Citizen coping with community notification of released sex offenders

The current study investigated citizen reactions to notifications of sex offenders in the neighborhood, in an effort to determine whether sex offender notification laws are accomplishing their goal of increased protective actions against sex offenses. Lazarus's stress and coping theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. Telephone surveys were conducted with 250 Alabama residents who were notified of an offender in the neighborhood. Questions were posed regarding notification importance, fear of crime, coping, and locus of control. Notification importance predicted fear of crime, which, in turn, predicted coping. Fear of crime did not mediate the relation between notification importance and coping, however. Finally, situational locus of control did not moderate the relation between fear of crime and coping strategy.     

Sex offender community notification: managing high risk criminals or exacting further vengeance?

The current trend in dealing with convicted sex offenders is to impose long prison sentences followed by stringent release conditions. Added to this practice has been the policy of making such offenders who have been returned to society more visible to the public. In state after state, sex offender community notification laws have been passed, enabling communities to be put on notice that a convicted sex offender has become a resident. To date there has been little empirical evidence regarding the impact of these laws on managing sex offenders in the community. This study focuses on the social and psychological effects of community notification on sex offender reintegration within those communities where notification has occurred. Data are derived from face-to-face interviews with 30 convicted sex offenders, residing in various locations throughout Wisconsin, who were the subjects of community notification. The findings indicate that community notification can have a critical impact on the minimum essentials needed for the reintegration of offenders within the community. What is proposed is a reintegrative approach which suggests that stable housing and employment would mitigate the disruptive and antitherapeutic effects of community notification.     

Neighborhood Identity Helps Residents Cope with Residential Diversification: Contact in Increasingly Mixed Neighborhoods of Northern Ireland

Research on residential diversification has mainly focused on its negative impacts upon community cohesion and positive effects on intergroup relations. However, these analyses ignore how neighborhood identity can shape the consequences of diversification among residents. Elsewhere, research using the Applied Social Identity Approach (ASIA) has demonstrated the potential for neighborhood identity to provide social and psychological resources to cope with challenges. The current article proposes a novel model whereby these “Social Cure” processes can enable residents to cope with the specific challenges of diversification. We present two studies in support of this model, each from the increasingly religiously desegregated society of postconflict Northern Ireland. Analysis of the 2012 “Northern Ireland Life and Times” survey shows that across Northern Ireland, neighborhood identity impacts positively upon both well‐being and intergroup attitudes via a reduction in intergroup anxiety. A second custom‐designed survey of residents in a newly mixed area of Belfast shows that neighborhood identification predicts increased well‐being, reduced intergroup anxiety, and reduced prejudice independently of group norms and experiences of contact. For political psychologists, our evidence suggests a reformulation of the fundamental question of “what effects do residential mixing have on neighborhoods?” to “how can neighborhood communities support residents to collectively cope with contact?”     

Community applications of instructional technology: training low-income proctors

A community education system might be most effectively implemented in low-income communities if it were deliverable by neighborhood residents. A proctor training manual, designed to teach neighborhood residents how to administer standardized learning units to their peers, was analyzed in two experiments. The results of Experiment I showed that the percentage of occurrence of proctor behaviors increased after completion of the manual. Supplementary data suggest that specified proctor behaviors generalize to actual instructional situations. The results of Experiment II showed that the percentage of occurrence of trainee behaviors was higher when instructional packages were administered by trained proctors than when administered by untrained proctors. This study demonstrates an effective procedure for training low-income community residents to serve as proctors for a community education system.     

Assessing Community Residents’ Perceptions of Local Registered Sex Offenders: Results from a Pilot Survey

Building on a social capital and social control framework that emphasizes the importance of the local neighborhood context for residential action, this research utilizes data from surveys of community residents to examine their perceptions of their neighborhhood, their familiarity with sex offender policies, and their awareness of and attitudes toward local registered sex offenders. Results indicate that a majority of residents are unaware of the presence of local sex offenders. However, residents who perceive their neighborhoods as high in informal social control also perceive their neighbors as more likely to report on local sex offenders.     

How Neighborhood Structural and Institutional Features Can Shape Neighborhood Social Connectedness: A Multilevel Study of Adolescent Perceptions

According to the norms and collective efficacy model, the levels of social connectedness within a local community are a function of neighborhood structural characteristics, such as socioeconomic status and ethnic composition. The current work aims to determine whether neighborhood structural and institutional features (neighborhood wealth, percentage of immigrants, population density, opportunities for activities and meeting places) have an impact on different components of neighborhood social connectedness (intergenerational closure, trust and reciprocity, neighborhood-based friendship and personal relationships with neighbors). The study involved a representative sample of 389 early and middle adolescents aged 11–15 years old, coming from 31 Italian neighborhoods. Using hierarchical linear modeling, our findings showed that high population density, ethnic diversity, and physical and social disorder might represent obstacles for the creation of social ties within the neighborhood. On the contrary, the presence of opportunities for activities and meeting places in the neighborhood was associated with higher levels of social connectedness among residents.     

