Starley Cross Community Safety Project
COMMUNITY CONTROLS
Neighbourhoods frame people's lives, providing a bundle of services that people need, and an environment on which families depend. (Smith, 2015). When researching Community crime prevention it is defined to refer to actions that are set to occur in order to change the social conditions that sustain crime. Its main focus is on the ability of local social institutions to reduce crime rates within residential areas. Social institutes are made up of families, friends, networks and clubs which will bring people together within a community in which doing so will transmit guidance concerning conduct in the local area (Hope 1995).
The Social control theory otherwise known as Social Bond theory is used to aid our understanding and reduce levels of criminal activity. It's based upon the notion that an individual's basic belief system, values, morals, commitments and relationships foster a lawful environment. When an individual adapts these values to daily life they gain a level of self-control over their actions and live their lives within the boundaries of the law (Hirshi 1969). In Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) perspective, individuals who possess low self-control are generalists who have a high chance of engaging in a wide range of criminal acts, as opposed to a specialist who limits themselves to a narrow scope of criminal acts and has a strong preference to commit a specific act (Cho, 2014).
Theories relating to community control stem from the relationships we hold with one another and depict, dissect and explain our ability to live harmoniously within a community setting, thus creating a feeling of unity and sense of belonging.
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) self-control and Hirschi’s social bonds (1969) have been the most frequently tested and empirically supported broad-based explanation of crime and deviance (Marcus, 2004; Pratt& Cullen, 2000; Taylor, 2001). While the impact of these two prominent control perspectives is considerable in criminology, it is less clear how these two formations of control might be resolved (Longshore, Chang, & Messina, 2005; Taylor, 2001). Although the sources of self-control and social bonds are quite different, both theories incorporate the classical view on the pleasure- seeking, pain-aversive, rational nature of humans to postulate inhibitory factors as the central variables associated with crime and deviance (Cho, 2014).
Social control theory suggests that the strength and durability of an individual’s bonds or commitments to conventional society inhibit social deviance (Hirschi, 1969; Simpson, 1976). The need for belonging and attachment to others is “a fundamental human motivation” influencing many behavioural, emotional, and cognitive processes (Baumeister & Leary, 1995).
ICB (2013)
