An economy of false securities? An analysis of murders inside gated residential developments in the US

Rowland Atkinson and Oliver Smith, Centre for Urban Research (CURB), Department of Sociology, University of York

Overview

1. The role of housing in mediating broader inequalities in respect of access to security

2. An examination of insecurity in secure residential development

3. How is violence in such areas depicted?

Defining a gated community

• Two key features: – Physical boundaries like gates and walls

(sometimes with guards or surveillance systems) – A contractual, or socio-legal, neighbourhood

constitution which imposes payment of fees to management organisation which services the community

Extent

USA

5.9% of households – walled communities

3.4% controlled access

Sanchez and Lang, 2005

UK

1,000 GCs

Atkinson et al, 2002

Australia

2% h’holds in guarded communities

Atkinson and Tranter, 2011

New zones of control

• Symbolic landscapes of security and escape from negative externalities of the urban

• Fortification of neighbourhoods and domestic spaces

• Secessionary spaces of social control and law enforcement

• Security as a ‘club good’

How safe are gated communities?• High income gated communities,

statistically insignificant differences in crime levels compared with HI non-gated

• Low income gated communities ALSO exhibit the same similarities (Wilson-Doenges)

• GCs may hinder emergency service access

• Learning codes, internal disorder• The Martin case – gated and

prejudicial mentalities

Inequality, the club realm and extreme risk

• Love and hate of community/proximity:– ‘the excessive opening up

(disclosure of a secret, allegiance, obedience…) of one person to another easily reverts to an excremental repulsive intrusion… it is highly hazardous to enter this domain of the utmost intimacy, as one gets more than one asked for’ (Zizek)

• Baumgartner – moral minimalism

Methodology

• Lexis-Nexis search• 50 cases• Date range: 2000 - 2012• Analysis of cases• Qualitative analysis of newswires • Related reportage identified through Google

searches [ongoing]

Findings

• Extent by type:– Community (5)– Breach (21)– Intimate (31)

• Data limitations

Community homicide

• Denice Fox– 57 years old, retired school

teacher– Lived in Glen cove, Long

Island in $899,000 house– Murdered by Evan

Marshall, 32, Aug 17th 2006• Lived on same road with his

mother, didn’t know victim• Psychosexual murder• Was searching house for

money for drugs, when interrupted by victim

Community homicide

• Sonia Dawes, 11– Murdered by Uncle, William Dawes– Had been living with his sister, girls

mother, for a few weeks in gated community in Laguna Niguel, OC

– Neighbor Anne Whitney told ABC7 she was "terrified." "I mean you feel so safe," Whitney said. "It's a gated community. You think that, you know, you trust your neighbors. You never know."

Community

• Stanley Nyberg, 61, Shot Dina Camp– Sky Country Club GC, Washington– Long running boundary dispute

escalated into shooting– Nyberg claimed he was afraid Camp

would hit him with a rock

Intimate homicides

• Bob Ward, 61, Real estate magnate– Isleworth country club• Neighbours include Tiger Woods,

Shaquille O’Neill, house once belonged to Arnold Palmer

– Shot and killed wife, Sept 2009– Financial troubles• Mortgage arrears (24x $16,841)• Filed for bankruptcy

• James Kurtenbach, 48, Arson/Murder/fraud, Oct 2008– “Arson gone bad” – homicide Lt D. Burgos– Owed $56,000 in back taxes– Employee Joseph Neshelwat died in explosion

Breach

• Keith Adams, 28, Construction worker– Working inside GC– Shot site Forman

dead and injured coworker over dispute, July 2001

Breach II

• Caroline Cody, 22, killed by Donald Fair, Gainesville FL.– Fair lived in apartments

adjoining Cody’s gated residence

– Entered through broken fence

– Killed Cody and stole car– Family filed wrongful death

suit against apartment owners for failing to provide adequate security

Reflections• Greatest risks are from within the community

or from partners• Has gating facilitated forms of private violence

- abusive and violent action• New debates raised about role of housing and

planning in questions about risk and violence• Role of property developers in distracting

consumers from risks

End