Graffiti and Perceptions of Safety
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Graffiti and Perceptions of Safety
Article in Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture
From an ecological perspective, it has been identified that the perceptions of security among homeless individuals have been attributed to a variety of factors, including the surrounding environment in which people live in. People living in impoverished neighborhoods that exhibit characteristics such as; noise, gangs, traffic, among other forms of the physical disorder, have been reported to feel relatively unsafe as compared to their counterparts who live in an establishment that exhibit a particular degree of social order. Based on the above perceptions, graffiti has been associated with negative popular culture as well as a sense of physical disorder. This has, therefore, strengthened the notion that the level of physical disorder associated with graffiti has been attributed to lesser security and safety in neighborhoods that embrace such culture. People associate physical order with other positive attributes of any communal setting. This may be based on the perception that order is an indication of social peace and harmony in a given social environment. The history of graffiti is commonly associated with gangs and other activist movements that are oriented towards making a mark or their presence felt and recognized in a given area. As a result, a neighborhood with a high percentage of a group of people who choose such methods of self-expression, then the safety levels in the region are expected to be relatively lower. This is because the physical representation of the environment through expressive art in the area is a clear depiction of the people living in the given neighborhood. Neighborhood characteristics, therefore, have an effect on the dwellers’ sense of safety, and this is measured through the physical depiction of a given neighborhood courtesy of the actions of its inhabitants.
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Article in Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288076911_Graffiti_and_perceptions_of_safety