Violence in urban community: local diagnosis of security and victimization. I

Abstract

Community violence is one of the phenomena that most affects perceptions of security. Moreover, when it is associated with violent or criminal victimization (both direct and indirect), it can deeply impact a population’s level of security and fear of crime within a specific geographical context. Accordingly, to develop appropriate helpful responses to victims of violence and crime, it is particularly relevant to assess people’s perceptions, to be aware of their victimization experiences and to identify their needs. The Diagnosis of Local Security (DLS) is a community assessment measure that allows for not only the gathering of information about criminal occurrences in a specific geographical area but also the collection of data on experiences of victimization and feelings of (in)security. The DLS became an internationally well-known procedure that empirically supports the development of community interventions. In this regard, based on a study that we are conducting through the community project “LookCrim,” in this chapter, we propose to analyze the DLS’s potential to assess perceptions of (in)security with respect to the experience of victimization to discuss the challenges of and the responses to the phenomenon of community violence.