CJ 633 Fall 2003
Question sets
11/17/03
EVERYONE SHOULD TRY 3. These questions are trying to integrate across readings,
so you should be writing somewhat more extensively.
1. Venkatesh states "it would be unfair to characterize the housing
development as a socially disorganized community" (p. 234). State whether
you agree or disagree with this statement for EACH of the decades described:
70s, 80, and 90s. EVERYONE SHOULD TRY THIS
2. In what ways were the attempts to "bring in" gang members to
community dispute resolution in the 1990s successful? In what ways unsuccessful?
3. To what extent does Harcourt's criticism about the false dichotomy between
orderly and disorderly residents apply to Robert Taylor homes in the 1970s and
1980s before gang drug selling got huge? Explain.
4. Explain what political decisions and economic realities made it extremely
likely that Robert Taylor homes would be a high offending rate neighborhood.
5. Describe the extent and types of parochial and public control present in RTH
in the 1970s and 1980s before the gangs took over.
11/10/03
PLEASE TRY AND WRITE ON **FOUR** questions.
1. Harcourt suggests (p. 125) that “at the theoretical level, the lack of
empirical evidence, thought startling at first, is not surprising.” Why?
2. What problems does Harcourt have with the category of “disorderly
persons” or “disorderly behavior”?
3. What does Harcourt mean when he suggests that “the social meaning of order
and disorder itself may be constructed…” (p. 134).
4. What if order maintenance policing actually creates the very norms it is
supposed to uphold? (p. 141).
5. Do you agree with Harcourt that “the disorderly may be the wrong target?”
6. What happens when the disorderly are treated as “abnormal”?
7. What does Harcourt mean when he says part of the popularity of broken windows
has been the “turn to harm”? [EVERYONE SHOULD TRY THIS ONE]
8. Where do you come down PERSONALLY, and why, on the question of order
maintenance policing? Please try and think carefully about the points Harcourt
has raised.
11/3/03
1. State succinctly the key differences between various versions of the
incivilities thesis?
2. What are the main points shown about thee CAUSES of incivilities?
3. Do incivilities affect crime changes?
4. Do incivilities affect changes in reactions to crime?
5. Why is it worrisome that different types of incivility indicators have
different patterns of impacts?
6. What are the main policy implications of the empirical findings of the study?
10/27
1. What is the most important evidence that B&G marshal to show support for
the routine activity model of crime?
2. How do B&G connect the routine activity model with their systemic model?
3. What does Eck mean when he says that routine activity theory is just a matter
of "feet" and "seconds" ? Do you agree or disagree. Why?
4. How does the behavioral geography described by Brantingham and Brantingham
help EXPLAIN BOTH the routine activity precursors to criminal activity, and the
territorial precursors to residential safety.
5. How do B&G in pp. 112-147 use the data here to support the systemic
model? Give one example.
6. In BAFBW, what were the main factors influencing how community leaders
THOUGHT about crime, and how they responded to it? (This means understanding
Podolefsky's model).
10/13/03
1. What is the most important evidence that B&G marshal to show support for
the routine activity model of crime?
2. How do B&G connect the routine activity model with their systemic model?
3. What does Eck mean when he says that routine activity theory is just a matter
of "feet" and "seconds" ? Do you agree or disagree. Why?
4. How does the behavioral geography described by Brantingham and Brantingham
help EXPLAIN BOTH the routine activity precursors to criminal activity, and the
territorial precursors to residential safety.
5.EVERYONE SHOULD TRY THIS ONE: Looking at the 1997 JRCD article, can you come
up with one example, from your own experience, for each of the micro-ecological
principles described there.
6. After reading the 1997 JRCD article, how convinced are you that there are
indeed important DISTINCT levels of control within the broad level of PAROCHIAL
control described by Hunter? Explain.
10/6/03
HTF (STRONGLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO TRY AT LEAST 3, since only four
questions. STUDENTS WILL BE ALLOWED ONLY ONE "PASS" ON 10/6.
1. Thinking about disorderly behavior, like the proverbial rowdy group of 3 or 4
teens on a residential streetcorner late at night (11:30 pm), explain, using a
territorial model (see espec. Figure 5.3 on p. 92) what factors will shape how
residents living on the block will respond to these activities. (Everyone should
try this question. Your answer will probably be pretty long.)
2. What are the elements of territorial functioning in outdoor residential
locations (pp. 175 on)? For each, can you give one detailed example from an
outdoor residential environment with which you are somewhat familiar? Ideally,
you would pick a location where the functioning is either quite strong, or quite
weak.
3. Thinking about the specific example you just mentioned above, how do you
think (answer one) EITHER a potential burglar or a potential motor vehicle thief
would be affected (see Figure 11.4, p. 259).
4. Based on the JRCD article, explain in your own words how social factors might
support streetblock territorial functioning.
9/29/03
B&G 1-59
1. What fundamental assumption do the authors make in their volume?
2. What are the key points of the Park and Burgess model or the natural area approach?
3. What criticisms do the authors make of the natural area approach?
4. What is the systemic theory? What versions are there? What research support do B&G cite for their model?(everyone should try this) [Do not write this but as an exercise: Can you describe what is happening on each of the pathways of B&G's version (p. 39)?]
5. (also for Hunter piece): What are the different levels of social control? Who is involved in each?
6. Describe the original Shaw and McKay thesis (everyone should try this).
Hunter
7. Why is social control important?
To think about: what problems do you have with the concept of social control?
9/22/03
S&B
1. Summarize (briefly) Ella's attitudes toward the neighborhood, and its teens and preteens, at the beginning of the summer.
2. What are the barriers to DeAndre's trying to obtain and hold legitimate employment?
3. What factors (positive and negative) affect Fran's efforts to recover from drug addiction?
4. How does steady work at the crab house affect Gary?, specifically his relation to drugs and crime?
5. In what ways, for the recovering drug addict, does the neighborhood make the "end of the beginning" so hard?
NEIGHBORHOOD EFFECTS
6. Of the problems mentioned by Sampson et al. with this research, state which one you find hardest to understand
DYNAMIC CONTEXTUALISM
7. Summarize briefly in your own words what dynamic contextualism is.
9/15/03
S&B
1. Can you construct the "family tree" for the McCullough's? What does this say, if we presume it is typical, about family composition patterns in this neighborhood?
2. What economic, political, and cultural factors gave rise to the drug trade in this neighborhood?
3. How are the drug markets organized? Think in terms of: locations, times, job roles, economics.
4. Describe the McCullough family employment history over three generations, focusing on DeAndre, Gary, and Gary's father. How does this evolution support or refute Wilson's model described in "When work disappears"?
5. Summarize the type(s) of policing used in the neighborhood around The Corner.
Wilson
6. Summarize briefly IN YOUR OWN WORDS the economic, demographic, and social changes taking place in low income communities of color in the last 30 years.
7. Summarize IN YOUR OWN WORDS the institutional, economic, and behavioral changes that have taken place in low income communities of color as unemployment has passed 40% in these locales.