ABSTRACT
Theories described as social ecology and subcultural theories share the premise that the characteristics of specific places and/or cultural groups may make a person who inhabits those spaces, or who is engaged in the social networks formed in them, more or less prone to engage in crime. There are also circumstances, such as migration and settlement, under which a person's indigenous cultural values may conflict with those of the dominant mainstream culture, resulting in crime. In some cities, gangs, enjoying organizational features that span generations, have become permanent fixtures. One exception is the movement in law enforcement policy towards problem-solving community policing, in which police officers work in partnership with community members to seek solutions to area problems that transcend arrest and incarceration. Early social ecologists believed that the driving force of social change, bringing together different groups within the cities, would subside and that the dominant or mainstream culture would absorb the diversity of differences.
