Crime Prevention Plan

Introduction

The city of Cincinnati, OH, is seeing an increase of violent crime and gun shootings in the Over-the-Rhine (OTR) community. Since 2000, OTR has been a major source of frustration for the city: it is on the northern side of the citys business district where residences and small business owners dwell together in the citys oldest neighborhood. For decades OTR housed the citys poorest residents, but since 2000 the city has poured billions into fixing up the community, painting buildings and offering incentives to business owners. The goal has been to create new parks, new businesses, revitalize residences and tap into the communitys historical strengths as a midway point in the city between the urban business district on the river and the uptown college area. However, last year saw the city set a record number of homicides at 94, which represented a 30% increase from 2019, many of those homicides occurring in OTR (Baker, 2021). Following the infusion of billions of dollars, OTR was initially envisioned as a place where residents of suburban neighborhoods could come, shop, dine, and be entertained. However, as many residents were displaced by the revitalization campaign, and an already existing homeless problem was never addressed, the crime problems in OTR never really went away but were only exacerbated by the citys attempt to sweep them aside. Gang growth, drug dealing, and prostitution have not diminished, and now gun violence is risen dramatically, with officers removing 750 firearms from the street after only three quarters in 2021 (Baker, 2021). This paper will serve as a crime prevention plan to address the OTR neighborhood and its role in the citys crime problem. The four-stage problem-solving process will be conducted by first identifying the research objectives and methods used; what information was collected so as to identify the nature, scope and causes of crime and disorder in the OTR community; analysis of the root causes of the crime in the community; and what the strategy for addressing this issue will be.

Research Objectives and Methods

The objective of this research is to understand the nature and extent of the crime in the OTR community, what its causes are, and how this crime can be prevented. The methods used included researching theories in criminology, including Broken Windows Theory, Life Course Theory, Social Bond Theory, as well as crime prevention models. Additionally, the concept of restorative justice is explored to understand how it might help in the OTR community.

Data on the citys crime was obtained from the City Councils Law and Public Safety meeting at which the citys police chief disclosed the crime statistics affecting the city and OTR. Data was then compared to other communities, where similar problems have occurred, with a view of analyzing how those cities addressed the problem. Poverty, school attendance, gang activity, arrests, and community action plans make up the main data entries for this analysis. These data were obtained from publicly available sources.

The goal of this research is to understand why crimes in OTR are occurring and what strategy can be employed to prevent crime. To this end, a literature review is conducted in the next section that explores the various theories of crime. Also conducted is a brief analysis of two other citiesMesa, AZ, and New York Cityto determine what they have done to address crime problems in the past. Following this, the data collected on the OTR community in Cincinnati is presented and analyzed, and the plan for preventing crime is provided.

Research

Literature Review

Social Bond Theory

Social bond theory holds that people need to establish social bonds with others in their community in order…

Crime Prevention Plan

Introduction

The city of Cincinnati, OH, is seeing an increase of violent crime and gun shootings in the Over-the-Rhine (OTR) community. Since 2000, OTR has been a major source of frustration for the city: it is on the northern side of the citys business district where residences and small business owners dwell together in the citys oldest neighborhood. For decades OTR housed the citys poorest residents, but since 2000 the city has poured billions into fixing up the community, painting buildings and offering incentives to business owners. The goal has been to create new parks, new businesses, revitalize residences and tap into the communitys historical strengths as a midway point in the city between the urban business district on the river and the uptown college area. However, last year saw the city set a record number of homicides at 94, which represented a 30% increase from 2019, many of those homicides occurring in OTR (Baker, 2021). Following the infusion of billions of dollars, OTR was initially envisioned as a place where residents of suburban neighborhoods could come, shop, dine, and be entertained. However, as many residents were displaced by the revitalization campaign, and an already existing homeless problem was never addressed, the crime problems in OTR never really went away but were only exacerbated by the citys attempt to sweep them aside. Gang growth, drug dealing, and prostitution have not diminished, and now gun violence is risen dramatically, with officers removing 750 firearms from the street after only three quarters in 2021 (Baker, 2021). This paper will serve as a crime prevention plan to address the OTR neighborhood and its role in the citys crime problem. The four-stage problem-solving process will be conducted by first identifying the research objectives and methods used; what information was colleced so as to identify…