Megan's Law and its impact on community re-entry for sex offenders

Community notification, known as "Megan's Law," provides the public with information about known sex offenders in an effort to assist parents and potential victims to protect themselves from dangerous predators. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of community notification on the lives of registered sex offenders. Two hundred and thirty-nine sex offenders in Connecticut and Indiana were surveyed. The negative consequences that occurred with the greatest frequency included job loss, threats and harassment, property damage, and suffering of household members. A minority of sex offenders reported housing disruption or physical violence following community notification. The majority experienced psychosocial distress such as depression, shame, and hopelessness. Recommendations are made for community notification policies that rely on empirically derived risk assessment classification systems in order to better inform the public about sex offenders' danger while minimizing the obstacles that interfere with successful community reintegration.     

Revealing the Cues Within Community Places: Storiesof Identity, History, and Possibility

Place-based approaches to community change have become increasingly popular strategies for addressing significant social problems. With their intentional focus on 'place,' most efforts have sought to gain greater understanding into how neighborhood contexts affect people. However, while both aggregate characteristics and social dynamics of neighborhoods have been subject to scrutiny in the literature, less attention has been paid to understanding how the environmental characteristics of neighborhoods and communities as places have meaning for residents. The present study used an innovative methodology called Photovoice to obtain a greater understanding of the meanings residents ascribe to the salient characteristics of their neighborhoods and communities. As part of a place-based initiative, 29 adult and youth residents in seven distressed urban neighborhoods photographed and dialogued about the meaningful physical attributes of their community. According to participants, place characteristics provided cues about their personal histories as members of the community; communicated messages about the value and character of the community and its residents; defined social norms and behavior within the community; and provided markers that could remind residents of who they are and inspire a sense of possibility for who they could become. Implications for practice are discussed.     

How Big is My Neighborhood? Individual and Contextual Effects on Perceptions of Neighborhood Scale

Neighborhood is a social and geographic concept that plays an increasingly important role in research and practice that address disparities in health and well-being of populations. However, most studies of neighborhoods, as well as community initiatives geared toward neighborhood improvement, make simplifying assumptions about boundaries, often relying on census geography to operationalize the neighborhood units. This study used geographic information system (GIS) tools to gather and analyze neighborhood maps drawn by residents of low-income communities in 10 cities. The median resident map size was approximately 30 percent smaller than the median census tract, but 25 percent of residents viewed their neighborhood as quite small (less than one-fifth of the typical census tract). Multi-level modeling showed significant within context variation in perceived neighborhood scale. Longer term residents with higher education and income and who were more engaged in the neighborhood held more expansive views. But there were also contextual influences with higher density and mixed use areas associated with smaller perceived neighborhoods, and higher collective efficacy associated with larger neighborhood sizes. Artificially imposed neighborhood units may misrepresent resident experience, but GIS tools can be used to craft more authentic neighborhood definitions for research and practice.     

Community-Engaged Neighborhood Revitalization and Empowerment: Busy Streets Theory in Action

Busy streets theory predicts that engaging residents in physical revitalization of neighborhoods will facilitate community empowerment through the development of sense of community, social cohesion, collective efficacy, social capital, and behavioral action. Establishing safe environments fosters positive street activity, which reinforces neighborhood social relationships. A community-engaged approach to crime prevention through environmental design (CE-CPTED) is one promising approach to creating busy streets because it engages residents in collaborative interactions to promote safer environments. Yet, few researchers have studied how CE-CPTED may be associated with busy streets. We interviewed 18 residents and stakeholders implementing CE-CPTED in Flint, Michigan. We studied three neighborhoods with different levels of resident control over CE-CPTED. Participants described how CE-CPTED implementation affected their neighborhood. Participants from all three neighborhoods reported that CE-CPTED was associated with positive street activity, sense of community, and collective efficacy. Participants from neighborhoods with higher resident control of CE-CPTED reported more social capital and behavioral action than those from neighborhoods with less resident control. Our findings support busy streets theory: Community engagement in neighborhood improvement enhanced community empowerment. CE-CPTED that combines physical revitalization with resident engagement and control creates a potent synergy for promoting safe and healthy neighborhoods.     

