Slide 1: ›How does a successful business help or hurt a community?

›By David Wellman

›INTS 3900

›Fall 2013

›My name is David Wellman and my two emphasis areas of study are Criminal Justice and Business. Trying to tie business, criminal justice and community together is an easy task but I want to explore how successful businesses effect a community. Specifically, a private sector security business and its effects on a community.

Slide 2: Defining Success and Business

›Success: the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame

›Business: the activity of making, buying, or selling goods or providing services in exchange for money

›

*First definition provided for each word from Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Starting simple by defining a business and the term success is the first step. Both terms have many meaning but for this study I chose the first definition provided by Webster’s dictionary. It should be noted that the word money can be eliminated from the definition for business and simply end the statement with the word exchange. Another note is that success is relative. Based on the definition provided, the word respect can be given and received in many forms. Also, everyone has their own idea of how much wealth constitutes success as well as how much fame.›

Slide 3: Successful?

›Bill Gates, Bethany Hamilton, Richard Branson, Jay-Z, Vincent Van Gogh, Al Capone, Pablo Escobar, Timothy McVeigh.

›

›People have different versions of what success really is.

Bill Gates (first business failed), Bethany Hamilton (lost an arm to shark bite but still top surfer), Richard Branson (Virgin Records has dyslexia), Jay-Z (no one signed him), Vincent Van Gogh (sold one painting), Al Capone (Chicago alcohol bootlegger), Pablo Escobar (Columbian drug lord), Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bombing). These people are successful in one way or another. They may or may not see themselves as successful and other people may or may not see them as successful. Their success all depends on the viewers perception. Perception is huge. Sampson explains perception in his book and its relevance to disorganization and disorder. Perception is the most important part of a person’s rate of success.

Slide 4: ›Are Laws Working?

›“The two areas where law is arguably the largest presence in ordinary life driving cars and paying taxes-are probably the two areas where there is the largest amount of self-conscious cheating” (Michael, 2006). 

›Rules or laws are generated from past wrong doings.

›Laws are limited to the known and when a business acts unethical it commonly falls within the scope of laws.

Alcohol study…prior to 1987 it was legal to purchase alcohol on campus but now it is not. Drinking on campus has increased since the law was passed. There are many studies with examples of laws being passed and the very crime they were in place to reduce or prevent actually increased. So the question here is whether or not laws are working. As the slide states, laws get put into place as a result from someone’s wrong doing. Criminals are criminals and they will just continue to find ways to break laws. So there are really just two options. One is to eliminate the word crime, if there were no crime then there would be no criminals but that does not mean that people will still be committing acts that are considered wrong or immoral. Two is create accountability for everyone, by creating accountability for everyone at a very young age and continuing it into adulthood people would (generally) act moral.

Slide 5: ›Ethical Success

›Management: Must treat employees respectfully

›Service: Must treat customers with respect

›Public Relations: Previous unethical behavior can destroy a person’s reputation

›Quality: High quality products/services keep people coming back

›Motivation: People like to do what is right

Study proves the more to gain then the more chance to act unethically. (college students test taking) In the world of business the objective is (most commonly) to make as much money as possible. This creates an environment where it is more appealing to act unethical. This is difficult to fix because profit is the key to a successful business but what if giving back to the community, providing an enjoyable workplace, or making customers/clients happy was the actual key to success? People would have to see that business leaders are acting unethically and stop using their service or buying their products to generate accountability for business leaders and that might stop unethical actions.

Slide 6: ›Community

›Businesses with money commonly contribute a lot (financially) to their community

›Business leaders often have close relations with community leaders (or are one in the same)

›Jerry Jones donated $10 million to Little Rock Catholic High. Businesses generally donate a lot of money, time, service, or products to their community. This is a great ethical action that all businesses should do. What about those businesses that don’t make any donations? Are these businesses less profitable? The answer is no, society has not generated accountability for everyone. Instead society expects big corporations to donate like Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, etc. but people don’t think about smaller businesses that still make a lot of money, like local attorneys, bondsman, gas stations, etc. Why are the “big” corporations expected to fork over their profits but not the smaller businesses even though profit per employee could be comparable? (or even more profit per employee for the smaller businesses in some cases.

Slide 7: ›What if?

›Crime lords completely funded community?

›Children educated from drug money?

›

›Businesses did not donate any money?

