Travels Through Crime and Place: Community-Building as Crime Control

Granados' book has given me much to think about. It has changed my approach to working within my community.

Deleon-Granados employs a narrative style of case studies to support his thesis that top-down approaches to community policing have failed. Agencies cannot simply "order up" or impose a community to create social control among the citizenry. Functioning communities grow from the ground up, though opportunities do exist for public and private agencies to foster and support positive channels. Though covering an academic topic, Deleon-Granados avoids the jargon and esoterica normally found in such treatments. His narrative approach renders an easy read of a tough subject.

Travels Through Crime and Place is a fine example of how people can work together to solve serious crime without the use of force, or with the typical "lock 'em up and throw away the key" mentality. Our justice and crime reduction tactics obviously are NOT working since a huge percentage of our population is in prison. It is high time for a new way of thinking. Deleon-Granados offers fresh ideas for the future.

Not just for academics, but a must for anyone concerned about social justice and a thoughtful discussion of crime prevention. The author helps us get beyond cliches and stereotypes to a more honest, and complex, analysis of what works, what doesn't, and why. Issues of racism, classism and social control are woven into a deeply compassionate, rich narrative of people, places and the fragile human ecosystem of cities in America. Readers will come away with a paradigm shift, a more discerning eye for the truth, and a real knowledge-base from which to address issues of crime and community in their own neighborhoods.