Week 5 - Neighborhood Restoration, Social Structure Theory

Week 5

City of Detroit

Supporting Lectures:

• Neighborhood Restoration
• Social Structure Theory
• Social Control

To conclude the course, this discussion will apply some of the themes from previous weeks to the city of Detroit, Michigan. In recent years, Detroit has experienced increases in crime and urban decay. Issues such as abandoned property and unemployment have impacted Detroit.

• Which of the two theories, social disorganization and social control, do you think better explains Detroit's increases in poverty and crime? Why?
• Considering the fact that the majority of people from the highest crime areas do not commit crimes, discuss the impact of a person's environment on criminality. Be sure to use the terminology from the theories presented in class.
• Are arrests a valid indicator of actual crime rates? If an area has more arrests, does that mean that it has more crime?