Studies are not widely done in the exact topic area I am looking for so the research is altered and tailored a little to attempt to explain what my question is asking. This slide asks the questions that are extremely difficult to answer. Crime lords are generally not the ones that are willing to be studied and/or interviewed unless they are on death row behind bars. Then when criminals are interviewed it is hard to know if the truth is actually what is being told. So there is not a lot of study on the topic of crime lords being business leaders and their involvement with their community. Child education is proven in the studies to have no effect on future ethical decision making so what does that mean for the education system? How do we “teach” ethics? Can you teach ethical actions? There should be some further study on this topic because I feel that the ethical decision making area should be the focus to a more peaceful society. To eliminate criminals it has been proven that the jails have an overall lower educational attainment but does that mean that if everyone was educated better they would not commit crime? The answer is no. There will always be crime unless we look at the ethical aspect and again, create accountability.

Slide 8: ›Solutions

›Education not a factor

›Environment not a factor

›

›Create/generate accountability for EVERYONE

›Eliminate excessive gains or losses from actions*

Eliminating gains and losses is impossible or (at least) extremely difficult. The theme that I came upon while doing my research is generating accountability for everyone. That is the only way to eliminate unethical actions and in turn make all businesses have a positive effect on their community. Currently it does not matter if a business leaders actions are ethical or unethical when it comes to their impact on the community. What matters currently is how much money they donate to their community. 

Slide 9: ›References

Ala M. Keys to success in today's business environment. Business Forum [serial online]. Winter97 1997;22(1):24. Available from: MasterFILE Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 20, 2013.

Bernardi, R., Lecca, C., Murphy, J., & Sturgis, E. (2011). Does Education Influence Ethical Decisions? An International Study. Journal Of Academic Ethics, 9(3). 235-256.

Citation [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online,  Retrieved September 24, 2011, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/business

Citation [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online,  Retrieved September 24, 2011, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/success

Jacques, Renee. (2013, September). 15 Wildly Successful People Who Overcame Huge Obstacles to Get There. The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 25, 2013, fromhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com

Kaler, John. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 27, No. 1/2, Business Challenging Business Ethics: New Instruments for Coping with Diversity in International Business: The 12th Annual EBEN Conference (Sep., 2000), pp. 161-173

Kashyap, A. K. (2010). Lessons From the Financial Crisis for Risk Management. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Available fromhttp://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/anil.kashyap/research/papers/lesson_for_fcic.pdf. Accessed November 4, 2013.

Lohr, David. (2013, September). 10 Most Notorious Criminals in American History. TheHuffington Post. Retrieved November 25, 2013, fromhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com

Michael, Michael L. Business Ethics Quarterly , Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct., 2006), pp. 475-504

Porter, Gayle. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 17, No. 15, Promoting Business Ethics: The Third Annual International Vincentian Conference (Nov., 1998), pp. 1669-1678

Wasieleski, D.M., & Weber, J. (2009). Does Job Function Influence Ethical Reasoning? An Adapted Wason Task Application. Journal Of Business Ethics, 85(1). 187-199.

›

Extremely Rough, Rough Draft!

What makes a successful business? Do more business laws help or hinder success of business? What impact on communities do successful businesses have?

Still working on thesis statement but it will have to do with the above questions.

Overall presentation focus: ethical business versus legal business and the impact on community.

Slide 1: Introduction

·         Define success: defined by the Oxford dictionary, is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.

·         Give success meaning: roughly an expectation of making enough money to be “comfortable”. how different perceptions cause people to feel unequal and in turn attempt to re-equalize the situation. As a result of inequality people tend to react either ethically or unethically. This article discusses how “ethical” is a relative term and up for individual interpretation. The article is all about individual perceptions and “feelings” instead of actual number correlation. Meaning how a person feels they are compared to their parents instead of the actual income they receive compared to that of their parents taking into consideration the difference in economic conditions. 

·         Introduce characters: Bill Gates (first business failed), Bethany Hamilton (lost an arm to shark bite but still top surfer), Richard Branson (Virgin Records has dyslexia), Jay-Z (no one signed him), Vincent Van Gogh (sold one painting), Al Capone (Chicago alcohol bootlegger), Pablo Escobar (Columbian drug lord), Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bombing).

Slide 2: Laws

·         Discuss impact of laws: The two areas where law is arguably the largest presence in ordinary life driving cars and paying taxes-are probably the two areas where there is the largest amount of self-conscious cheating (Michael, 2006). It addresses the issue that rules or laws are generated from past wrong doings. Laws are limited to the known and when a business acts unethical it commonly falls within the scope of laws.

