What Role Is the Community Expected to Play in New Labours Vision of Crime Free Neighbourhoods - Essay Example

What role is ’the community’ expected to play in New Labour’s vision of crime free neighbourhoods? Do you think this approach can work? Justify your answer. When Labour came to power in 1997, they emphasised the importance of the community in the fight against crime. They have consistently argued that by empowering local people they can reduce crime and improve neighbourhood safety. This essay will consider the intricacies of New Labours vision for the future by understanding why they believe in the power of community and how this operates, particularly in the areas of anti-social behaviour and ensuring cohesion. What initiative have New Labour implemented and how successful have they been? Firstly, it is important to understand how New Labour view the community and how they have articulated the link between community and crime. Although New Labour have never defined their understanding of community, they have given examples of what they envisage local communities to look like. For example, the Department of Communities and Local Government states that a community is a place free of problems like “conflict, extremism” and “deprivation” (2010). In a policy document entitled Protecting Our Communities, New Labour forged the link between community and anti-social behaviour; they presented the community as an authoritative body, similar to that of local government. This is an importance change in the rhetoric, as community had previously been defined as standing in opposition to the government (Hale, 2006, pp. 45-46). In the white paper Safer Communities, Safer Britain, New Labour argued that the “breakdown in law and order is intimately bound up with the break-up of strong and cohesive local communities.” As Hale argues New Labour regards the relationship between crime and community as a “two-way process”; community breakdown causes crime just as crime causes community breakdown. New Labours began their vision of crime free neighbourhoods with the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act. This introduced a multi-organisational approach to dealing with crime. For the first time, it became the obligation of local authorities, the police and healthcare services to implement strategies for tackling crime and disorder in their areas. A crime audit was also required to gain information on local crime figures and patterns of crime, which would underpin their strategies. In addition, youth offending teams were established and the courts were given new powers such as the Anti-Social Behaviour Order, or ASBO (Charman & Savage, 1999, p. 201). The latter has been a controversial measure, often criticised as ineffective as it does not deter crime nor does it understand the root causes. They do, however, illustrate the role of community in crime reduction. . At the heart of the fight against anti-social behaviour, New Labour have created hundreds of Community Support Officers and Neighbourhood Wardens. As of 2004, there were 376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships in action around England and Wales, conducting research and implementing local strategies (Driver & Martell, 2006, p. 110). This years report Our Nations Civic Health has highlighted Labours ongoing struggle with anti-social behaviour. 17% of people in England and Wales are concerned about anti-social behaviour in their area and this figure has remained static since New Labour came to power (Department of Communities and Local Government, 2010, p. 24). According to the Department of Communities website, the governments aim for the communities is to co-operate and work alongside with local agencies. They have set up training events aimed at promoting awareness, produced informative leaflets and pumped extra money in to local government funds to lower levels of anti-social behaviour (2010). Could all this be considered a successful approach? The main problem with New Labours understanding and treatment of anti-social beajhvour is that it has tended to view young people as the source of the problem which the mass media have also been heavily influenced by. This criminalisation of young people is more problematic than helpful as it serves to alienate them from their communities, and thus defeats the object of New Labours community strategy. In addition, the pro-active approach which New Labour has encouraged from members of the community could be construed as a type of vigilantism which discourages the multi-agency approach that has been implemented. Furthermore, being pro-active could prove risky for some people in certain communities, where involvement with local government and the police is deemed unacceptable. A second area to be considered in this essay is community cohesion. This has been one of New Labours political buzzwords and became the centre of the plan for communities after the riots across Northern England in 2001. The Cantle Report, produced shortly after the riots, illustrated the “depth of polarisation” which existed in local communities. These divisions were evident in all aspects of peoples social lives and had created fears and tensions. The report made a long list of proposals based on their community research including strategies for community cohesion, with links to the National Curriculum, a new, powerful Task Force and “extensive” diversity education for local communities (Community Cohesion, 2001, pp. 8-9, 47-50) These ideas were later echoed in Our Shared Future, the final report from the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, in 2007. The message was clear; creating unity in local communities depended on overcoming differences of race, religion or income background (2007, p. 4). New Labours drive for community cohesion is based on three founding principles; access to opportunities, knowledge of rights and responsibilities and trust in local institutions. This drive has not been a heap undertaking, from 2010 alone, the government have promised local funding of £50 million to support local communities (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2010). Community cohesion, therefore, is part of the overall community strategy to tackle crime. The government understands that if a community is divided, the incidence of crime is likely to increase. Social divisions will also affect the success of the community and crime strategy as people will be less likely to work in unison with government agencies, such as the police. Another aspect of this strategy is the idea of community empowerment. This is similar to community engagement, where members of local communities play a practical role in decision-making on a local level (Department of Communities and Local Government, 2010). But how do these concepts relate to New Labours crime free vision? David Blunkett first articulated these ideas in a speech where he proposed the expansion of the Neighbourhood Watch scheme. He believed that this scheme could not only help to solve crimes but could also be useful in crime prevention. Blunkett saw that members of local communities could become the “eyes and ears” of the police. Of course, this would only work if the lines of communication between communities and the police were efficient and speedy. He even conducted research on the use of email to promote rapid communication. Blunketts ideas sought to put neighbourhood safety at the top of a local agenda which could ultimately be led by local communities (Department of Communities and Local Government, 2003, p. 28). As with other government documents, there is a strong element of vigilantism and a reliance on local people to not only be aware of what is happening in their area but to report it to the authorities. This relies on maintaining a high level of public confidence in the police and ensuring that informants do not become victims of intimidation or retribution. Once again, the issue of unity within communities is important because this is central to the effectiveness of any Neighbourhood Watch scheme. There is a need for all the different groups within a community to work together, and, more importantly, to do so without tensions or division. To conclude, this essay has attempted to understand the role of the community in New Labours fight against crime. At the heart of this strategy is the idea of building successful communities which are united, despite differences in race, religion or background. According to their beliefs, where divisions and tensions exist, crime is sure to follow. New Labour have sought to improve community relations through empowerment and engagement at a local level, through new multi-agency strategies and partnerships. Success for New Labours policy depends heavily on community participation and a willingness to cooperate with government agencies. This is both a strength and a failure in their approach. Giving power back to the local communities certainly helps to promote inclusion and gives people an opportunity to get involved. There is the danger, however, that such participation can ultimately create vigilantism and will therefore only serve to defeat New Labours crime objectives and create a new wave of community lawlessness.. References Charman, Sarah & Savage, Stephen P. (1999) The New Politics in Law and Order: Labour, Crime and Justice in: Powell, Martin A. (ed.) New Labour, New Welfare State?: The Third Way In British Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press. Commission on Integrtion and Cohesion (2007) Our Shared Future. http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Education/documents/2007/06/14/oursharedfuture.pdf, Accessed 15th April 2010. Department of Communities and Local Government (2010) Active Citizens, Strong Communities – Progressing Civil Renewal. http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/151825.pdf, Accessed 15th April 2010. Department of Communities and Local Government (2010) Communities and Neighbourhoods. http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/, Accessed 14th April 2010. Department of Communities and Local Government (2010) Our Nations Civic Health. http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/1519912.pdf, Accessed 14th April 2010. Driver, Stephen & Martell, Luke. (2006) New Labour. Cambridge: Polity Press. Hale, Sarah. (2006) Blairs Community: Communitarian Thought and New Labour. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Home Office (2001) Community Cohesion: A Report of the Independent Review Team. http://resources.cohesioninstitute.org.uk/Publications/Documents/Document/DownloadDocumentsFile.aspx?recordId=96&file=PDFversion, Accessed 15th April 2010. Read More