This book addresses important questions dealing with public policy initiatives designed to address crime and citizens'
responses to those efforts. Miller focuses on two neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington. She traces the initiation
of federal anti-crime programs, their reception in the community, and the influence local residents were able to
bring upon the ultimate shape of the programs. Unfortunately, the author appears to exhaust the topic in the first
chapter or two. The remainder of the book repeats the same themes, and even repeats the same examples. What might
have been a substantial article is, instead, an extremely thin book.
At the outset, Miller sets up a conceptual framework within which she analyzes the implementation of the Weed and
Seed program. Essentially she contrasts the original federal initiative that is based on a fairly conservative
set of assumptions about crime-individualistic and offender-based-with the "community" perspective that
she describes as more focused on the long-range causes of crime. It appears that such conflict was inherent in
Weed and Seed itself. The program represented an effort to combine a punitive approach (the "Weed" element
designed to rid neighborhoods of offenders) with the "Seed" element, which suggests institution building
in
the interest of crime prevention. What Miller calls different definitions of "crime prevention," actually
seems to be differences between crime control and crime prevention strategies. In other words, she seems to be
explaining how two groups-one focused on crime control and one focused on prevention- talk past each other and
have difficulty finding common ground. In any event, one of her major themes is that this fundamental contradiction
played itself out as the project was implemented. Activists at the local level, who see crime as a more complex
social phenomenon, may challenge the monolithic approach to crime, articulated by politicians at the national level,
who emphasize a harsh punitive approach.
The role of the police is critical to the Weed and Seed story in Seattle and elsewhere. Miller calls community
policing "the bedrock principle that connects weeding and seeding." Ideally, with a community-policing
model, the ongoing, informal presence of officers in the neighborhood builds trust with residents, thus both deterring
crime and encouraging cooperation. The model also incorporates work with community members to identify trouble
spots and to craft responses to problems. The
federal Weed and Seed guidelines apparently envisioned law enforcement officers playing such roles. However, the
prominence of police in the program roused immediate suspicion among people in the targeted areas. Rather than
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seeing the police as agents of change, they feared that a greater police presence would be oppressive, that more
police discretion would result in more arrests-and few positive changes.
Embedded in the skepticism about the role of law enforcement is, of course, the issue of race. Miller argues that
historic racism, selective enforcement, and selective protection led to long-standing tensions between police and
black residents. She also asserts that African Americans tend to identify social causes for crime, while police
and the groups they represent tend to blame criminal behavior on individual character. Law enforcement emphasizes
crime control; members of minority groups emphasize crime prevention. Given these differences, some community
groups-whose involvement in Weed and Seed was both mandated and crucial-resisted participation until they became
convinced that their perspective would be heard. The middle chapters of the book report in great detail how community
organizations made their concerns known and, ultimately, how they managed to divert more of the program's resources
into prevention programs, such as Boys and Girls Clubs, health services for teenagers, and drug treatment. Although
both the author and some of her sources bemoan the failure of the program to solve deeply rooted problems like
unemployment and poor schools, such issues would require resources of a magnitude far beyond anything Weed and
Seed could provide.
Although I have a strong suspicion that the author is correct in arguing that race is correlated with responses
to crime, the case would be stronger if more recent data were used. Surveys taken in the 1980s may or may not
still be accurate. For one thing, they fail to take into account the effects of the "war on drugs" on
the black community. If anything, members of minority groups may be more skeptical about law enforcement than
they were ten years ago.
Many interesting themes are introduced in this book. The discussion of crime-response strategies-opportunity reduction,
order maintenance, and Miller's term, "community-centered"-is useful, although again, crime control sometimes
gets muddled with crime prevention. Too often concepts lack precision. Just as one thinks she has grasped the
author's typology, categories slide together. Further elaboration of the connections between the strategies and
the criminological theories that support them would have been worthwhile. A more thoughtful treatment of these
larger concepts could have given the book more scope than a minutely drawn case study.
Finally, in a book selling for almost $80, one would like to see careful editing. I would hesitate to recommend
that students buy such an expensive book on a fairly narrow topic. However, anyone who does make such a purchase
should not have to read with red pencil in hand to make corrections.
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Copyright 2002 by the author, Mary W. Atwell.