Slide 3: Ethics

·         Discuss impact of ethical actions:

1.      Enhance Management Practices:

2.      Provide Superior Service:

3.      Employ Public Relations Techniques:

4.      Enhance Quality:

5.      Motivate Employees:

·         there are positive factors that can influence business professionals to behave ethically and there are also negative reasons. It also discusses the internal and external factors that generate ethical or unethical behaviors. The paper explains how increased governmental actions are affecting business. The continued increase in demand for ethical excellence generates higher ethical actions which is also a topic within this article.

1.      Positive Factors:

a.       Government Involvement:

2.      Negative Factors:

Slide 4: Community

Discuss contribution:

1.      Positive: Giving back, fundraisers, donations.

2.      Negative: Influential, crime, standards

Add scenario twist:

1.      Pablo Escobar (family man) giving back to community.

Slide 5: Solution

Offer solutions: Educate (Bernardi)

Slide 6: References:

References

Ala M. Keys to success in today's business environment. Business Forum [serial online]. Winter97 1997;22(1):24. Available from: MasterFILE Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 20, 2013.

Bernardi, R., Lecca, C., Murphy, J., & Sturgis, E. (2011). Does Education Influence Ethical Decisions? An International Study. Journal Of Academic Ethics, 9(3). 235-256.

Citation [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Oxford Dictionary Online,  Retrieved September 24, 2011, from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/success

Jacques, Renee. (2013, September). 15 Wildly Successful People Who Overcame Huge Obstacles to Get There. The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Kaler, John. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 27, No. 1/2, Business Challenging Business Ethics: New Instruments for Coping with Diversity in International Business: The 12th Annual EBEN Conference (Sep., 2000), pp. 161-173

Kashyap, A. K. (2010). Lessons From the Financial Crisis for Risk Management. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Available from http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/anil.kashyap/research/papers/lesson_for_fcic.pdf. Accessed November 4, 2013.

Lohr, David. (2013, September). 10 Most Notorious Criminals in American History. The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Michael, Michael L. Business Ethics Quarterly , Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct., 2006), pp. 475-504

Porter, Gayle. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 17, No. 15, Promoting Business Ethics: The Third Annual International Vincentian Conference (Nov., 1998), pp. 1669-1678

Wasieleski, D.M., & Weber, J. (2009). Does Job Function Influence Ethical Reasoning? An Adapted Wason Task Application. Journal Of Business Ethics, 85(1). 187-199.

A Whole New World?!

What is a 21st-century neighborhood? A 21^st century is an environment where there is much diversity within a neighborhood. A 21^st century neighborhood has wealthy citizens living next door to the poor. However, it is described in Sampson’s last chapter that the perception is that of decay and segregation.

How tied is it to the past? Neighborhoods appear to be tied to the past, according to Sampson’s text, relative to their nature. Meaning the “death corner” still has a relative proximity to having the same results as it has in the past. The store owner being “shot in the back” which I figure is a literal meaning is an example of the continuing habits of the old “death corner”.

Why? As Sampson stated, the individual intervention method is not effective in making the changes necessary difference to alter the future relative to its past. Meaning without any broad scale intervention the habits of neighborhoods will remain the same throughout the future of the neighborhood.

What will a 22nd-century neighborhood look like? A 22^nd century neighborhood will look very similar to a 21^st century neighborhood without a neighborhood sized intervention. It seems, as evident from Sampson’s research, that neighborhoods stay fairly consistent over time. As Sampson’s conclusions suggests, the only way to alter the future path of a neighborhood is with broad scale intervention.

Is community dying, thriving, or just bumbling along, about the same now as always? I think (which means little to no research backing my opinion) that community is dying a little. It could be “bumbling along” meaning that community is altering rather than dying. However, I feel that the altering community has been causing the sense of community to die a little. For example, without the modern technology (such as internet, cell phones, planes, etc.) it was more common for community to be closer in proximity physically. With the modern technology communities are physically distant and “real physical” interaction is severely lessened. So it would depend on how you look at community, is the goal physical contact or just mere communication? 

Crisis?

What do you think of Sampson's arguments in the "aftermath" of the 2008 economic crisis?

