Outline of the Issue
Certain areas of Starley Cross were found to have high levels of transience, this means that populations are only occupying properties for short periods of time before moving elsewhere (Cambridge Dictionary 2018). Transience was an issue in particular in the Manor Estate area (see video), where it was found that the population turnover rate was 20%. This is likely to be due to the Manor Estate comprising of social housing, which has recently seen an increase in homeless people and immigrants occupying properties. Moreover, a survey of Starley Cross residents revealed that 42% wish to move house within the next 5 years, this further suggests a transient population.
Explanation
High levels of transience creates social disorganisation which can lead to crime (Shaw and McKay 1942; Stark 1987). This is explained by social disorganisation theory, which posits that a disorganised area will lack capable guardians thus reducing informal surveillance (Shaw and McKay 1942; Stark 1987). Furthermore, the theory explains that a socially disorganised community will lack strong morals and values, this can increase an offender’s motivation to commit crime (Shaw and McKay 1942; Stark 1987). Routine activities theory would suggest that when there is a motivated offender with no capable guardian present crime is more likely to occur (Burke 2014)
Research
Research for Social Disorganisation Theory comes from Sampson and Groves (1989) whom conducted surveys across England and Wales. The results from the study showed that areas with the most social disorganisation indicators (e.g. lack of friendship networks) had significantly higher crime rates, which supports the idea that social disorganisation causes crime (Sampson and Groves 1989). The implications of these findings for Starley Cross are that transience needs to be reduced in order to prevent social disorganisation which could be a cause of crime.
Starley Cross Community Safety Team 