this should be taken into account when considering ways to deal with crime.
People fear crime because it is associated with physical harm. It is this fear that causes many people to avoid areas that they consider are highly prone for criminal activities. These areas are often determined by the visual cues available, such as the physical deterioration of the structure and high-density population. All these factors point out to increase rates of deviant activity. The result is that people with the ability to move out will seek better neighborhoods and businesses will avoid such areas. Other factors that people associate with crime include the income and education level of the residents.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Since the neighborhood watch groups fail to deal with the link between criminal activities and the physical environment, crime still exists despite their formation. Examples of physical settings that promote crime include housing designs that create blind spots that can be used by offenders to hide before or after engaging in crime. Some of the suggested ways that can be effective in the reduction of criminal activities include decreasing the accessibility and number of criminal targets that are available to offenders, addition of landscape features that will obstruct criminals when they are planning or undertaking a crime and having features that will enable offenders to be easily detected within the neighborhood. While placing signs of neighborhood watch groups can be used to deter criminals, newly placed signs indicate that crime is a recent problem in the area, and this makes people avoid such areas.
