What is at stake in this thesis are the ways in which we approach policing and controlling the cityscape, and, more importantly, architecture's role in this authoritative and institutional apparatuses. Looking at the Watts neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles as both example and test site, this project analyzes how and why the policing apparatus of a city fails to operate effectively, especially in contested urban environments. Existing architectural precedents here, and in other dense cities, have been reduced to emblematic fortresses, where the station and the police are rendered inactive and inaccessible. Responding to this crisis, this thesis re-imagines the police station as a piece of city infrastructure that situates itself as an interface between police and populus. Borrowing from vernacular models of spatial organization and local public phenomenon, the traditionally invisible policing processes get invaded by the surrounding neighborhood, rendering those processes visible and accessible.

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The intent of this dissertation is to examine crime among the homeless, focusing on social context. Most research on homelessness and crime focuses on differences between rates of crime among the homeless and the domiciled. Researchers pay less attention to aspects of homeless life increasing probabilities of crime commission or police contact. The first issue examined was whether need is the primary motivator for crimes of the homeless. Given that most homeless people lack resources and yet only a minority commit crime, the key question became, "Why do some commit crime while others do not?" Information regarding a wide range of "survival" behaviors was collected by administering structured interviews to 399 homeless people in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Tucson. With these data, the relations among a variety of aspects of homeless life were examined. While alternative survival behaviors were predicted by barriers to regular work, crime was not predicted, casting serious doubt on need as the major motivator for crime in this population. This finding raised the second issue of the dissertation, "Do accepted theories of crime predict homeless crime?". Two of the theories examined (social learning and self-control theory) predicted crime in this population. Several factors are significant across the range of crimes discussed: cocaine and alcohol use, work history, staying in shelters, deviant acquaintances, non-conventional beliefs, and drug (or alcohol) abuse in the family. The third issue is the way in which the routine activities of the homeless interact with policing practices. The most significant change in patterns of homelessness is the decrease in accommodations for the extremely poor, and the related decline of space available to the homeless. The major consequence of this change is that the homeless are dislodged from areas traditionally available for use. This, combined with increases in the homeless population, compels the homeless to spend more time in prime space, or space valued by the community. This is significant, because as the numbers of homeless in prime space increases, their daily routines are more likely to bring them into contact with the police.

This project attempts to clarify the relationships between gang membership, crime, and criminality. It begins by introducing the distinction between crime and criminality, and analyzing criminological theory using this distinction. Next, it describes how these same theories view the role of social institutions like family, school, and peers. It also explores more substantive/methodological questions concerning gang membership. Using survey data obtained from gang and non-gang youth, the characteristics that distinguish gang from non-gang youth are discovered, along with the theoretical and policy implications of these distinctions. Measures of crime and criminality, as well as variables relating to family, school, and peers will be used to discover which traits distinguish gang from non-gang youth. Finally, a methodological concern is addressed when the reliability and validity of data provided by gang youth is compared to that provided by non-gang youth.

Understanding the context of crime is key to developing informed policy that will reduce crime in communities. In exploring criminal contexts, this dissertation tests criminal opportunity theory, which integrates social disorganization and routine activity theories. Methodologically, the dissertation presents unique ways of modeling space in crime studies. Analyses are undertaken in three cities, Nashville, TN; Portland, OR; and Tucson, AZ, chosen for their similar crime rates and varied demographic and social characteristics. This dissertation includes three papers submitted for publication. Crime data were collected for nine crimes over the period 1998-2002. Census data, used to create an array of socioeconomic measures, and land use data were also used in the analyses, presented at the census block group level. The first paper attempts to determine whether certain structural associations with violence are generalizable across urban areas. The idea is tested by first developing an Ordinary Least Squares model of crime for all three cities, then replicating the results for each city individually. The models provide support for a general relationship between violence and several structural measures, but suggest that the exploration into geographic variation of crime and its covariates both within urban areas and across urban areas should be undertaken. The second paper explores an alternative to crime rates: location quotients of crime. A comparison of location quotients and rates is provided. The location quotients are then used in a regression modeling framework to determine what influences the crime profile of a place. The results demonstrate the efficacy of simple techniques and how location quotients can be incorporated into statistical models of crime. The models provide modest support for the opportunity framework. The final paper explores possible spatial variation in crime and its covariates through a local analysis of crime using Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR). Those results are compared to the results of a 'base' global OLS model. Parameter estimate reaps confirm the results of the OLS model for the most part and also allow visual inspection of areas where specific measures have a strong influence in the model. This research highlights the importance of considering local context when modeling urban violence.

