I recently read Dr. Sharkey’s NY times article, Two Lessons of the Urban Crime Decline, with much interest. What I appreciated the most about this article was Sharkey’s acknowledgement and support of the role and meaningful work of nonprofits and other community organizations efforts to reduce urban crime. I agree with Sharkey’s emphasis on the need for more reinvestment in community-based efforts to address community violence. Working directly with law enforcement and residents, these organizations are central to successful efforts to make our cities safer.
While Sharkey’s research provides evidence to confirm existing theory regarding the factors associated with the recent reduction in crime rates, I believe racism as a form of violence needs to be considered in his analysis. We need to broaden our definition of crime and violence for the purpose of understanding its root causes and developing prevention and intervention strategies to address its’ consequences.
While crime rates have been on a downward trend overall, this effect is not consistent across types of crime, cities and populations, suggesting that additional factors are at play that are not accounted for in Sharkey’s model as outlined in the New York Times. For example, as recently as 2017 the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that various violent crime rates continues to increase and decrease intermittently, the murder rate increased by roughly 7.8% last year, and crime rates vary dramatically across different cities.
In the absence of comprehensive definitions of crime and violence that include racism as a form of structural violence that permeates every facet of our society, there is a tendency to overlook both the visible and invisible forms of violence that must be considered as a part of crime statistics to have a more comprehensive picture of community violence and who it disproportionately impacts.
More research is needed relevant to the intersection of racism, violence and victimization that overwhelmingly impacts populations of color living in urban communities allowing for a culturally responsive examination of violence that includes global conceptualizations of crime. In addition, it is unclear from this article what specific statistical methods Sharkey used in this study making correlation and causation conclusions unclear. Continuing to examine the specific ways that nonprofits directly contribute to reductions of violence in communities is imperative in order to accurately support and enhance policy and crime reduction efforts conducted at the grassroots and community-levels.
Resources:
While Sharkey’s research provides evidence to confirm existing theory regarding the factors associated with the recent reduction in crime rates, I believe racism as a form of violence needs to be considered in his analysis. We need to broaden our definition of crime and violence for the purpose of understanding its root causes and developing prevention and intervention strategies to address its’ consequences.
While crime rates have been on a downward trend overall, this effect is not consistent across types of crime, cities and populations, suggesting that additional factors are at play that are not accounted for in Sharkey’s model as outlined in the New York Times. For example, as recently as 2017 the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that various violent crime rates continues to increase and decrease intermittently, the murder rate increased by roughly 7.8% last year, and crime rates vary dramatically across different cities.
In the absence of comprehensive definitions of crime and violence that include racism as a form of structural violence that permeates every facet of our society, there is a tendency to overlook both the visible and invisible forms of violence that must be considered as a part of crime statistics to have a more comprehensive picture of community violence and who it disproportionately impacts.
More research is needed relevant to the intersection of racism, violence and victimization that overwhelmingly impacts populations of color living in urban communities allowing for a culturally responsive examination of violence that includes global conceptualizations of crime. In addition, it is unclear from this article what specific statistical methods Sharkey used in this study making correlation and causation conclusions unclear. Continuing to examine the specific ways that nonprofits directly contribute to reductions of violence in communities is imperative in order to accurately support and enhance policy and crime reduction efforts conducted at the grassroots and community-levels.
Resources: