Reference no: EM133644558

Assignment:

You have just been appointed as a presidential advisor on urban problems. The president wants to initiate a demonstration project in a major city aimed at showing that the government can do something to reduce poverty, crime, and drug abuse. The area the president has chosen for development is a large, low-income neighborhood with more than 100,000 residents. The neighborhood suffers from disorganized community structure, poverty, and hopelessness. Predatory delinquent gangs run free and terrorize local merchants and citizens.

The school system has failed to provide opportunities and education experiences sufficient to dampen enthusiasm for gang recruitment. Store, homes, and public buildings are deteriorated and decayed. Commercial enterprise has fled the area, and civil servants are reluctant to enter the neighborhood. There is an uneasy truce among the various ethnic and racial groups that populate the area. Residents feel that little can be done to bring the neighborhood back to life. You are faced with suggesting an urban redevelopment program that can revitalize the area and eventually bring down the crime rate. You can bring any element of the public or private sector to bear on this rather overwhelming problem--including the military! You can also ask private industry to help in the struggle, promising them tax breaks for their participation. But before you even begin to create the program, you have to ask yourself these basic questions:

Questions:

1. Does living and growing up in such an area contribute to high crime and delinquency rates?

2. Is poverty a cause of crime or merely an excuse used to rationalize crime and drug use?

4. Answer these questions in a memo to the president.