- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- A descriptive analysis of operation weed and seed and community policing programs and its role in developing strategies to improve the quality of black life in Chicago Illinois, 1990-1999, 1999
- Creator:
- Crews, Lloyd C.
- Date of Original:
- 1999-05-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- The purpose of this study is to conduct a descriptive case study analysis of the Weed and Seed and Community Policing Programs (WSCPP) and it�s impact on the black community in Chicago, Illinois. This study will attempt to analyze and examine the impact that the Weed and Seed and Community Policing Programs that were organized, coordinated, and ignited in 1991 by the Department of Justice had in altering the social, economic and political status of the black community of Chicago, Illinois. This study will also examine the role of the various community activists and organizations that were associated with developing links between law enforcement, employment, social welfare and planning, education, and neighborhood policing. The study will also examine the various youth gang prevention strategies of the Weed and Seed and Community Policing Programs during the period from 1990-1999. This method will be used in order to ascertain whether demographic variables education, race, income, housing, family composition, recreation, and telecommunication services were the ultimate factors contributing to the programs operation in selected communities in the City of Chicago. The development of the Weed and Seed and Community Policing Program by the United States Department of Justice in 1991 allowed local, state and federal authorities to link together law enforcement, economic development and social welfare programs in the attempt to �weed out� criminal elements as a precondition to �seeding� local programs with funding. Weed and Seed in reality will use federal laws to solve urban problems, violate the civil liberties of minorities, scapegoat rather than help a lost generation of urban youth, and move the United States closer to a police state, especially with regard to urban �policy� targeting low-income, predominately Black communities. Low-income communities are well aware of how urgently they need expanded social programs and responsible police protection. Funding is needed for public health, education, and income-supplementing programs, and for neighborhood and community- based social service agencies. Police protection from violent crime is needed, consistent with ethical police behavior and constitutional safeguards. However, the Weed and Seed program is, by its own definition, not just a program but a strategy-a right wing strategy that subverts those legitimate community objectives. It exploits legitimate fear of crime in urban areas in order to position the Department of Justice as the central political force determining urban policy in the United States, with many social agencies subordinated to law-enforcement agencies. Its primary approach is not to solve complex urban problems of racism and poverty, but rather, to suppress the symptoms of urban neglect-drugs, crime and violence-and in doing so suppress the youth of the inner city.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1999_crews_lloyd_c
- Rights Holder:
- Clark Atlanta University
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
