A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOLOGICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Criminology

The primary aim of this qualitative research was to examine the experiences of the residents of the different barangays within the CARCANMADCARLAN cluster pertaining to the intersection of crime and the degradation of the environment. Based on the theories of environmental criminology, social disorganization, feminist criminology, and critical governance theory, the research problem revolved around the socio-ecological and institutional failures that lead to the community becoming a target of crime. The study employed data triangulation, using crime data and qualitative interviews with field observations and 15 participants. Respondents reported an overwhelming conviction regarding spatial inequity, where a combination of inadequate facilities, environmental disregard, and the absence of policing made an area highly criminogenic. Concerns of informal social control, especially those which pertain to the recessive elements of a community, were informal peer groups and structures, and the vulnerable relations of those particular areas which were characterized by dark passageways, and the absence of community youth programs. While some of the communities were able to resiliently respond to the absence of support systems with grassroots enabled solidarity and faith community organizations, they were spatially distributive and weakly formalized. The data showed the absence of the social contract of the state and governance which was characterized as responsive, and hence the left communities with the unregulated, moral coping strategies that demonstrated how communities create systems to respond to crime. The study expanded the interpretations of crime to encapsulate the idea that crime as a sole act, is a disempowerment, a neglected act of fragmented governance, and a system of control. The study gave an explication of the importance of localized crime prevention and the primary community framework. The research concluded with the formulation of a multisectoral crime prevention framework advocating for co-produced governance and inclusive public safety policies in resource-deficient areas.

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