Social Capital's effects on crime

While we haven't really spent time in class on this subject I find it very interesting. While original theories suggested that social capital and social organization would decrease crime, recent studies have brought new theories into light. Since poverty and instability decrease the strength of community networks effectiveness it has long believed that organization and strong social networks may be the key to fighting urban neighborhood crime.

However, why then are so many organized communities still suffering from high crime rates? One of the issues the that of social networks and collective efficacy. Collective efficacy is the mutual trust and expectations a community shares to regulate crime in an informal and social environment. Since strong social ties will increase the amount of norms a community has, it will strengthen its collective efficacy. However, because of these strong social ties there could be a decreased rate of enforcing social norms. An example I came across in my research is if an older woman catches a young boy committing a crime, she may not want to report his name to the police if she is friends with the boy's mother. Also with the increase in strong ties, there is also an increase in communication and the spread of information. Therefore if there are criminals in the community, it is easy for one to imagine others being influenced by their behavior.

Crime can also affect social capital, not just the other way around. If a community is filled with crime then the mutual trust in a neighborhood will tend to decrease and network ties, as well as collective efficacy can decrease. However, if a community is filled with crime then they may band together to form neighborhood watch groups or other community groups to fight the crime. In this sense, it could increase network ties and collective efficacy, therefore increasing social capital.