By: Lorraine Green Mazerolle & William Terrill

Finding effective methods for controlling crime and disorder problems in public housing has been a principal concern for policy makers, researchers, and local agency representatives for many years. Nonetheless, research continues to show that rates of drug and non-drug crime are considerably higher in public housing sites than in other areas of a city (Dunworth and Saiger, 1994; Weisburd and Green, 1995). In Jersey City, for example, public housing sites are chronically identified as being the worse drug markets (Weisburd and Green, 1994, 1995; Weisburd, Green and Ross, 1994) and having the highest levels of violent crime problems in the city (see Center for Crime Prevention Studies, 1994).

Efforts to make public housing safer places to live date back to the 1960s when policy makers found that high-rise public housing projects built in the late 1950s were social and security disasters (see Annan and Skogan, 1992). Since this time, a wide variety of strategies have been implemented to target the persistent crime and social problems that characterize public housing sites. These strategies have included traditional enforcement tactics (Skogan and Annan, 1994; Weisel, 1990a) and changing the physical design of public housing with security issues in mind (Newman, 1973). More recently local police departments, in partnership with local housing authorities, have started to implement problem-oriented policing programs to reduce drug and crime problems (see Dunworth and Saiger, 1994; Gajewski, Green, and Weisburd, 1993; Weisel, 1990b).

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Vol. 20 No. 2, 1997, pp. 235-255.

By Nicolette Reyhani

From the Introduction:” Over recent years situational crime has gained considerable amount of support and recognition when determining what in society causes crime. Prior to the 1970s, the explanations for causes of crime revolved around the socio-economic effects society endured. The modern focus of criminological policy and theories began to change as attention turned to the potential environmental factors and effects they have on criminal activity (McGloin & O’Neil, 2007). The situational crime results from an offender, who under certain circumstances, commits a crime and is unlikely to repeat the offence or usually is not inclined to commit crimes, hence the emphasis on situational (Clarke, 1995). These crimes and offenders are best explained through theories that do not focus on the social causes of crime, rather the emerging prosperity of contemporary life and the rational human being.”

By by Tal Jonathan-Zamir, David Weisburd, and Badi Hasisi.

“Policing Terrorism, Crime Control, and Police-Community Relations: Learning fromthe Israeli Experience.”is written by Tal Jonathan-Zamir, David Weisburd, and Badi Hasisi. The book discusses the Israeli experience in policing terrorism, crime control,and police-community relations. It covers various topics such as the impact of terrorismthreats on police performance, public evaluations of the police, and the role of thepolice in counterterrorism. The book is supported by grants from the U.S. Departmentof Homeland Security and the U.S. National Institute of Justice

Springer, 2014, 172 pagine