Meaning construction and its impact on the production of juvenile justice has received a great deal of attention from sociologists and criminologists. Despite an impressive body of research and a great deal of agreement on the factors associated with punishment recommendations and outcomes, few researchers have addressed the underlying process of interpretation and meaning construction that inspires the creation of court reports and recommendations. Even fewer have systematically dealt with the possible social origins of probation officer recommendations to the court. This dissertation addresses these issues by examining the processes by which members of a juvenile probation department manage their caseloads and construct their recommendations to the court. The core of the dissertation involves the application of framing perspective, currently popular among social movement researchers, to the question of probation officer decision-making. Using data derived from a two year ethnographic study of a juvenile court, I found that the forty-eight members of the probation department at West County Juvenile Court routinely negotiated and used eight juvenile frames when talking to each other and other court actors about their cases. Furthermore, I found that the frames employed by these probation officers influenced the recommendations the officers made to the court, and their actions taken in the field. My findings include a typology of the juvenile frames used by probation officers to make sense out of their cases, as well as a typology of probation officer role-identities that appear influential in frame selection. In addition, I highlight the negotiation that occurs between the officers and their peers, other court actors, and the juveniles with whom they work. I demonstrate how the negotiated order of probation serves to create and maintain juvenile frames, and influences how frames are applied. Based on my research, I present a theoretical extension of the framing perspective and offer a series of recommendations for improving probation officer training and practice.

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of the elderly in the southwest with regard to police, crime and safety. A questionnaire was mailed to 2500 elderly adults residing in the southwestern states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. Five constructs were developed to measure these perceptions: (1) attitudes toward police, (2) attitudes toward safety, (3) awareness of police, (4) awareness of community policing, and (5) awareness of crime and safety. A t-test and Oneway analysis of variance were conducted to test each of the hypotheses. Results indicated that independent variables of gender, ethnic background, state and area of residence have little effect on the variables of attitudes toward police and attitudes toward safety. However, there was a higher level of significance found for the independent variables toward the awareness of police and awareness of crime and safety variables.

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<p> A scan of online news articles reveals a consistent trend: Missing White women and children are more likely to garner media attention than missing minority women. The glorification of missing White women and children has been dubbed "missing White woman syndrome." This qualitative content analysis of online and traditional print journalism articles examines the differences in how the national media outlets portray missing White women compared to missing minority women. Triangulated analyses validate the existence of the "syndrome" and explore the nuances of ways in which missing girls and women are portrayed in print media. The implications for theory and professional practice in both journalism and criminal justice, as well as those for justice policy, are discussed.</p>

<p> Responses to sex offenders often involve collective campaigns that target political and criminal justice systems rather than individual offenders. Scholars have described these community responses as part of a broader moral panic, but that interpretation generally overlooks differences in the form of responses across places. This dissertation uses data from case studies of three California towns to examine how local political and legal contexts contribute to variation in community responses to violent sex offenders. I argue that communities' orientations to authority shape how they respond to perceived injustices. </p><p> I introduce my main arguments and overarching concepts in chapter one. Then, in chapter two, I explore why communities deploy moral authority in service of their collective goals. Moral authority is an endogenous source of community power, and moral claims emerge within formal institutional contexts that allow for and even encourage morally based arguments. Because these institutions limit the effectiveness of moral claims, communities sometimes turn to other mobilization strategies. Chapter three shows how an orientation to political authority as a source of entitlement contributed to one community rallying around political mobilization. I contrast this case with a second community in which an orientation to political authority as a source of alienation contributed to ambivalence toward political strategies. In chapter four, I argue that the third community's orientation to legal authority as a source of protection contributed to litigation as the centerpiece of their response. I compare this case to the second community in which legal authority was perceived as a source of control, which facilitated indifference toward legal mobilization. </p><p> This research contributes to a new perspective on participation in moral panic as a contemporary form of civic engagement. By illuminating the social processes underlying the relationships between communities and formal institutions, my findings have implications for understanding community responses to crime, legal and political mobilization, collective action, and social control within communities. More practically, this research can inform discussions about how community members should be involved in decision-making about sex offender reintegration.</p>