New Parochialism and Informal Social Control in Two Boston Neighborhoods

• In Event: Neighborhood Context and Community Views of Police and the Justice System

Abstract

Direct intervention on crime through informal social control is one crime-reduction strategy at the neighborhood-level (Sampson and Groves 1989). Residents who do not directly intervene, because it is unsafe or ineffective, sometimes rely on external public agencies to exert social control in the neighborhood in an effort to curb crime, known as "new parochialism" (Carr 203). In this study, I examine responses to crime across two distinctly different Boston neighborhoods, the South End and Dorchester. The South End is a majority white, affluent neighborhood with relatively low crime that relies on community policing and the new parochialism as a response to crime. Dorchester is a neighborhood with a higher proportion of minorities, low-income residents, and higher crime rate that relies heavily on direct intervention on crime through informal social controls. My analysis draws upon two years of participant observation in safety taskforce and community meetings. I discuss how the South End’s use of the new parochialism (Carr 2003) results in a punitive reaction to offenders in the neighborhood, while Dorchester’s emphasis on informal social control results in a proactive response to crime and rehabilitative approach to offenders.

Author

• Adam Pittman, University of Massachusetts Boston