Crime in Pittsburgh
Mapping a wicked problem
For the Mapping Wicked Problems assignment for our Transition Design class, we were prompted to explore and map out the root causes and consequences that lead to crime in Pittsburgh.
Research and Interview
We started our research by interviewing a family therapist in Pittsburgh who provides court-ordered therapy to juvenile offenders and their family. This therapist works with probation officers, judges, social welfare providers, and the offenders themselves in the Allegheny County region. In order to delve into region-specific research into the criminal and court systems in Pittsburgh, we interviewed this therapist regarding five problem areas: social factors, economic factors, political factors, environmental factors, and infrastructure/technology factors. After we had insight from someone working closely with offenders in Pittsburgh, we conducted general research into crime statistics and trends in the Allegheny County Region.
Mapping — 1st round
After we had raw data, we wrote out everything we knew was contributing to crime in Pittsburgh onto post-it notes. We categorized these notes into the five factors. Then, we considered the nested relationship between some of these factors.
Mapping — 2nd round
In our second iteration, we introduced another level of categorization: root causes, secondary causes, and consequences. In the process of our second iteration, our map grew as we discovered more root causes and the interconnectivity between them.
1. Economic factor
When looking at the implications of economic factors on crime, we kept coming back the overarching themes of unemployment or underemployment, access to higher education, economic policies that play a role in widening the income gap, rather than bridging it, pro-business policies and taxes. In turn, these issues can lead to an influx of businesses and people from other cities, which in turn can lead to challenges such as, increased living cost,displacement, segregated neighbourhoods and other characteristics that are often associated with gentrification. We also saw the unemployment as a particularly important factor as it can affect the kind of role models for youths to aspire towards. Seeing more people around them succeed, can help set positive examples for youths to follow in their footsteps. However, surrounded by people who are involved in criminal activities can send them the message that this is okay.
2. Social Factor
We mapped social issues while thinking about root causes which might lead someone to commit a crime. In our opinion peer pressure and social pressures were prominent root causes, leading people towards lifestyles which were unsustainable and eventually lead them to commit undesirable actions. As examples to such a phenomena, we discussed how peer pressure and state of being cool leads kids to indulge in drug abuse. We further navigated through another root cause being race. It is common to hear mishaps of racial discrimination when police is involved. To some extent topography of Pittsburgh has been a key issue of neighborhood segregation, compounding the racial drift that has transcended over ages.
3. Political factor
In political part, we mainly focus on the legal system. One of our team mate’s husband is home therapist for juvenile criminal. According to his experience, it is very hard for a teenager who commits crime get back to the correct trail. Either parole or probation requirements are hard to fulfill. Furthermore, there is discrimination (or stereotype) in the court. Male and color teenagers are easier to be sentenced to jail since the judge tends to believe they are not able to get back as normal citizen anymore. Too many litigations also causes overworking then resulting in reckless judgement. After discussion, we believe that the root cause of the systematic failure is the mindset about criminal. If you assume punishment is the best way to correct or prevent people from doing bad things, you will come out with system that make criminals hard to get back to society and people believe in this system as resolution of any bad things.
4. Infrastructure/technology factor
Our approach to mapping infrastructural/technological issues was to extrapolate root causes from persistent issues. Lack of night light might not seem as innocuous, however, such a situation creates conditions more conducive to crime. Lack of access to public transport makes citizens vulnerable as they either have to manage logistics through private means or sometimes walk to not so near bus-stop. Vicki pointed out that lack of shelters in Pittsburgh is another issue which causes young children to commit crime. All these issues seemed to rise from the root factor that government is not investing adequately in city’s infrastructure. Current infrastructure is being burdened by gradually increasing dependencies.
5. Environmental factors
While environmental issues did not emerge as one of the primary factors associated with crime, we did identify potential ways it could adversely affect levels of crime in Pittsburgh. First, is the impact of topographical segregation in the city — the idea of neighbourhoods being divided by race and cultural background. The idea of neighbourhoods being divided by the race and cultural background is not new, not controversial by itself. However, when the segregation of neighbourhoods in a city starts to reinforce patterns in income, poverty and other divisive values, these boundaries then becomes a problem and a secondary root cause of crime. Second, is the appearance of the physical environment and how this varies from Neighbourhood to Neighbourhood; the presence of flora and fauna, litter, etc. It may not directly impact crime, but can, again, reinforce certain notions onto the mindsets of people that live there, like “they do not care about us”.
Connections between catorgries
Besides within category, we also see some issue are connected between categories. For example, racism in social category also relates to the judgement in the court in political category. Lack of infrastructure in poor neighbor relates to economical issue such as unemployment or high living cost. The role model could is treated as economic issue could also relate to social issue. In general, I think the root causes are abstract concepts such as mindset in legal system or racism in community while most effects can actually be categorized in different ways in different perspectives.