Crime Prevention Plan

Introduction

The city of Cincinnati, OH, is seeing an increase of violent crime and gun shootings in the Over-the-Rhine (OTR) community. Since 2000, OTR has been a major source of frustration for the city: it is on the northern side of the citys business district where residences and small business owners dwell together in the citys oldest neighborhood. For decades OTR housed the citys poorest residents, but since 2000 the city has poured billions into fixing up the community, painting buildings and offering incentives to business owners. The goal has been to create new parks, new businesses, revitalize residences and tap into the communitys historical strengths as a midway point in the city between the urban business district on the river and the uptown college area. However, last year saw the city set a record number of homicides at 94, which represented a 30% increase from 2019, many of those homicides occurring in OTR (Baker, 2021). Following the infusion of billions of dollars, OTR was initially envisioned as a place where residents of suburban neighborhoods could come, shop, dine, and be entertained. However, as many residents were displaced by the revitalization campaign, and an already existing homeless problem was never addressed, the crime problems in OTR never really went away but were only exacerbated by the citys attempt to sweep them aside. Gang growth, drug dealing, and prostitution have not diminished, and now gun violence is risen dramatically, with officers removing 750 firearms from the street after only three quarters in 2021 (Baker, 2021). This paper will serve as a crime prevention plan to address the OTR neighborhood and its role in the citys crime problem. The four-stage problem-solving process will be conducted by first identifying the research objectives and methods used; what information was collected so as to identify the nature, scope and causes of crime and disorder in the OTR community; analysis of the root causes of the crime in the community; and what the strategy for addressing this issue will be.

Research Objectives and Methods

The objective of this research is to understand the nature and extent of the crime in the OTR community, what its causes are, and how this crime can be prevented. The methods used included researching theories in criminology, including Broken Windows Theory, Life Course Theory, Social Bond Theory, as well as crime prevention models. Additionally, the concept of restorative justice is explored to understand how it might help in the OTR community.

Data on the citys crime was obta.......losed the crime statistics affecting the city and OTR. Data was then compared to other communities, where similar problems have occurred, with a view of analyzing how those cities addressed the problem. Poverty, school attendance, gang activity, arrests, and community action plans make up the main data entries for this analysis. These data were obtained from publicly available sources.

The goal of this research is to understand why crimes in OTR are occurring and what strategy can be employed to prevent crime. To this end, a literature review is conducted in the next section that explores the various theories of crime. Also conducted is a brief analysis of two other citiesMesa, AZ, and New York Cityto determine what they have done to address crime problems in the past. Following this, the data collected on the OTR community in Cincinnati is presented and analyzed, and the plan for preventing crime is provided.

Research

Literature Review

Social Bond Theory

Social bond theory holds that people need to establish social bonds with others in their community in order to feel that they are true members of the community. If they do not develop that bond, they have no reason to respect the communitys laws or norms; they act out of self-interest rather than out of respect for other people, to whom they have no feeling of belonging. When people develop a social bond they can earn a sense of self-respect and respect for the community and feel involved in the life of the community. They are no longer isolated from the community; rather, they are active members who try to abide by the laws and norms and take pride in how they conduct themselves, how the community sees them, and how well they advance (Johnson et al., 2015).

Life Course Theory

Life course theory holds that major life events will determine the future trajectory of the individual with respect to crime (Bartol & Bartol, 2017). A traumatic event can cause a person to fall into delinquency at an early age. Abuse, abandonment, lack of familial structure, sudden poverty, environmental pressuresall of it can act as a kind of trauma that derails a person into a negative state whereby it is more difficult to get ones life back onto a stable track. People who develop drug addictions tend to represent the best example of life course theory in practice: they do not receive the mental health help they need to break their addictions and as a result end up in and out of jail, maintaining a life of criminality well into adulthood.

Broken Windows Theory and Social Control/Social Disorganization

Broken windows theory posits that when communities allow their physical appearance to deteriorate by neglecting upkeep, it opens a window for criminal activity to enter into the area. Because the community shows no care or concern for its physical structures and areas, the theory holds that criminals see the community as not caring about what the moral code either. Communities that do not take care of themselves indicate that criminals are welcome. Social control theory posits that the opposite holds true as well: the more in control of itself a community appears, the less opportunity there is for criminal elements to enter in and gain control of a community. To this same end, the more disorganized a community is, the more opportunity there is for criminals to provide an organizing principle and gain influence in the communityand this is the main idea of social disorganization theory (Takagi et al., 2016). Formal or informal social controls can be used to prevent communities from falling into crime, according to these three theories

Zones of Transition

Zones of transition are communities where there is consistent high turnover of residents. Families move in and out of the community rapidly and few put down roots in the community. The effect is that there is never a feeling of ownership or pride among the resident because they do not view themselves as anything more than passing through the community. They are transients and as a result, delinquency is high; and the theory of social bonding is what supports the fact that zones of transition typically see the most crime in a community (Felson, 2018).

Restorative Justice

The concept of restorative justice is best contrasted with the concept of punitive justice, i.e., incarceration. Whereas punitive justice focuses on removing the offender from the community for a period of time by incarcerating the convict, restorative justice focuses on giving the offender an opportunity to make restitution to the community through some public acts. In restorative justice programs, the offender is integrated into the community and the opportunity for the development of a social bond is created (Johnson et al., 2015). Restorative justice hubs have been shown to reduce recidivism rates by 26% when compared to punitive justice (Johnson et al., 2015). They are also much more cost effective: restorative justice hubs cost tax payers only $444 to $8,000 per person per year, whereas incarceration costs tax payers on average $88,000 per person per year (Johnson et al., 2015). Incarceration is thus more than 10x higher in cost than restorative justice and less effective at p