Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

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4 CHAPTER URBAN CRIME AND VIOLENCE: POLICY RESPONSES Chapter 3 has described in some depth the nature of urban crime and violence as they are experienced across the world. The purpose of this chapter is to examine some of the policy responses to these problems, and to explore some of the available evidence on how successful these initiatives have been. It needs to be understood, from the outset, that a high proportion of these initiatives have not been fully or properly evaluated, and that a further proportion have either not had the results of such evaluations made public at all or have done this in ways that are not readily accessible. It is also the case that much of the evidence that is available and accessible comes from the developed world, rather than from the developing world, and it should not be automatically assumed that conclusions from the former context will automatically apply to the latter. Consequently, the evidence based on what works is much thinner than the plethora of initiatives to be found. This situation gives rise to one important policy recommendation (i.e. the importance of developing a learning culture in this field) since the absence of meaningful and publicly accessible evaluation is a major flaw with many projects. The absence of a learning culture has two clear consequences. One of these is that it becomes very difficult in these circumstances to be clear about how successful a project has been, although there are many examples of projects that have been declared successes without any effective evaluation to demonstrate the truth of this claim. A second is that the opportunity for both the participants in the project and others elsewhere to learn from this experience is undermined by the lack of effective and accessible evaluation. This latter point is of particular importance when the opportunity to learn from demonstrated good practice elsewhere is greater now than it has ever been. Both of these issues are returned to in greater depth in Chapter 10. Although this chapter draws heavily on the base established by Chapter 3, it does not follow the same structure because in many instances the policy responses that are identifiable represent a means of approaching a range of criminal activities and not each of the types that are separately identified in Chapter 3. Two examples will serve to make this point. One of the most common responses to the problems of urban crime and violence is through the formation of partnerships that are designed to bring together the key players involved in tackling such problems. Typically, partnerships will seek to address a range of criminal activities, usually focusing on those that are of greatest prominence or the cause of greatest public concern in their localities. There are many things that can be said about partnerships and they take many different forms; but the approach adopted here is to discuss this phenomenon in a freestanding section rather than as a component of many responses to many different types of crime. The same argument applies to efforts to combat corruption, which is of fundamental importance to this particular field. Although tackling crime and violence is widely recognized as being about much more than just the work of police forces, for example, there is no doubt that police work of many kinds remains central to this task. Corrupt police operations, or police operations that are perceived by the public as being corrupt, are therefore very likely to undermine other efforts in this field. The same broad arguments apply to corrupt processes of political decision-making and corrupt planning processes. Since the elimination of corruption in areas such as these is a fundamental part of many attempts to tackle urban crime and violence, this, too, is the subject of a single discussion in this chapter as part of a broader examination of how tackling problems of crime and violence relates to urban governance structures and processes. The approach that has been adopted is to address the field of policy responses to urban crime and violence in seven parts: • levels of responses, from the global downwards; • the significance of stages of development; • urban governance structures and processes; • types of policy responses to problems of crime and violence; • institutional and community responses; • partnerships; • some emerging policy trends. The greatest amount of attention is devoted to the types of policy response to problems of crime and violence since this is the core of the chapter. In effect, the first three of these sections are about contextual issues, the second group of
Urban crime and violence: Policy responses 85 three sections covers policy and organizational responses, and then the final section identifies some emerging trends. There is one overarching point that needs to be fully appreciated before the examples in the sections that follow can be understood in their proper context. In this field, the evidence points overwhelmingly to the fact that very many initiatives depend upon local circumstances and cultures. 1 What this means is that what works well in one locality will not necessarily work in another because initiatives need to be tailored to the particular circumstances in which they will be applied. So, a particular initiative drawn from the urban governance practices in the Western world could not necessarily be transplanted without considerable thought and adaptation to a developing country, where the processes, cultural norms and expectations, as well as skills available, are likely to be different. This does not mean that it is impossible to learn from experiences elsewhere, or that initiatives that appear to have worked in one location cannot be successfully adapted to another. Rather, considerable care needs to be exercised in doing this to ensure that what is being tried relates effectively to local circumstances. LEVELS OF RESPONSES Much crime is characterized by the fact that it takes place in specific locations and affects specific individuals or groups, either because they have been specifically targeted or because an opportunistic offender takes advantage of a particular situation. As Chapter 3 has already pointed out, one of the most important questions in this situation needs to be about the characteristics of the locality where the incident took place. The where is as important a question as who, what or how. The characteristics of place can make a big difference to the opportunity to commit a crime, as can the behaviour of human beings in particular places; so efforts to understand these relationships in order to make the process of offending harder and the perception of the balance between risk and reward by a potential offender less attractive are important components in many initiatives to reduce crime. Chapter 3 also suggests that poor planning, design and management of urban places and spaces are factors associated with crime and violence. This implies that responses at the local level are especially significant, since it is at this spatial scale that the impact of planning decisions and many crimes are most felt. 2 Similarly, social factors associated with crime, as indicated in Chapter 3, can also be addressed at the local level, through social policies and through interventions that involve communities or local actors. Often, even if social policies are formulated and implemented at various levels, local implementation ensures that targeted vulnerable groups are reached. Similarly, it is at the local level that integration of policies is best achieved. Nevertheless, not all crimes can be ameliorated by local action as some need to be tackled on a much broader scale. Examples include drug trafficking, 3 arms trafficking 4 and human trafficking, 5 most of which involve illegal movements across national boundaries, which, as a consequence, require cooperation between all the nations involved if they are to be tackled effectively. In addition, policy and financial frameworks that govern what can be done at the local level are often put in place at higher levels of the governance hierarchy. For example, many police forces operate over much broader areas than individual cities, as do laws and many practices. Sometimes the