When looking through this lens I see Detroit as a car, a functioning machine that requires several different parts to function properly. When different parts aren't working the car won't run properly just like Detroit. Social Disorganization is the theory that crimes are committed because of some sort of failure from the community/ living condition that result in people committing crimes. A key factor in this theory is location/environment. Social Disorganization is based on the concept that someone's community can be a determining factor on whether or not they will take place in illegal activities. The Burgess Model or Concentric Zone Model states that city structure is set up by social groups who are "spatially arranged in a series of rings".
Concentric Zone ModelThe Concentric Zone Model represents how people initially move into the Central Business District (1) and which becomes concentrated. When the first zone becomes overcrowded there starts to be a lack of resources such as food, water, jobs, housing, or just the lack of basic needs. The next step is what happens when people start to flood outward, and outward eventually getting to the Residential and Commuter Zones. When someone sells their house normally they try to get more money for it; however when they can't sell it high and they really want to "get out" they are forced to sell at a lower price so that someone will buy. Well what happened in Detroit was that immigrants and other people looking for jobs came into the Central District the majority of the white population started to flee outward. This is known as "White Flight" or the concept that the white population moved away from the growth of minority communities. When all these white's move away and sell their houses at lower prices this lowers the property value of the neighborhood.
Crime as "Being Social"When talking about crime in Detroit we have to understand the social stimuli and group dynamics that cause young adults or teens to commit such crimes. One of the best representations of these social dynamics is through gang examples. Many times youths will try to join groups of other people who they can relate with; however some of the actual benefits of joining groups can be pretty desirable as well. There are 5 key benefits: Companionship, Survival and Security, Affiliation or Status, Power and Control, and finally Achievement. The obvious one, companionship, is the bond and trust that everyone searches for; who doesn't want to have friends, people who you spend a lot of time with. Now when that becomes a problem is when those friends start to do illegal activities such as drugs or messing around in abandoned properties. The people who you have the closest bonds with are the ones who are the hardest to say no to or leave, which is where peer pressure or expectations can impact decision making. "If no one lives there who cares if we go inside?" This is a simple idea that leads towards even further deterioration of the area. The second benefit: Survival and Security are one of the biggest reasons for joining a gang. Gangs in a way were created as their own form of infrastructure, their own economy, their own way to collect resources they have become low. It's a complete lifestyle change in which you gain a new family, more people to protect and be protected by. They can give this false sense of safety.Status, Power and Control, and Achievement are all some of the benefits of being in a group but in relation to basic criminal activities there isn't much of a direct correlation. However the final social concept relating to crime is the mentality of the neighborhoods. I've spent a lot of time talking about how Detroit became the way it is today and yet how to fix is still a mystery. However I believe the first step is to change the way we view the city. To look at Detroit and see opportunity, to change how the people who live there see the town. To get people to treat their neighborhoods better and do their best to take care of it and make it inhabitable. That's the first step.
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Effects of Low Property ValueOnce a set districts property value starts to decrease its like not having enough money to pay for the gas that the car (Detroit) needs to run properly. Property taxes are one the most important forms of taxation that actually effects the areas that you live in. The money that the government gets from property tax funds things such as: the police and fire forces, local road maintenance, public parks and recreational spaces such as swimming pools or ice rinks, public schools, safe drinking water, sewage treatment, animal control and public transportation along with a few other things.These are all the different parts of the car, each one is needed in order for the car to work properly. When people move out and the property value/tax goes down we lose funding towards all these things. Police and firefighter response times decrease making people feel less safe. The communities in Detroit are severed from each other causing funding towards things such as schools or parks in all these different districts extremely difficult. So when people are spread out the its harder to funnel all the funding into centralized areas; making it much more difficult to meet reasonable standard. When a neighborhood loses that funding it starts to look and feel less safe. What type of company would start up a business in an area that doesn't look like a good neighborhood. When teens/kids are unable to find a way to school, either they can't get a ride or don't get a bus; they are more likely to skip school and go do something else. This is where the social standards of living leads to habits of crime.
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