Crime topic 5-Crime prevention Flashcards
What is meant by defensible space?
A space which can be perceived as belonging to a particular person or small group of people. Crime rates tend to be high in high rise buildings as there are large areas of no belonging.
What are 3 things Newman suggested for defensible space?
1) Zones of territorial influence (fences and hedges)
2) opportunities for Surveilance
3) Increased opportunities for social interaction (know who is an intruder and who is a resident.)
What did Oscar Newman find in relation to Van Dyke and Brownsville?
Both housed around 288 people per acre. Van dyke consisted of 14 high rise flats and had high levels of crime/vandalism and graffiti.
Brownsville- separate buildings designs around communal areas, lower rise, large number of windows/lower crime rates.=less crime, more community, more children played outside.
What did Wilson and Kelling find in relation to the broken Windows theory?
idea that when people fear crime they avoid contact and fail to challenge minor disorder and don’t form communities. So can lead to more serious crime. When they feel safe they will be outside making crime more difficult to commit.
What was Zimbardo’s study in relation to the broken window theory and what did he find?
Conducted a small experiment using 2 cars. one parked with it’s hood up, open doors, without licence plates, on a street in the Bronx, NY- a place that was poor, dangerous etc. the other car was in good condition. the car in the Bronx was attacked by vandals within 10 minutes whereas the car in California was left untouched for over a week. Zimbardo smashed a window of this car and a few hours later, the car had been turned upside down and utterly destroyed. Zimbardo concluded that all areas are vulnerable to ‘criminal invasion’ where there is a breakdown in community controls.
what are the 4 steps of the zero tolerance policy?
1)address all types of crime
2)Police need to be confident to challenge
3)low level crime tackled humanely
4) prevention rather than reactions.
What was the aim of foot patrols?
Stop people from committing crimes/ give the public confidence in their own safety and the safety of the surrounding environment.
What did William Bratton do and find?
Pioneered ZT in NY, took on an extra 7000 officers who conducted sweeps, arresting people for minor offences such as public drinking and graffiti. serious crime feel by 22% this was taken up by other forces in the country and crime fell for 5 years in a row up until 1996.
What happened when ZT was implemented in Hartepool?
crime fell by 27% in 2 years and car theft by 56%
What was the aim of the key research by Wilson and Kelling?
To challenge the existing beliefs about the fear of crime and the role of the police. the authors explored links between disorder and inability to subsequent occurrences of serious crime in communities.
What was the method of the key research by Wilson and Kelling?
An article that Refers to ‘Newark foot patrols’ which was part of the 1970s ‘safe and clean neighbourhood’ program. they consider Newark as a case study and one who engages with a naturalistic participant observation where Kelling accompanies different officers on foot patrols over many hours, observing their interaction with members of the community.
What were the findings of the key research by Wilson and Kelling?
Overall foot patrols had not reduced crime rates, but residents did feel more secure in these areas and had more favourable opinions of the police. While the beat officer has higher morale, greater job satisfaction, and more favourable attitudes towards citizens in their neighbourhood than patrol officers. Some police were sceptical and believed this reduced mobility. Makes it more difficult for them to respond to calls, as well as reducing HQ’s control over them. Seen as a punishment.
What are 2 applications for topic 5?
organised citizens patrol and surveillance.
What is meant by the application: organised citizen patrols?
volunteering to walk the streets and challenge disorder. E.G. ‘the guardian angels’ who’s started a patrol of the New York subway.
How does brown support the application: surveillance?
Investigates the effectiveness of CCTV by comparing crime stats before and after units were installed. CCTIV successfully reduced crime rates. In Newcastle, burglaries were reduced by 56% and criminal damage reduced by 34%. CCTV is most effective where large groups of people congregate.
