Advantages and Disadvantages of Crime Prevention
Within this assignment I will attempt to discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of the current emphasis which is placed upon the scientific evaluation of crime prevention.
I will explore the many different ways in which crime prevention is addressed. The first part of this assignment is looking into the emergence of crime prevention and community safety and why it is required in today’s society.
Within the last decades of the twentieth Century, nation-states have been unable to meet their core responsibility to provide communities with security, especially when it comes to physical security from criminal attacks. This has lead to a ‘fear of crime’ within today’s society. (Hughes 2002 P3)
Punishment did not appear to work and the prisons were bulging with convicted criminals, who time after time re-offended. There were also problems and issues with the costs and the influences of the traditional criminal justice system.
(Huges and Lewis, 1998: Clarke et al, 2000)
Martinson 1974 cited in Tilley 2002 summed it up by saying, “Nothing Works”.
The major influence for the Government was money. They had to limit expenditure, and containment was not an option as this was very expensive. The only possible way forward was prevention.
This lead the Government to rethink their idea’s, which saw a shift from the pursuit of the criminal to the prevention of crime (Stevenson 2000b cited in Hughes 2002 p3)
Since 1980 crime prevention has become a significant concern for any Government.
For example the Conservative Government’s policy on their commitment to “Safer Communities” And their campaign on the “War on Crime and Disorder”
(Tim Hope 2000, p.xiii cited in Hughes 2002 p2)
Crime prevention finally became centre stage as a result of rising crime figures. Crime was on average rising 5.7% per annum.
(Tilley 2002 p15)
Although it has been argued that some of the Conservative Partys economic polices were liable to have the unintended effects on the raising crime rates, through unemployment and reducing the perceived prospects for young people and producing greater relative deprivation.
(Field, 1990; Sampson and Laub, 1993 cited in Tilley 2002 p15)
Since the 1980’s there has been a rise in neo -liberal modes of Governance and the moving away from “social” strategies of collective risk managem...
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... Crossroads, Cincinnati, OH, Anderson Publishing, and Highland Heights, KY, Academy of Criminal Justice
Crawford, A. “Evaluating Crime Prevention and Community Safety” Chapter 6 in Crawford, A (1998) Crime Prevention and Community Safety; Politics and Practices, London and New York, Longman.
Hope, T. “Community Crime Prevention”, pp 66-89 in Tonry, M. And Farrington, D.P. (eds) (1995) Building a Safer Society: Strategic Approaches to Crime Prevention / Tonry, M. (ed.) Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, vol 19 Chicago, IL and London, The University of Chicago Press.
Huges, G et al (2002), “Crime Prevention and Community Safety, New Directions.” Sage, London.
Sherman, L et al. “Preventing Crime: what works and what doesn’t, what’s promising”. Chapter 2 in Hope T. (ed.) (2000) Perspectives in Crime Reduction, Aldershot, Ashgate Dartmouth
Wilson, J. “Crime and the Criminologists”. Commentary, vol 58, no.1, July 1974, pp. 47-53
Standing Conference on crime Prevention, Safer Communities: The Local Delievry of Crime Prevention Through the Partnership Approach (August 1991), London, Home Office.
www.crimereduction.gov.uk/toolkits/p010301 28.12.04 Word Count: 2450
Through the first chapter of this book the focus was primarily on the notion of controlling crime. The best way to describe crime policy used in this chapter is comparing it to a game of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’. This chapter also addresses the causes for decline in America’s
Young, J. (1981). Thinking seriously about crime: Some models of criminology. In M. Fitzgerald, G. McLennan, & J. Pawson (Eds.), Crime and society: Readings in history and society (pp. 248-309). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
A criminal justice system has been in place since the dawn of time, from the hue and cry era of policing to the advancement of the system there have been many laws, models, and theories set into place to protect the citizens but also to provide law enforcement officers with power to carry out their duties. A communities interest in the criminal justice system is to prevent and stop crime with law enforcements assistance. This paper will provide an overlook of how concepts from the criminal justice system are applicable in everyday activities.
Daly, Kathleen, Goldsmith, Andrew, and Israel, Mark. 2006, Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology, third addition, Thomson, Lawbook Co.
One of the most common definition of ‘crime’ comes from the Labour Government (2007) quoted in Muncie, Talbot and Walters (2010) “Labour Governments ‘Respect’ website 2007 Crime is doing something forbidden by law. That could mean stealing a mobile phone, vandalism, graffiti, mugging, stealing or taking and selling drugs” (Muncie, Talbot and Walters, 2010, p. 3). This definition of crime is very much focused on the ideas of what criminologists would class as ‘street crimes’, crimes that are generally committed by the poorer people within society, young people who come from council estates. However this definition of ‘street crimes’ omits the crimes that are committed in ‘invisible spaces’ which tends to focus more on: domestic abuse, gender abuse and people trafficking and the ‘invisible crimes’ committed by the powerful elites of the world. These crimes tend to be focused on white collar crimes, environmental pollution and illegal arms dealings amongst many more. This definition of crime omits behaviours that are potentially more harmful, that could cause greater pain or loss (Muncie, Talbot and Walters, 2010, p. 3).
