Lecture 1 : Introduction: the continued significance of the city for criminology

Question 1

1.1. Introduction: the continued significance of the city for criminology

Question 2

What percentage of the world’s resources do cities consume?

Answer 2

80%

Question 3

What percentage of the global population will live in cities by the middle of the 21st century?

Answer 3

70%

Question 4

What happens to the critical infrastructure of cities as more people move into them?

Answer 4

pressure intensifies on critical infrastructure such as
food supply, utilities, housing, healthcare, education, employment, and transport, while public authorities have fewer resources to address these pressures.

Question 5

What is putting tremendous strain on existing municipal infrastructure?

Answer 5

Urban population growth

Question 6

How can the required increase in city efficiency and cost reductions be achieved?

Answer 6

Through Smart City solutions

Question 7

What are the 4 constructs used to interpret the implications of urbanization for crime, insecurity, and justice?

Answer 7

The ‘rookery’,
‘zone in transition’,
‘ecology of fear’,
the ‘smart city’.

Question 8

What is the dates and who and where is The ‘rookery’,

Answer 8

St. Giles, London, mid-19th century
Mayhew, 1860

Question 9

What does the “zone in transition” refer to?

Who introduced the concept of the “zone in transition” and when?

Answer 9

reflecting areas undergoing rapid change due to urbanization and development, similar to what was observed in Chicago during the early 20th century.

Burgess, early 20th C.

Question 10

What does the “ecology of fear” refer to and in what context?

Who is associated with the concept of the “ecology of fear” and when was it introduced?

Answer 10

It refers to the relationship between urban environments and the perceived and real threats of crime, particularly in Los Angeles in the late-20th century.

Davis, late 20th C.

Question 11

What does the “smart city” concept refer to?

Who introduced the concept of the “smart city” and when?

Answer 11

It refers to modern urban areas that utilize technology to enhance city infrastructure, security, and overall quality of life.

Edwards & Calaresu, Early 21st C.

Question 12

1.2. Constructions of Crime, Security and Justice in the City: ‘The Rookery’ and ‘The Zone in Transition

Question 13

Who coined the term “rookery” and what did it describe?

Answer 13

It referred to a slum associated with the London poor in the mid-19th century

Mayhew to describe the moral turpitude and associated criminality in the slum neighborhoods of Victorian cities.

The term “rookery” referred to dens of thieves and gathering places for populations involved in criminal activities.

Question 14

Describe the migration patterns associated with the first and fourth industrial revolutions.

Answer 14

First industrial revolution: Migration from countryside to cities for residence, work, and leisure.

Fourth industrial revolution: Migration towards greater online social relations in ‘smart’ cities.

Question 15

How were slum dwellers portrayed by Mayhew?

Answer 15

Slum dwellers were portrayed as dangerous individuals who rejected civil society and preyed upon the respectable working class.

Question 16

What characterized the slums according to Mayhew?

Answer 16

characterized by ‘nomads’ or rootless individuals with little investment in their communities, focused on immediate self-gratification through drugs and vice, such as intoxicating liquors and unchaste behavior.

Question 17

How were the issues in the slums viewed in terms of their origin?

Answer 17

The issues were seen as problems stemming from the citizens themselves and the culture they brought to the city.

Question 18

What impact did migration have on the city according to Mayhew?

Answer 18

Migrants from other areas brought alien values to the city, contributing to the decline in civil standards.

Question 19

What are the key concepts related to eugenics and societal fears in urban criminology, in relation to Rookery

Answer 19

• Eugenics and the history of ‘respectable’ fears
• Immigration and the fear of ‘alien’ cultures
• The fear of unregulated sexualities

Question 20

What was Mayhew’s key argument in relation to crime among the poor in London?

Answer 20

Mayhew argued that crime among the poor was due to their own agency and moral choices. He believed that degenerate populations chose to reject civil society and engage in criminal behavior.

Question 21

What conditions of the working class in England did Engels (1845/1935) think were the causes of crime in the ‘great towns’?

Answer 21

The demoralising influences of poverty, dirt and law enforcement

Question 22

What is the perennial argument about crime among the poor in London in relation to Mayhew and Engels?

