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Sources of Powers

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Place Management and Crime

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Criminology ((SCP))

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Abstract

The thesis of this chapter is that property rights are the foundation of place managers’ authority to control behavior. We begin by showing the elements of a strong definition of control. We apply these elements to informal social control and show that it is not up to the job of curbing serious crime. Returning to place management, we show how the legal doctrine of property rights establishes place management authority. We make three points in this chapter. First, informal social control is too fuzzy of a concept to have the power needed to have much impact on serious crime. Second, place management is not informal social control because it differs from informal social control at least five ways. Third, place management authority to exercise control is strong, tangible, and recognized in law. Its roots are in the willingness of the state to define and enforce property rights.

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Eck, J.E., Linning, S.J., Herold, T.D. (2023). Sources of Powers. In: Place Management and Crime. SpringerBriefs in Criminology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27693-4_4

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