Summary
Editorial
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Extract
Urban safety.
1. Safety, Security and Fear of Crime in the City
In Germany as well as in other continental European states, a debate was initiated in the late 1980s and in the 1990s, which had already taken place in the USA. Crime, disorder, incivilities, fear of crime, social segregation, demise of the cities and much more were regarded as a sign of the unstable situation, which became the subject of social, political and economic discourse. An alarming situation was portrayed and is still portrayed in the press coverage in the newspapers and weekly magazines. The small town of Wehr in Baden-Wurttemberg (Sudkurier 16.06.2005) was described as "a hotbed of larceny", or similarly, Elmshorn in SchleswigHolstein as "a place with a high crime rate" (WedelSchulauer-Tageblatt 24.05.2005). "Citizens concerned about safety" was the headline of the Frankfurter Neue Presse on 08.06.2005. On 20.05.2005 the internet service provider T-Online published a safety-ranking under the title: "The most dangerous places in Germany". And while Hamburg and Frankfurt were contending for the undesirable title of "Crime Capital", Berlin is "in first place in Germany for the number of crimes committed" (Berliner Morgenpost 09.06.2005). An article in the weekly magazine "Der Spiegel" "Dreckspatzen und Drecksarbeit" (No. 24, 1997, P. 50) concerned itself with "miserable wretches and professional criminals, graffiti covered walls and house burglars, wrecked cars at the roadside and weeds between the paving stones--increasing numbers of citizens are beginning to see all of this as the writing on the wall of chaos, that could soon destro...See the full content of this document
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