I tend to disagree with Sampson in this chapter. Am I to understand that he believes there is little (if any) change after a financial crisis? I can agree that numbers may support an argument but I feel very strongly that given the right "tester" any study can be proven for or against any argument by "playing with" the numbers. That is, presenting them in a way that is preferred to get results that support one's argument. In any case, if the spatial separation between rich and poor by income or demographics stayed consistent after a financial crisis then that is fine. However, I feel there are many factors (too many) to fully understand or even attempt to predict any future "set-up" within any community or neighborhood. Again, Sampson's reading is more difficult than I feel it needs to be and a bit redundant with references to previous chapters or leading sentences about what he is going to discuss in future chapters. In an article I read there is strong evidence of a financial crisis and why it happened. It suggests that government involvement had a strong (negative) impact on Chicago. However, in an opinion article in the Chicago Tribune, it is suggested that the entire "crisis" may have been a ploy to avoid paying what the government did not want to pay for. In either case, I feel that a finincial crisis of a city would have drastic results on a community.
Kashyap, Anil K., 2010, “Lessons from the Financial Crisis for Risk Management”, available at http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/anil.kashyap/research/recent.html

After answering that question, see if you can answer Sampson's own question: "Why does violence unhinge some communities and draw others closer together?

I feel that the outcome of a community as a result from violence depends entirely on the "collective" culture of the community. Meaning that if the community is highly "ethical" and collaborative then the result will likely be drawn closer together whereas a community of high separation and "unethical" behavior will unhinge. There are always exceptions to the rule and as an example we could look at the modern "doomsday preppers" who could easily be classified as unhinged but exist in both low violence and high violence communities. On the other side of the argument the "doomsday preppers" could be classified as being drawn closer together than most others. Again, they live in both high violence and low violence communities so it could be argued that it would depend solely on the individuals within the community which again comes back to what I originally said.

When you're done, give us your update on your presentation research, with citations.

Unfortunately my research took a back seat this week while I studied and focused on other courses. I plan on getting back into this week since I past the other tests I was working towards this last week. My topic is still the effectiveness of ethical business versus lawful business and the effect on the communities the business is involved with. Same sources as I posted last week are what I have this week thus far but I do plan on finding more to possibly inform my position with regards to business leaders and their involvement with communities and the effects. 

Ethical or law obiding and business success

Ala M. Keys to success in today's business environment. Business Forum [serial online]. Winter97 1997;22(1):24. Available from: MasterFILE Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 20, 2013.

            As I stated in an earlier blog, I have chosen the topic of law versus ethics regarding function of businesses and how each affects the success of business. This article discusses the keys to success within a business. The article is not as current as it possibly could be but the points are still accurate within the article. There are multiple ways a business can succeed but this article explains eighteen key factors to some extent and I will use five of the factors I believe to be the most important with regards to operating a business ethically.

Kaler, John. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 27, No. 1/2, Business Challenging Business Ethics: New Instruments for Coping with Diversity in International Business: The 12th Annual EBEN Conference (Sep., 2000), pp. 161-173

            This article discusses the positive and negative reasons to behave ethically. Meaning there are positive factors that can influence business professionals to behave ethically and there are also negative reasons. It also discusses the internal and external factors that generate ethical or unethical behaviors. The paper explains how increased governmental actions are affecting business. The continued increase in demand for ethical excellence generates higher ethical actions which is also a topic within this article.

Michael, Michael L. Business Ethics Quarterly , Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct., 2006), pp. 475-504

            This is possibly my favorite article I found to assist with my research. This article discusses the effectiveness of laws regarding ethical behavior within businesses. It explains the need for rules and regulations but also the contrast of more unethical behavior present where stricter laws are in place. It addresses the issue that rules or laws are generated from past wrong doings. Laws are limited to the known and when a business acts unethical it commonly falls within the scope of laws.

Porter, Gayle. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 17, No. 15, Promoting Business Ethics: The Third Annual International Vincentian Conference (Nov., 1998), pp. 1669-1678

            This article discusses the decline in “the American dream” among adults. This article again is not as current as it maybe should be but it provides great insight as to how expectations and perceptions differ between individuals. It discusses how different perceptions cause people to feel unequal and in turn attempt to re-equalize the situation. As a result of inequality people tend to react either ethically or unethically. This article discusses how “ethical” is a relative term and up for individual interpretation. The article is all about individual perceptions and “feelings” instead of actual number correlation. Meaning how a person feels they are compared to their parents instead of the actual income they receive compared to that of their parents taking into consideration the difference in economic conditions. 

