Political Benefits Of Program Participation: The Case Of Community Crime Prevention

ABSTRACT: This article explores the effects of citizen participation in policy through a case study of the implementation of a community crime‐prevention program in Chicago. Although the program was successful in soliciting and maintaining citizen involvement, it produced little in the way of hoped‐for crime‐prevention outcomes. However, in at least one case, residents became more involved in the political life of their neighborhood, while their community organization mobilized participants to seek responses for neighborhood problems from local political institutions. This article will examine some of the conditions under which the political benefits of program participation are likely to be enhanced. This study suggests that researchers measuring the effects of citizen participation need to define outcomes broadly, by distinguishing between programmatic and political consequences, and need to use qualitative as well as quantitative measures to detect unanticipated effects.