Ecological assessments of community disorder: Their relationship to fear of crime and theoretical implications

Researchers suggest that fear of crime arises from community disorder, cues in the social and physical environment that are distinct from crime itself. Three ecological methods of measuring community disorder are presented: resident perceptions reported in surveys and on-site observations by trained raters, both aggregated to the street block level, and content analysis of crime- and disorder-related newspaper articles aggregated to the neighborhood level. Each method demonstrated adequate reliability and roughly equal ability to predict subsequent fear of crime among 412 residents of 50 blocks in 50 neighborhoods in Baltimore, MD. Pearson and partial correlations (controlling for sex, race, age, and victimization) were calculated at multiple levels of analysis: individual, individual deviation from block, and community (block/neighborhood). Hierarchical linear models provided comparable results under more stringent conditions. Results linking different measure of disorder with fear, and individual and aggregated demographics with fear inform theories about fear of crime and extend research on the impact of community social and physical disorder. Implications for ecological assessment of community social and physical environments are discussed.     

Building an active citizenry: the role of neighborhood problems, readiness, and capacity for change

Community-building initiatives strive to involve residents as the drivers of the change process, involving them in an array of activities including collective action efforts. Recent evaluations of many of these initiatives, however, suggest that developing the levels of resident involvement needed in such efforts is challenging. This study examines the neighborhood conditions that are related to whether and how much residents become involved in individual activism and collective action efforts. A random-digit-dial phone survey of 460 residents in 7 distressed neighborhoods suggested that while demographic variables were relatively unimportant, resident perceptions of neighborhood readiness (i.e., hope for the future and collective efficacy) and capacity for change (i.e., social ties and neighborhood leadership), and the level of neighborhood problems were strongly related to whether and how much residents were involved in individual and collective action efforts. Moreover, different elements of these neighborhood conditions were more or less important depending on the type and level of resident involvement. For example, while perceptions of neighborhood problems was the strongest predictor of whether an individual became involved at all, perceived strength of neighborhood leadership was the strongest predictor of an individual's level of activity. The implications of these findings for practitioners and scientists are discussed.     

How do group meetings make a community Therapeutic?

Summary Following an abrupt shift from a therapeutic community with emphasis on group meetings to a hierarchical medical model on a mental hospital floor, disturbed patients required extensive individual nursing care. This increased work load for the nursing staff resulted in admissions having to be limited to the rare cases who needed little or no nursing care. As patients were discharged, the vacancy rate went up to approximately 20% for a week and remained high for another two weeks. Nursing staff-patient relations deteriorated.Subsequently, it was possible to resume the emphasis on the groups of a therapeutic community and to observe the contrast. The experience showed how groups can effect and support a therapeutic community. It clarified some of the mechanisms by which groups positively affected disturbed patients. Some mechanisms by which the staff, community, and group meetings favorably influenced the nursing staff-patient relationship and intrastaff communications became clear also.     

Neighborhood Racial Composition,Racial Discrimination,and Depressive Symptoms in African Americans

While evidence indicates that experienced racial discrimination is associated with increased depressive symptoms for African Americans, there is little research investigating predictors of experienced racial discrimination. This paper examines neighborhood racial composition and sociodemographic factors as antecedents to experienced racial discrimination and resultant levels of depressive symptoms among African American adults. The sample included 505 socioeconomically-diverse African American adults from Baltimore, MD. Study data were obtained via self-report and geocoding of participant addresses based on 2010 census data. Study hypotheses were tested using multiple pathways within a longitudinal Structural Equation Model. Experienced racial discrimination was positively associated with age and sex such that older individuals and males experienced increased levels of racial discrimination. In addition, the percentage of White individuals residing in a neighborhood was positively associated with levels of experienced racial discrimination for African American neighborhood residents. Experienced racial discrimination was positively associated with later depressive symptoms. Neighborhood-level contextual factors such as neighborhood racial composition and individual differences in sociodemographic characteristics appear to play an important role in the experience of racial discrimination and the etiology of depression in African American adults.     

Resident-Led Neighborhood Development to Support Health: Identifying Strategies Using CBPR

Evidence suggests that where people live, learn, work, and play affects a range of health outcomes for children and adults. Differential access to social, economic, and environmental supports puts some community members at greater risk, leading to disparities in health and well-being. The 2014 release of the For the Sake of All report highlighted persistent health disparities for African Americans in St. Louis, Missouri, and their social and economic impacts on the St. Louis region. This study extends this work by developing partnerships with community organizations and neighborhood residents to address health disparities. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods were utilized to engage partners in a 10-month research process to address community concerns that impact health. Seven community residents, neighborhood researchers, engaged in workshops to learn about the research process and used techniques to gather information to implement action strategies. Neighborhood researchers selected 14 vacant lots to implement their action plan, which included visions for repurposing the land into a community park, produced a report for dissemination, and organized a community action forum to communicate their findings. This study highlights a promising approach to promote healthy communities and health equity by empowering neighborhood residents using participatory methodologies.     