Answer 22

Agency? - Mayhew: Crime is a result of the individual choices and moral failings of degenerate populations.

Conditions? – Engels: Crime is a result of demoralizing social conditions and inequality that pull the poor into criminal behavior.
(influenced by the environment people live in)

Question 23

What was the period of ‘high modernity’ (1900-1970s) associated with in terms of urban crime?

Answer 23

Crime was overwhelmingly conceived as an urban problem during this period of rapid urbanization in North America and Western Europe.

Question 24

What is meant by the ‘suburbanization’ of cities?

Answer 24

Refers to the differentiation between stable, settled, residential, and commuter zones and the inner-city ‘zone in transition’ with constant residential turnover.

Question 25

Why was the ‘zone in transition’ regarded as ‘criminogenic’?

Answer 25

The constant residential turnover in the ‘zone in transition’ was thought to undermine informal social control of deviance, especially among unsupervised juvenile delinquents.

Question 26

What trend did people follow in relation to inner city areas, according to modern views?

Answer 26

People located to inner city areas near railway stations and employment opportunities, but then moved out as they became upwardly mobile.

Question 27

What factors in the ‘zone in transition’ inhibit parental guardianship according to Shaw and McKay?

Answer 27

low-income households had adults preoccupied with employment, leaving little time to monitor their own children or others, leading juveniles to seek leisure on the streets where they could be recruited into gangs.

Question 28

How did Shaw and McKay use spot maps in their study of juvenile delinquents?

Answer 28

used spot maps to identify the residential locations of juvenile delinquents who appeared before the juvenile courts.

Question 29

Where were juvenile delinquents concentrated according to Shaw and McKay’s findings?

Answer 29

Juvenile delinquents were concentrated around inner urban areas, particularly in zones of transition, and this pattern remained stable historically over time.

Question 30

What were the key features of mid-20th century urban reconstruction?

Answer 30

Slum clearance and the rise of council estates

Optimistic belief in town planning to engineer social progress

Crime and the city became a routine problem for technocrats, not a high political concern

Question 31

1.3. Constructions of Crime, Security and Justice in the City: ‘The Ecology of Fear’ and ‘The Smart City’

Question 32

What were the key aspects of the ‘Demise of the Dream’ in the 1960s-1970s and the re-emergence of the dangerous city?

Answer 32

A crisis of urban progress
New spatial struggles
New patterns of conflict

Question 33

What were the key aspects of Davis’ (1998) account of late-20th century Los Angeles in “The ecology of fear”?

Answer 33

A ‘fortress mentality’
Quarantined commuting
The demise of civic policing
The ‘Gulag rim’

Question 34

What is a ‘Fortress Mentality’?

Answer 34

A ‘Fortress Mentality’ involves affluent areas using gated estates and private security for protection, leaving low-income households to create their own security measures.

Question 35

What is ‘Quarantined Commuting’?

Answer 35

‘Quarantined Commuting’ refers to public policing focused on safeguarding affluent commuter routes and commercial areas to maintain “drug-free” zones.

Question 36

What is the ‘Demise of Civic Policing’?

Answer 36

The ‘Demise of Civic Policing’ is when lower-income, often BAME, populations are left unprotected, with ineffective police intervention leading to increased violence in areas like Compton.

Question 37

What is the ‘Gulag Rim’?

Answer 37

The ‘Gulag Rim’ describes the rapid expansion of the penal system, disproportionately incarcerating young, male, BAME populations, likened to Stalin’s internment camps.

Question 38

What does ‘hyperconnected citizens’ refer to in the context of a smart city?

Answer 38

‘Hyperconnected citizens’ refers to ubiquitous access to online communications, integrating commercial and governmental spaces, and blending online/offline relations in cyber neighborhoods.

Question 39

What paradox do Bannister and Flint (2017) highlight about crime and fear in early twenty-first century cities?

Answer 39

Bannister and Flint (2017) highlight the paradox of increasing fear despite decreasing crime and unrest in North American and European cities in the early twenty-first century.