Having experienced many different forms of housing in my lifetime, I can make experienced conclusions about the effects of high-rise housing on crime rates. Many times the high-rise building provides a sort of refuge from the rest of society. Those in the lower class sector that may be at risk for criminal behavior use the high rise setting as a shelter from outside intrusion. In one instance, the high-rise building was located along a business sector in which there were no houses to the front, sides, and in one area even the back of the building. Residents positioned in the front of the building, facing the main road, could use their location to watch for possible “intrusion from an opposing force” such as a police officer, a victim, or a resident that was less accepting of the behaviors of the other residents. The other side of the building provided a shelter that was hidden from the outside world, allowing a variety of devious behaviors to take place unwitnessed. Another housing setting was set in a country land where it was surrounded by a gate and the houses were actually set inside of the complex, away from immediate access from the main road. There was a police officer that lived in the residence and the place was compiled with a mixture of low income to moderate income residents. There was also a mixture of lifestyle types. There were college students, single parents, newly weds, first time parents, residents who were there on probation or parole, people recovering from disasters or unemployment, and many other forms of residents. The housing complex provided before and after care for children whose parents were not able to supervise them during those hours at free or no cost. Many of the residents just used the place to live their own lives while awaiting more, others did engage in some deviance (the further away or more sheltered from the home of the onsite police officer the more deviance that was produced) but the deviance was contained in their own places of residence. In a third location the residence of mention was not the actual high-rise building but the building located directly behind it. These residents were predominantly lower class individuals and predominantly law deviant. They could use the high-rise building not only as a shelter and a look-out but also as a refuge and a deterrent. The residents of the one story building were able to run a smooth drug business, with different apartment holders working in different shifts doing different tasks, to keep the establishment going. All of this because of the protection they received from the high-rise building next to it.
In most instances, high-rise buildings tend to facilitate crime. However, as mentioned in the book (Criminal Theory: Context and Consequences 4th Edition, Ball, Richard A., Cullen, Fancis T., Lilly, Robert J Sage Publications, 2007 ch. 4), and in coinciding with the zone theory, crime can be influenced by factors such as a change in a nice suburban neighborhood where one resident moves out, no one buys the house, the yard becomes overcrowded with weed and tall grass, the building remains abandoned, and the street in now less attractive, Others move out and the ones that move in don’t expect as much of a closeness with the old residents, get the impression from the overgrown yard that aesthetics aren’t as important, and begin to allow their own residence to deteriorate. This creates a zone of vulnerability. Ties are loose, homes aren’t kept as secure, neighborhood appreciation is lower and people begin to create a mixed zone as one class fights to make the neighborhood great once again and the other class fights together to keep the prices down and to get more people in the neighborhood that otherwise would not be able to afford it. The groups segregate and social deviance occurs. Values of law obedience begin to change and crime is introduced as a means of securing the neighborhood. In the midst of large change such as the tearing down of high-rise building, such a social transition has a high probability of taking place. If more wealthy people move in, lower class individuals are more likely to act out in fear of loosing yet another area of which they can afford to live. In doing so, either the more wealthy class will get more aggressive and raise the cost of living, driving the lower class out, or they will be driven out by the lower class in order to escape the culture. In most instances, developers then begin to build gated communities and replace the low cost living with high cost living and original intentions are laid dormant. In anger of losing their housing, lower class individuals that have given into deviance may commit further crimes of vandalism and robbery in a final attempt to secure what would have been at least partly their own.
Aside from those theories, I think that the idea of a mixed class society is an awesome feat. As witnessed in my second high-rise example, in a mixed culture that does not result in class conflict, crime is kept at a minimum and does not mingle as a societal norm. Residents tend to keep to their own ways and only deviate within their own small boundaries.