Crime, Social Capital, and Community Participation

Social disorganization at the neighborhood and community levels has been consistently linked to various forms of criminal activity. However, a very much smaller body of literature addresses the effects of crime on community organizations. In some studies, crime appears to energize communities while in others, crime leads to withdrawal from community life. Using department of health crime victimization data and interviews with 2,985 low-income inner city residents living in 487 multi-family dwellings, a multi-level model examined the relationships among crime victimization, social organization, and participation in neighborhood organizations. Social organization at the individual and building levels was measured using recent formulations of social capital theory. Findings regarding crime suggested more signs of a chilling effect on participation than of an energizing effect, especially at the building level. Social capital at the building level was more strongly and consistently related to participation in community organizations than was crime.     

A Social Ecological Approach to Investigating Relationships Between Housing and Adaptive Functioning for Persons with Serious Mental Illness

This paper seeks to advance mental health—housing research regarding which factors of housing and neighborhood environments are critical for adaptive functioning, health, and recovery for persons with serious mental illness (SMI). Housing and neighborhood environments are particularly important for persons with SMI because of the prevalence of poor housing conditions among this population. Most mental health—housing research has been limited by a focus on problems in environments and functioning. The paper seeks to expand the mental health—housing research agenda to consider protective factors that promote community integration and adaptive functioning. We provide an account of how social ecology theory transformed a research program, from examining individual risk factors to investigating the functioning of persons in the contexts of their housing and neighborhood experiences. The resulting housing environment framework—physical aspects of housing and neighborhoods, social environment of neighborhoods, and interpersonal relationships tied to housing—allows for identification of opportunities for health promotion and facilitation of participation in community-based settings. This program of research draws upon several methods to understand the social experience of persons with SMI living in community settings—survey research, qualitative interviews, Geographic Information Systems, participatory research, and visual ethnography. In this paper, we present how social ecology theory was instrumental in the development of new housing environment measures, the selection of appropriate research methods, and framing research questions that are building a new empirical base of knowledge about promoting adaptive functioning, health, and recovery for persons with SMI living in community settings.     

The Effects of Social Capital and Neighborhood Characteristics on Intimate Partner Violence: A Consideration of Social Resources and Risks

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a growing public health problem, and gaps exist in knowledge with respect to appropriate prevention and treatment strategies. A growing body of research evidence suggests that beyond individual factors (e.g., socio‐economic status, psychological processes, substance abuse problems), neighborhood characteristics, such as neighborhood economic disadvantage, high crime rates, high unemployment and social disorder, are associated with increased risk for IPV. However, existing research in this area has focused primarily on risk factors inherent in neighborhoods, and has failed to adequately examine resources within social networks and neighborhoods that may buffer or prevent the occurrence of IPV. This study examines the effects of neighborhood characteristics, such as economic disadvantage and disorder, and individual and neighborhood resources, such as social capital, on IPV among a representative sample of 2412 residents of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Using a population based sample of 2412 randomly selected Toronto adults with comprehensive neighborhood level data on a broad set of characteristics, we conducted multi‐level modeling to examine the effects of individual‐ and neighborhood‐level effects on IPV outcomes. We also examined protective factors through a comprehensive operationalization of the concept of social capital, involving neighborhood collective efficacy, community group participation, social network structure and social support. Findings show that residents who were involved in one or more community groups in the last 12 months and had high perceived neighborhood problems were more likely to have experienced physical IPV. Residents who had high perceived social support and low perceived neighborhood problems were less likely to experience non‐physical IPV. These relationships did not differ by neighborhood income or gender. Findings suggest interesting contextual effects of social capital on IPV. Consistent with previous research, higher levels of perceived neighborhood problems can reflect disadvantaged environments that are more challenged in promoting health and regulating disorder, and can create stressors in which IPV is more likely to occur. Such analyses will be helpful to further understanding of the complex, multi‐level pathways related to IPV and to inform the development of effective programs and policies with which to address and prevent this serious public health issue.     

Group climate and group development in a community meeting on a short-term inpatient psychiatric unit

Group climate and group development of the community meeting on a short-term inpatient psychiatric unit are examined. The Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ) was administered to all staff and patients present at the weekly community meeting on an acute treatment unit in a teaching hospital over a 12-week period. Results show that staff and patients perceive the community meetings in relatively similar ways, that the group climate of a community meeting can attain a positive working state, and that, at times, the meeting can progress through developmental stages of group process. Behavioral observations support the GCQ as a measure of group interaction.The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mary Pat Donnelly with the statistical analyses and the cooperation of all staff and patients who participated in this study.