Marion, N & Oliver, W. (2012). The Public Policy of Crime and Criminal Justice, Second Edition.
While the study of criminal justice and the formation of criminal justice theories are largely molded by several other disciplines such as psychology and sociology (Wellford, 2007), the study of criminal justice has grown and it is time for it to stand alone as its own scientific discipline. Crime theories are developed through studying individuals and assessing as well as their environment and other social aspects. These theories are then used to help form policies in order to deter the individual or group from committing further crimes. Criminal justice theories are not only used for crime but there are also theories which aid criminal justice personnel in the application of the practices that they use. The criminal justice policies are implemented
There was a decline in crime during the 1990s. Our country enjoyed seven years of declining crime for the period 1991-98, the most recent data available. During this period crime declined by 22% and violent crime by 25%. These are welcome developments, particularly following the surge of crime and violence of the late 1980s. This decline occurred during a time when the national prison population has increased substantially, rising from 789,60 in 1991 to 1,252,830, a 59% rise in just seven years and a 47% increase in the rate of incarceration, taking into account changes in the national population (Mauer 21-24).
Wilson and Kelling argued that if behaviour such as graffiti, rowdy behaviour, drunkenness and vandalism is un-tackled this can turn stable neighbourhoods into broken down neighbourhoods with fears of crime. They further argued that behaviour that is left unchecked likewise properties can lead to a breakdown of community control. This is because bad manners causes fear which leads to avoidance and some residence moving away, this promotes informal social control that paves the way for more extreme types of violent behaviour and crime. To stop the breakdown of community control, Wilson and Kelling proposed that any unfavourable act should be tackled immediate. If not, this leads the way for individuals to push the boundary and attempt more serious crimes. They believed that through policing of incivilities this was possible. (Maguire, Morgan and Reiner, 2012)
Ronald V Clarke originally developed the idea of situational crime prevention in the 1980’s (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). This particular crime prevention theory addresses techniques that increase the effort required to commit the crime, increase the risks involved with committing the crime, reducing the reward gained by the offender after committing the crime, reducing the provocation between the offender and others and remove excuses (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Majority of crime is believed to be committed because there are no high risks of being caught and the rewards outweigh the risks (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Increasing the effort by controlling access to locations and target hardening can deflect many offenders, as more effort is needed to commit the crime (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Another main technique would be to increase the risks; this may be achieved by extending guardianship, creating natural surveillance or artificial surveillance such as CCTV (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005).
Shelden, R.G., Brown, W.B., Miller, K.S., & Fritzler, R.B. (2008). Crime and criminal justice in american society. Long Grove, Illinosis: Waveland Press, INC.
The communities, in which we live, work and raise our children demand the safest environment possible. A common approach to crime fighting is to respond after the event and incarcerate the offender. The results of this approach have been increasingly burdensome on law enforcement, th...
In today’s society there is a high fear of crime by society. Society actions show that there is anxiety and fear about crime. Therefore, anxiety and fear about crime has placid our cities and communities. Society express fear of being victimized by crimes, criminal activities, and behaviors. Therefore, according to, (Crime, 1999) states that “ the level of fear that a person holds depends on many factors, including but, not limited to: “ gender, age, any past experiences with crime that a person may have, where one lives, and one’s ethnicity.” All of those factors have a huge impact on one’s fear level.
Approaches to crime prevention have emerged over time and are demonstrated in different solutions, practices, and policies executed by law enforcement, courts, corrections, family, and community. Some of the dominant approaches to crime prevention currently used by law enforcement, courts, corrections, family, and community are: situational crime prevention, crime prevention through social development, crime prevention through environmental design, community crime prevention, reduction of recidivism, and policing. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the dominant approaches used for crime prevention and analyze which approaches are most effective. I will identify and apply at least four approaches used in law enforcement, legislation, courts, corrections, family, and community within the crime prevention programs.
Criminal justice is composed of many lateral departments that help us as a society to better understand the process that is started when criminal activity is suspected. We will examine how individuals learn how to commit crime and what motivates them to do so. This paper will discuss the steps that are taken once a crime is determine and how the Criminal Justice System is put into place to help solve and come to some type of resolution for the crime. This paper will further discuss the types of deterrence that are placed into society minds to help curve criminal behavior and activity. After reading this paper the reader should have a better understanding on how the Criminal Justice System works and why it is needed help promote a safe environment for our society.