King of the Mountain

I coach a swim team that is a non-profit organization. The head coach of the swim team has no political ties (nor does he want to) within the community. I can see directly that his actions limit the size, resources, and functionality of the team. It could be said that he is in a leadership position and that he directly effects the decisions that over 50 families make on a day-to-day basis. I see people making decisions to spend more money and even relocate (physically move) because they do not like him. However, I also see people going way out of their way to receive coaching from him because they feel he is the best. Regardless of individual perspectives, there is a community that he leads and the collective efficacy is rather high within it. People listen to him and his suggestions are regarded as law quite frequently. I feel that if he connected more with individuals of politics, education, business within the community the team could see that he is a good coach and does have good intentions. With that being said, I also feel that no matter what the ties are that a leader has, the leader has to want what his followers want for the information that Sampson discusses in this chapter to be correct. What I mean is that for the social organization to stay highly persistent over time there must be high collective efficacy among everyone including the leader or the leader must be a good actor.

As far as my research for my presentation goes I am still trying to decide if ethics in business effecting success or community involvement effecting crime rates will be my topic. I have found a few articles for each but not as many as I would prefer for either. I have found the articles regarding ethics in business to be more entertaining which is leaning me toward that topic idea but it is not exactly what I was expecting to do from the start. I have always liked the idea of doing research related to preventing crime but with as many failed businesses are circulating now the articles I am finding may prove just as useful.

To move or not to move

You've read Sampson on mobility and division in Chicago. So, drawing on and integrating your two emphasis areas, how would you answer these two questions: Why do people chose to move to different neighborhoods? 

My two emphasis fields are business and criminal justice. From a business stand point people move from one place to another to find jobs that pay more than their current job. In a sense Sampson is agreeing with this. Sampson states that homeownership reduces the likelihood that an individual will move but he also states that people tend to relocate to an area very similar to their existing area (with the exception of blacks moving to more diverse communities). The text states that the majority of people who move do not change SES nor do they do so because of individual choices. So back to my business reasoning, people moving to find jobs is possible depending on their current circumstances and ethnicity (according to the text) but really not just to find a job. From a criminal justice perspective people relocate to increase their feeling of being safe (lower crime rates). Sampson supports this statement a little by saying that blacks exposed to violence and whites with depression are more likely to relocate. Depression can be caused from many different things but seeing crime all around could be one cause, therefore, crime rate increases cause relocation increases. Sampson also states that blacks relocate more due to their collective perception of disorder.

How likely is it that their individual choices will transform the communities they leave or enter?

According to Sampson, individual choices will have extremely minor (if any at all) effect on the communities they leave or enter unless that individual is tied to a big event changer. What I mean is if the person decides to bomb (my criminal justice emphasis) an important building causing a huge disruption in the norm then that neighborhood or community may change drastically. On the flip side, someone could have ties with a big (and successful) business that drastically changes the community (my business emphasis). These are few and far between but it is possible according to Sampson. 

Let's get started

My first presentation topic idea involves community involvement effecting crime rates. One article discusses the value of bystander involvement and the issues effecting why people don’t get involved when a crime is happening. Some of the discussion topics will relate with crime rates effecting a community’s involvement but others will discuss a community’s involvement effecting crime rates. The other article discusses educational value and benefits within correctional institutions. There are issues developing within the justice system regarding education and prison convictions. I will need to find other articles relating to the topic to assist in further support or research regarding the educational value as well as community involvement value in reducing crime rates, but these two articles appear to be a decent start.

The second presentation topic idea discusses the success of business’s in different types of communities. The first article discusses the impact ethics has on a successful business. Again, more supporting articles will be needed to discuss community effects of personal integrity and ethical behavior, but this article is a good start in correlating ethical behavior and success in business. The second article discusses the relationship between trust and developing big businesses. The article discusses laws regulating business methods and how entrepreneurs view certain laws. Laws are enforced and passed at different levels so community involvement is crucial in establishing standards for business practices.

Behan, C. (2007). Context, Creativity and Critical Reflection: Education in Correctional Institutions. Journal Of Correctional Education, 58(2), 157-169.

Dirk De Clercq, Mourad Dakhli, Personal strain and ethical standards of the self-employed, Journal of Business Venturing, Volume 24, Issue 5, September 2009, Pages 477-490, ISSN 0883-9026

Sergey Anokhin, William S. Schulze, Entrepreneurship, innovation, and corruption, Journal of Business Venturing, Volume 24, Issue 5, September 2009, Pages 465-476, ISSN 0883-9026

Zhong, L. (2009). Bystander Intervention and Fear of Crime: Evidence From Two Chinese Communities. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminolgy. Web. DOI: 10.1177/0306624X08331214

Success with altruism

Introduce the sources you found after reading Sampson's 9th chapter.

