Working it out: A community re-creation approach to crime prevention

Abstract

A case study of a neighborhood crimewatch illustrates the interactive recreation of community from the fragmentation and alienation of contemporary urban life. Organizing an intensive walking watch program in response to a serious neighborhood crime-wave in Cambridge, Massachusetts emphasized a “working it out” strategy that attempted to reconcile and draw from the different approaches and talents of oldtimer working-class and newcomer middle-class residents. Empowerment ultimately expanded into municipal and ward politics, disarmament, and civilian review board programs. A participant-observation, intersubjective methodology, as part of the organizing, provided a validational context for observation, interview and drawing community and organizing histories. The results suggested that community re-creation increases empowerment, social control, and sense of community (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) and develops a complementary mix of social problems and opportunity reduction approaches. Citizen participation and control and an active role for the community psychologist are recommended to facilitate democracy and empowerment in fragmented communities.