Issues In Crime - Crime Prevention And Control

Question 1

Situational crime prevention, RR

Answer 1

Managing the immediate environment.
Focus on increasing efforts of the crime and its risk(e.g. security), and reducing the reward.

Target Hardening measures like locking doors will increase the effort a burglar needs to make. Increased surveillance will increase the risk.
This relates to rational choice theory. Clarke argues most theories do not have a realistic solution.

Supporting Evidence:
Bus station in NYC had opportunities for deviance, drug dealing, graffiti, luggage theft…
Designing crime out (putting lights everywhere, having smaller sinks so the homeless couldn’t sleep in them) reduced such activities.

You can also use the suicide from gassing example.

Question 2

Situational crime prevention AO3:

Answer 2

This solution does not reduce crime, i just displaces it.

Chaiken found a crackdown on robberies in YK subways just moved them to the streets.
Displacement can take several forms:
Spatial - moving somewhere else to commit crime.
Temporal - committing it at a different time.
Target - have a different victim.
Tactics - use a different method.
Functional - commit a different crime.

This theory also only focuses on petty street crime.

Question 3

Environmental crime prevention, RR

Answer 3

Wilson and Kelling’s article, broken windows is the most influential crime prevention article ever written.
They believe the absence of control leads to crime.

Environmental improvements - repair any broken windows, keep everything neat to people are less motivated and fear more security.
ZTP - instead of reacting to crime, tackle the slightest sign of disorder, even if it’s not criminal. This will prevent serious crimes taking place. Punish little crimes to prevent large crimes from happening.

Supporting evidence - clean car program in NYC, cleaning any graffiti from subway cars asap.

Statistics also suggest a broader ZTP approach has been successful in the US. Police cracked down on Squeegee Merchants, many of whom had warrants for violent and property crimes.
Between 1993 & 1996, there was a significant fall in city crime, including a 50% drop in homocide - from 1927 to 986.

Question 4

Environmental Crime Prevention AO3:

Answer 4

There was a decline in major US cities where they did not use ZTP. Suggesting it is not effect in reducing crime.

Ignores the root cause of crime -poverty/poor socialisation.

While crime as homocide fell, attempted homocide remained high. Suggesting a fall in modern rate was due to improved medical services rather than police.

Question 5

Social and Community Crime Prevention

Answer 5

Emphasises the potential offender and their social context to remove the conditions that predispose offenders to crime.
In simpler words, focuses on the person who might commit a crime and their social environment to prevent crime.

They are long term, tacking root causes e.g. poverty, unemployment etc. Police would improve these to prevent crime.

Supporting evidence:
Perry Pre-school project was developed in Michigan targeted at disadvantaged 3-4 year olds. They see offered intellectual enrichment. At age 40 a longitudinal study showed striking differences with a control group, less arrests for crime. More of them had graduated.
One estimate said that for every $1 spent in the program, the state saved $17 on welfare, prison and other costs.