Summary
Despite widespread concern over urban crime, public participation in local crime prevention programs is generally low and limited to a small, homogeneous group of middle-class home-owing residents. Conspicuously absent from these programs are the very people who are the most vulnerable to crime: the poor, immigrants, and visible minorities. This book explores the capacity of disadvantaged neighbourhoods to organize around issues related to local crime and disorder. It identifies obstacles to community mobilization, many of which are strongly related to demographic and socio-psychological factors, including low socio-economic status and a lack of local social integration. Other obstacles stem from weaknesses in program implementation, such as inappropriate or ineffectual community outreach and communications, a lack of resources, and leadership voids. This book is based on extensive ethnographic research and it identifies and critically examines the many factors that obstruct public participation in community crime prevention programs, while formulating strategies and theories that attempt to empower disadvantaged and marginalized communities.