Neighborhoods with a Bad Reputation

Review Essay
The Image of Crime in Two Belgian Neighborhoods
By Marion van San
English

In the last few years, feelings of insecurity among inhabitants of old neighborhoods in large cities, often related to the presence of immigrant youth, have increasingly become the focal point of heated debates. However, whether or not these youths are actually responsible for this sense of insecurity is rather unclear. It is important to determine if the feeling of insecurity is really caused by immigrant youths, if it is fundamentally linked to the fear of criminality, or if it is rooted in other factors. This paper studies the image of criminality based on conversations with inhabitants, street workers, and police officers in two old neighborhoods of two large Belgian cities. This paper demonstrates that delinquency and insecurity cannot be separated from the battle between ethnic groups for social status, power, and identity.

Keywords

  • ALLOCHTONOUS JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
  • FEELINGS OF INSECURITY
  • DISAD - VANTAGED CITY QUARTERS
  • BATTLE BETWEEN ETHNIC GROUPS
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