The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports is an article based on a study trying to determine if higher education levels will save the society money in regards to criminal costs. Testing the Relationship Between Interpersonal Political Skills, Altruism, Leadership Success and Effectiveness: A Multilevel Model is a study relating certain aspects of life and altruism.

Explain how they relate to issues of particular importance to one or both of your emphases

The article The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports relates to my criminal justice emphasis because it is trying to determine what, if any, methods can assist in preventing criminal activity or lower costs of crime prevention. The article Testing the Relationship Between Interpersonal Political Skills, Altruism, Leadership Success and Effectiveness: A Multilevel Model demonstrates how altruism plays an important role in a successful business as well as other area in life.

and then how you feel they relate to Sampson's methods for testing altruism, cynicism, and other-regarding behavior in Chicago.

I feel these articles relate to Sampson’s methods because I feel Sampson did not emphasize education attainment as much as he should. He simply uses two studies (the letter and CPR) to base every result on. He also did not go into great detail (that I read) on how he obtains his numbers. He mentioned some questions that were used and he discusses some letter dropping methods but it was a bit vague on how the exact data was gathered. I kept asking myself, were the people being watched when the performed CPR or returning the letter? Did Sampson gather 911 records and interview the people on site? I was a little confused how he got his information exactly. The two articles I chose to compare both used survey based questionnaires and compiled their data accordingly. I assume Sampson did the same thing but it is hard to gage the authenticity of altruism through questionnaires. However, it does seem to support everything else read in the book thus far that collective efficacy, trust, and altruism combine for the “good community” environment. Again, all of these terms are relative to one’s interpretation as Sampson hinted early on in this chapter by saying, loosely translated, “good community” meaning a neighborhood the common populace would describe as such.

Be sure to include complete citation information for your sources.

Lochner, Lance, and Enrico Moretti. 2004. "The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports" American Economic Review, 94(1): 155-189.

 Moss, J. A., & Barbuto Jr., J. E. (2010). Testing the Relationship Between Interpersonal Political Skills, Altruism, Leadership Success and Effectiveness: A Multilevel Model. Journal Of Behavioral & Applied Management, 11(2), 155-174.

Neighborhoods unite

What is Collective Efficacy Theory (CET) as Sampson and colleagues define it?

Collective efficacy theory is, as Sampson and his colleagues define, “social cohesion” and “shared expectations for control”. What I think this means is the unity of a group with similar interests and “expectations” of how things should operate.

What is the evidence that you found in the international (or non-Chicago at least) study that you read?

The study I used is one that was conducted in Denmark and reduced down to women in the health care professional field. The study simply supports their hypothesis that a work environment with high collective efficacy will have lower numbers of intentions to leave among the employees in the female health care profession, Jensen J.N., Holten A. J .N. , -L. , Karpatschof B. & Albertsen K. (2011). Sampson mentions that collective efficacy impact other things like obesity, teen pregnancy, etc. so it is not surprising to find other support for collective efficacy positively influencing other relationships. In the article I found collective efficacy is referred to as a mutual “perspective” of their competencies as taken from (Bandura, 1997). So again, perception is a big part of having collective efficacy by both definitions. Below I will use the words “appearance” and “visual” in explanations of reactions. Visual cues and appearances leading to assumptions impact personal actions on a minute to minute basis. Collective efficacy is determined by these assumptions or perspectives. Sampson also mentioned the word “action” in this chapter which I am hoping he returns to elaborate on with an action plan of his own from his research.

And how would you answer the questions that Sampson gave his respondents, asking about what they thought their neighbors would do in various situations, only with respect to your own neighborhood?

1)      Children skipping school: I feel that the neighborhood I live in would do nothing about children skipping school. If it persisted I could see individuals in my neighborhood saying something to the children asking them why they weren’t in school but most likely nothing past that. If there were children hanging on the corner I would imagine that my neighborhood would inform the police depending on the “visual type” of crowd. Personally I work with youth but I also know how many children are home-schooled in today’s society so I would probably do nothing but inquire as well.

2)      Graffiti: Depending on the “appearance” of the individual(s) doing the spray painting I think my neighborhood and me included would either chase after them yelling at them to stop and start behaving or call the police on them and follow up by getting cleaner/paint supplies to restore the building to its original appearance.

