The weed and seed program is a community-based approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community restoration introduced by the US Department of Justice in the 1990s. Though the implementation was left to the local authorities, the program involved multiple agencies where it was lauded as a success. As a result, the program that started in three pilot cities had spread to over 250 sites by 2010 (Lilley, 2015). To achieve its objectives, the program employed a two-pronged approach to prevent and control crime.
First, the program started by weeding out the criminal elements within a site or designated area. Through the cooperation of the different law enforcement agencies and the prosecution, chronic offenders were targeted and punished or incarcerated, in the case of violent criminals and felons (Lilley, 2015). However, without the cooperation of the community through community-oriented policing, information about individuals who needed weeding would not be available to both law enforcement and prosecution.
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The weeding out was followed by seeding that brought revitalization services in the affected area through prevention, intervention, and treatment of crime and its systemic factors. As a result, the seeding not only improved the physical outlook of the sites but also improve its economic prospects.
Purpose of the Program
Crime and criminal behavior is an integral and inviolable aspect of any human society. However, as communities grow in size and complexity, crime follows. Therefore, there has always been a need for policies and legal frameworks to sustainably prevent and reduce all forms of criminal activity. The weed and seed program is an example of such policy and intervention. Unlike other crime prevention approaches that had been applied before it, the weed and seed program was targeted in neighborhoods with high crime rates. As a result, the program targeted specific criminal activities like drug trafficking, gang activity, organized crime, and violent crime.
However, removing violent activity in a community was half the equation. Unless something was done, other offenders would just pick up where things were left off or just to fill the power vacuum left behind. Therefore, the other purpose of the program was to promote and bring up the community by replacing the bad influences with good ones. The newer influences, such as rehabilitation programs, financial incentives, and investment opportunities, would also provide the community members to offer or access other services that were not available before.
Criminological Theories that Form the Basis of the Weed and Seed Program
All the theories that form the basis of the weed and seed program were based on sociology, especially theories that explored factors like the local environment, population demographics, and poverty levels, among others. The program, for instance, uses the social disorganization theory, which predicts that certain factors, like high poverty, physical decay, and population mobility, would have high crime rates (Akers & Sellers, 2013). Additionally, the high crime rates would become chronic has the cultural transmission of values and norms would compete against normative values that are predicted by the social organization theory.
The strain theory, on the other hand, predicts that people will pursue socially acceptable methods to achieve their goals and objectives (Akers & Sellers, 2013). Taking the pursuit of the American Dream, individuals would be driven to pursue material wealth and success. The strain theory, however, posits that in the absence of legitimate means for achieving said objectives, the individual will be driven to pursue alternative strategies, such as turn to crime.
In the context of the weed and seed program, social disorganization theory would predict that the high crime neighborhoods are likely to be poor or house populations who are mainly disconnected from society through inequalities. Therefore, patterns of crime would be common with the criminal norms and values being more likely to be passed down generations than normative values. The weed and seed program changes all this by first removing the criminal elements. However, that is not enough to ensure the transmission of normative values. Instead, strain theory creates the answer by removing the conditions that necessitate turning into criminal activity to achieve goals and objectives. This is the part played by seeding, where positive elements like rehabilitation and opportunities are brought into the community.
Was Weed and Seed Successful?
Evaluation of success for the program is made by comparing the crime rates at a site before and after the program’s introduction and implementation. Up to date, there have been mixed results. In some target sites, crime reduced while in others it increased. Additionally, in some, crime reduced, but when the program was terminated, the crime rates increased, sometimes even higher than their previous numbers (Lilley, 2015). On the other hand, public opinion on the success of the program is also divergent and site-specific.
Recommendations for the Program
First, to avoid uniting the neighborhood against the law enforcement agencies and prosecution, the program should have focused more on seeding that weeding. So far, the legacy of the program has been the inequalities it has produced. Secondly, instead of focusing on specific sites, the program should have been rolled out equally in the country to ensure equal justice and undue discrimination due to the scrutiny.
References
Akers, R., & Sellers, C. (2013). Criminological theories: Introduction, evaluation, and application (6th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lilley, D. (2015). The Weed and Seed Program: A Nationwide Analysis of Crime Outcomes. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 26 (5), 423-447. doi:10.1177/0887403414520699