resources needed to tackle crime problems at a local level are not available from within that locality, and so higher levels of governance have a role to play in making resources available. While the main focus of this chapter is on what happens at the urban scale and more locally, it is important to recognize the contributions that are made at broader governmental scales and to acknowledge that multilevel approaches to issues of crime and violence are an inevitable consequence of multilevel governmental structures. This section, therefore, provides a series of examples of different kinds of contributions from the international level to the sub-national level. The remainder of the chapter will then concentrate on the urban and more localized levels and on community activities. This is a vast area and it is not possible to cover it comprehensively here; but the examples discussed should give an indication of the range of possible activities and policy trends in tackling urban insecurity. International cooperation International cooperation and mechanisms have an important part to play in efforts to combat certain crimes in particular – for example, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the International Criminal Police Organization, and programmes and projects supported by international and regional organizations. They also have an important role in setting principles and guidelines, as in the case of the UN-Habitat Safer Cities Programme, which provides an integrative approach for addressing issues of crime and insecurity at city level, through city-wide processes and strategies, and for supporting local initiatives and international exchanges and learning. ■ United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime was signed by just under 150 member states between December 2000 and December 2002. 6 The convention seeks to standardize terminology and concepts in order to create a common basis for national crime-control frameworks, and commits signatories to a series of actions. These include adopting domestic laws and practices designed to prevent or suppress organized crime; confiscating illegally acquired assets; adopting an approach to extradition that avoids the creation of ‘safe havens’; mutual legal assistance; the adoption of measures to protect victims and witnesses; programmes of technical cooperation; financial and material assistance to help developing nations implement the convention; and the establishment of a regular conference to review progress. For present purposes, it is important to note three characteristics of this convention: the commitment to Not all crimes can be ameliorated by local action as some need to be tackled on a much broader scale International cooperation and mechanisms have an important part to play in efforts to combat certain crimes
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ENHANCING URBAN SAFETY AND SECURITY
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First published by Earthscan in the
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INTRODUCTION Enhancing Urban Safety
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The preparation of
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x Enhancing Urban Safety and Securi
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xii Enhancing Urban Safety and Secu
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xviii Enhancing Urban Safety and Se
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LIST OF FIGURES, BOXES AND TABLES F
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4 Understanding Urban Safety and Se
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1 CHAPTER CURRENT THREATS TO URBAN
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Current threats to urban safety and
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2 CHAPTER VULNERABILITY, RISK AND R
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Vulnerability, risk and resilience:
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29 simply ‘give up’ in the face
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Page 146 and 147: 112 Security of tenure Box III.1 Se
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Page 156 and 157: 122 Security of tenure Urban tenure
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134 Security of tenure Box 5.18 Sec
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136 Security of tenure NOTES 1 Habi
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138 Security of tenure Box 6.1 The
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140 Security of tenure It would be
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142 Security of tenure Box 6.7 Land
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144 Security of tenure Box 6.10 Wha
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146 Security of tenure Box 6.12 Evi
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148 Security of tenure Box 6.15 Con
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150 Security of tenure Box 6.18 Vio
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152 Security of tenure The
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154 Security of tenure Box 6.24 Lan
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156 Security of tenure The state is
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158 Security of tenure Housing righ
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Over the last three decades, natura
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Introduction 165 One of the key tre
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7 CHAPTER DISASTER RISK: CONDITIONS
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Disaster risk: Conditions, trends a
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8 CHAPTER POLICY RESPONSES TO DISAS
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220 Natural and human-made disaster
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236 Towards safer and more secure c
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12 CHAPTER MITIGATING THE IMPACTS O
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304 Summary of case studies Since i
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306 Summary of case studies • The
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308 Summary of case studies tions w
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310 Summary of case studies environ
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312 Summary of case studies others.
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314 Summary of case studies purpose
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316 Summary of case studies These e
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318 Summary of case studies develop
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320 Summary of case studies tion ex
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322 Summary of case studies Housing
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324 Summary of case studies Prolong
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326 Summary of case studies momentu
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330 Statistical annex Islands, Micr
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332 Statistical annex NOMENCLATURE
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334 Statistical annex Population, u
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336 Statistical annex SOURCES OF DA
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410 TABLE C.7 continued Enhancing U
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INDEX ACHR (Asian Coalition for Hou
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Index 435 security of tenure 134 co
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Index 437 domestic abuse see intima
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Index 439 hazard management 169 haz
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Index 441 Kosovo, security of tenur
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Index 443 participation 38, 296-299
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Index 445 individual 34-35 municipa
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Index 447 gun ownership 78 Homeless
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