3)      Disrespect: More often than not in today’s society you can witness children disrespecting adults in public. People in my neighborhood would most likely look toward the ground and shake their heads in disgust. I personally would approach the adult and ask them why they allow the child to treat them in such a disrespectful way. Depending on the adult’s response I would follow by either ignoring their stupid response or attempt to educate them on appropriate ways to alter the situation and not allow such disrespect to take place.

4)      Fight: I would assume that no matter what type of individuals were involved the people in my neighborhood would just notify the police in a situation where a fight broke out in front of their home. The individuals in my neighborhood are mostly elderly and confrontations and/or ability to handle a physical situation is extremely limited. Personally it would depend on the “appearance” of the individuals engaged in the dispute for me to determine if I were to engage in and attempted resolution procedure or just call the police.

5)      Fire/budget cuts: I would like to think that my neighborhood would commune and gather resources to assist in funding/operating the fire station if budget cuts were the cause of closure. I would volunteer some personal time in assisting with operation if budget cuts impacted the operation of the fire station.

JENSEN J.N., HOLTEN A. J .N. , -L. , KARPATSCHOF B. & ALBERTSEN K. (2011) Does

collective efficacy moderate the associations between physical work load and

intention to leave or sickness absence? Journal of Advanced Nursing 67(11), 2425–

2434. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05674.x

Perception

It is very clear that Sampson disagrees with the "broken window" theory on a level but agrees with it to an extent. Since Sampson referred to the "broken window" theory many times in this chapter I felt it necessary to read the article in full. I used the broken window article to provide the challenging piece to Sampson's thesis. Below is the link to the "Broken Window Theory" article.
Sampson states that perception is a big factor in determining the link between neighborhood crime rates, immigration, poverty, etc. When I read the broken window theory I got the same thing. Broken window theory states that the presence of policemen on foot patrol did not lower crime rates at all, but instead it adjusted the "perception" of the people in the area of the foot patrol. Their presence made them "feel" safer even though the crime rates did not change at all. To translate that theory into the looks of environment in a particular area it would assume that damaged buildings, graffiti, etc would generate an "unsafe" perception among citizens but have no real effect on statistical changes in crime rates, poverty, racial divide, etc. So I feel Sampson is wanting to agree just to disagree.
Sampson also raises the question of what causes crime. Is crime caused by drug paraphernalia on the streets, broken windows, racial mixtures, etc? To that question I would answer how a professor of mine did once, laws cause crime. If we made everything legal there would be no crime. To compare, if we had no poverty level or lowered the poverty line then we would have no poverty. If we tie the broken window theory to the idea of what causes crime it means that "nice" or "clean" areas change the perception of crime being present but does not actually change the rates.
Lastly, if we compare the broken window theory to collective efficacy I think they go hand in hand. Sampson breifly touched on the beginning of an idea that he may revisit later, but that to change the pattern or alter the predictive future of a neighborhood it must be a collective process. Meaning that the broken window theory would be a perfect start to get a community to work together and prevent disorder. The percieved safety of a neighborhood through fixing "rundown" areas, thus increasing their perceptions of lower crime. Those perceptions, according to what I understand of Sampson's writing, would predict lower homicide rates in the future.
 http://www.lantm.lth.se/fileadmin/fastighetsvetenskap/utbildning/Fastighetsvaerderingssystem/BrokenWindowTheory.pdf

Consistent change

After first read of Chapter 5 my first thoughts were what two cities are those outliers on page 109? There are two cities, maybe a third, that had dramatic change from 1990 to 2000 regarding their public assistance/welfare. Maybe those should be the cities examined or studied instead of a non-unique city like Chicago. I also thought that his statement about the rich got richer and the poor stayed poor (not an exact quote) was interesting. I like both approaches because I feel that study/research is important to truly understand the full situation. My understanding is that Sampson also visited the city but maybe he didn't attempt to activate any type of plan. Therefore, I feel that overall J.R.'s approach would be more effective. I feel J.R.'s approach is more effective because he seems to actually want change. The only way to make change is action. I feel that Sampson (maybe I will find out differently late in his book) only conducted research and compiled results. I haven't noticed any type of action plan from Sampson yet. I feel a more effective approach, which Sampson may have done, would be to conduct research, formulate a plan, and act upon the plan. For example, in Chicago relative to the foreclosure increase J.R. came up with the anti-eviction plan. I feel that does not satisfy the overall problem but it is a plan.

