| This paper will showcase the data from the first wave of a multi-wave
comparative study of crime, danger and informal social control that
focuses on youth living in three high crime neighborhoods in
Philadelphia. We examine the daily experience of African American,
Latino and white young men and women and we present data on exposure to
violence and strategies employed by youth to avoid and reduce the levels
of personal danger. We suggest that the actions of youth have
implication for how scholars and policy makers conceptualize informal
social control. The contribution of this work to what we know about
crime control is the specific focus on the capacity of young people to
contribute to the informal social control of crime and disorder.
Previous work has viewed youth as the problem but the present study
illuminates the protective capacity of young people, who after all, are
not only the most like to offend, but are the mostly likely to be
victims of crime, including violent crime. In short, we are attempting
with this research project to move from widely held ideas about youth as
a group that must be monitored and punished for violent and delinquent
behaviors to viewing them as a resource for strategizing about reducing
and preventing violence.
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Updated 05/20/2006