Newman, Oscar: Defensible Space Theory

The concept of “defensible space” was first explicated by Oscar Newman in a 1972 book by the same title. The concept, which contains elements of a theory of crime as well as a set of urban design principles, became popular in the 1970s as urban crime problems continued to rise. Defensible space was discussed, utilized, and critiqued widely by criminologists and other social scientists, as well as urban planners, law enforcement officials, and architects. The design concepts have also been implemented in numerous communities in the United States and around the world. Later works by Newman, including Community of Interest and Creating Defensible Space provide further elaboration of his ideas

Using Wiseman Documentaries for Social Problems Courses

This report describes the use of seven films produced by Frederick Wiseman in a lower course in Modern Social Problems. The goals of the project were: to increase the student awareness and understanding of the day-to-day operations of several basic institutions in American society; to offer a creative and interesting undergraduate course; and to enliven cIass discussion. Since this was a course in social problems, faculty and students focused on the problematic features of the institutions portrayed in the films and on the social problems these institutions are designed to handle

Geographic Patterns

Criminologists, law enforcement officials, and city planners have long been interested in the relationship between geography and crime. Some of the earliest empirical studies of crime were conducted in the 1830s and 1840s by Andre Michel Guerry and Adolphe Quetelet, who plotted recorded crimes on maps and showed considerable variation in the numbers of crimes across geographic areas. As part of the Chicago ecological school of the 1920s and 1930s, Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay examined rates of delinquency in reference to the concentric zones in urban areas. The development of social area analysis and factor analytic techniques in the 1950s and 1960s renewed interest in the relationship between space and crime. These methods demonstrated a strong relationship between the population characteristics and crime rates in areas. The related fields of environmental criminology and the geography of crime emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, demonstrating the multidisciplinary nature of the subject. These fields seek to explain the spatial distribution of offenses and the spatial distribution of offenders. While many of these developments have focused on an understanding and explanation of spatial variations in interpersonal crime per se, they also have contributed to crime prevention and control efforts

Urban Decline

Urban decline refers to a process that includes population loss and the concentration in cities of major social, economic, and environmental problems, such as high levels of unemployment and poverty and the deterioration of housing and public infrastructure. Sometimes used interchangeably with the terms urban decay and urban distress, urban decline is frequently measured by changes in population (particularly in relation to middle- and upper‐income residents), unemployment, and poverty rates; changes in median household income; and changes in property values, housing tenure, and vacancy rates

The Origins of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970

This paper analyzes the emergence of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and finds previous explanations of its origin inadequate. I trace the roots of this law to the protests of rank-and-file workers across the United States at a time when the support of these workers was particularly important to the two main political parties. The protest was directed not only at those employers who operated unsafe and unhealthy workplaces, but also at union officials who paid little or no attention to safety and health issues in negotiating new contracts

The Sphere of Influence of Learning Development during Organizational Change in a Technological University

This chapter explores a shared approach to leading on learning development and educational change in two existing colleges in a new technological university (TU) in Ireland. Considering how organisational change influences teaching and learning is vital but, equally, taking into account how teaching and learning responds and reacts to this change is a key outcome of the chapter. Through an exploration of the role of Head of Learning Development across disciplinary and college structure contexts, we want to convey a shared narrative of leadership in learning development in a changing environment and build on our emerging synergies to do so. Knowing change and innovation are necessary for organisational growth, we reflected on best practices for leading teaching and learning change within the new TU space in Ireland’s higher education sector and present a model capturing the sphere of influence of this leadership role. The approach taken, which embraces change as a result of sectoral change, including the new technological universities, considers how organisational change that influences teaching and learning has implications for innovation in learning development, both within Irish higher education and internationally. The chapter concludes with consideration of broader implications of this change and response to change in the higher education (HE) national and global context

Neighborhood Criminals and Outsiders in Two Communities: Indications that Criminal Localism Varies

Most research on the mobility of criminal offenders examines distance travelled. This paper examines instead whether neighborhood boundaries are crossed. Comparisons of two neighborhoods in Dayton, Ohio, indicate community variations in criminal mobility. Juveniles from poorer, more transient neighborhoods are surprisingly less likely to stay in the neighborhood to commit their offenses than were adults

Four Love Poems from \u3cem\u3eOne Hundred Poems of the Dharma Gate\u3c/em\u3e by Jakuzen

Translated from Japanese and Chinese by Stephen D. Miller and Patrick Donnell