I recall the neighborhood I moved here from 5 years ago. Central Oregon was a "booming" town, along with the rest of the country, where construction was on the rise and home loans were being handed out like candy. As soon as the economy took a downward turn a lot of the construction companies left the area which forced closures of many lumber yards, parts stored, supply stores and other construction related businesses. I revisited the town after about 3 years away and it had turned into a "slum" looking town with many people taking on drug use, theft or other illegal means of income. Surprisingly enough, downtown was desolate but the "outskirts" were still nice looking neighborhoods with people waking up early for their morning jogs then going to work. I think the major problem of the area was the ease of income during the "boom" then lack of income opportunities once they left. I think it gave a false sense of "easy money" and lowered the standard of work ethics in the area. A research approach I would use would be to study education levels attained, average financial debt, workplace commutes, and local job opportunities. I would correlate all findings with criminal activity as well.

That ties back to another item I wanted to address regarding the reading from Sampson. The chart on page 110 reflects crime rate in the 90's compared to crime rate in the 2000's. Sampson states that crime dramatically "declined nearly 50 percent" so I am either reading the chart wrong or he is mistaken. I see many of the bubbles indicating crime logs in close to the same location for both sets of years. I have also taken some criminal justice courses which have discussed the ease of which people can manipulate results to favor their hypothesis so that is a question I would ask of Sampson.

Second Blog

In the reading, Sampson refers to place as a specific location. Sampson seems to suggest that place, or location, has a direct impact on neighborhoods. Chicago is widely recognized as one of the crime capitals in our country, that statement in itself has a dramatic impact on how the neighborhoods within Chicago act. Sampson's "virtual tour" through the city describes what most people would commonly picture when walking through any major city in our country, be it LA, Portland, New York, Miami, Dallas, or any others. One question I starting to ponder while reading the chapter was whether or not Sampson is going to explain in further detail the geographical locations of the specific neighborhoods within Chicago. I started thinking about whether or not "death corner" has a higher number of railroad tracks running through it compared to the rest of the town. I questioned whether "death corner" has more bridges (which Sampson claims to be an "approved location" for homeless) than the rest of the city. Such questions could be asked in reference to other major cities within the country where poverty, homeless, or higher crime is a factor.
The neighborhood I live in is very much the opposite of total strangers. I do not know (personally) any of the people in my neighborhood, but many of them know each other. I live in a neighborhood of many 55+ communities and many of the people in my physical location are retired. I feel extremely safe and comfortable in my neighborhood even though everyone is still a stranger to me. My communities are really just my family, along with some close friends. I have always been a person to trust those that have earned my trust so my community is always small in comparison to someone who openly trusts anyone. On a broader scale I am a veteran so I belong to certain groups related to that and I am also a passionate swimmer so I belong to some swim groups. Due to the nature of such groups they are not local (place oriented) groups. Meaning my comrades generally are not even in the same state as me. The use of technology helps the functionality of these groups tremendously. These groups are perfect for my personality because trust is gained through strict "testing" when joining (at least at the time when I joined them) so I know I can trust my communities with my life.

First Blog

My name is David Wellman and I moved to St. George 5 years ago from Central Oregon. I first started school here at Dixie with the idea of becoming a personal trainer. I changed my mind after my first year of school and decided to take up Psychology. Interestingly enough I did not enjoy that so I took up Criminal Justice. I loved my Criminal Justice classes and found that Integrated Studies was the only degree with Criminal Justice at the time (that has since changed). Recently I decided I missed using Math in school so I dropped Psychology and took on Business. I am currently a Junior but I am in my fourth year here at DSU.

My initial concept of neighborhood compared to community was that community could be anything from your close friends to an entire town. Community in my mind was a group of people that had similar interests or goals. An example of a community could be an adult softball league, the people in the league could be from all different "neighborhoods" within a town but have formed their own community. Adversely, a neighborhood was a specific location within a town or state (small towns generally are just one neighborhood). However, neighborhoods could be communities as well. After reading and watching the posted videos I feel my understanding of the two terms is fairly accurate.

I liked how the reading addresses each factor that influence neighborhoods and clearly lines out what is to come throughout the rest of the book. I am curious to read about how dramatic neighborhood effects actually create individuals. Chicago is a perfect city to perform such a study due to it's diversity and larger size. Chicago also has a unique setting with it's higher crime rate compared to much of the rest of the country.