Features of neighbourhoods to prevent crime

• What is crime prevention?

  • Attempt to reduce crime and deter crime, often applied by governments to tackle crime in society e.g. security guards, surveillance, alarms
• What evidence shows that crime prevention has had a positive effect?

  • Crime Survey for England & Wales (CSEW) reported crime fell by 35% between 2010 and 2016 partially due to better preventative strategies
• Outline Modern Crime Prevention Strategy

  • Opportunity - remove opportunities to offend
  • Character - intervening early with those exposed to factors that increase likelihood of criminal behaviour
  • Effectiveness of Criminal Justice System - ensure deterrence
  • Profit - make it harder for criminals to benefit financially from crime
  • Drugs - new strategy to restrict supply and tackle organised crime behind drugs
  • Alcohol - make safer to consume without fear of becoming a victim
• What did Newman argue about crime and features of neighbourhoods?

  Newman:

  • When residential areas have little or no defensible space, residents will be less satisfied with their neighbourhood and there will be in increase in crime
  • Newman set about defensible space in housing projects
• Outline Defensible Space theory

  • Territorality - creating zones where residents have sense of ownership - fencing, paving changes to indicate zones of privacy
  • Natural surveillance - residents should see what is happening in neighbourhood with unobstructed views of communal areas - windows, balconies, lighting
  • Image - physical attributes making housing developments defendable - regular maintenance improving building appearance, pride
  • Milieu - making most of development’s location close to communal areas - entryways visible from road natural surveillance + residents identify strangers
• How did Newman establish defensible space?

  • Look at 2 housing projects 1972
  • IV 1 - Van Dyke high rise flats, IV 2 - Brownside series of walk up buildings w/ courtyards in middle
  • Similar social density 288 ppl per acre
  • Looked at differences between & why
  • Van Dyke higher levels of crime & graffiti
  • Brownside lower as natural surveillance with gardens & windows and courtyards making strangers easily identified, territorality as fences around gardens, image as look after own garden shows people care
• Outline how broken windows theory established

  Zimbardo:

  • Experiment
  • Abandoned car in Bronx (rough) + Palo Alto California (affluent)
  • Bronx - 10 mins started stealing parts & entertainment smashing windows
  • Palo Alto - nothing for more than week & Zimbardo smashed window then passersby started wrecking car with hammer
  • Consistency in finding external reliability

  Wilson & Kelling:

  • Took notice & developed broken windows theory
• Outline broken windows theory

  Wilson & Kelling

  • Unrepaired broken window, vandals soon break remaining windows
  • Broken window sends signal nobody in charge, breaking more windows costs nothing, no consequences to breaking more windows
  • Broken windows metaphor for behavioural norms breaking down a community e.g. One person does drugs others start
  • Once people start disregarding usual prosocial norms that keep order in a community crime will increase
• Outline zero tolerance approach

  Bratton

  • Based on broken windows
  • Bratton NYPD chief - USA - ethnocentrism
  • Policing strategy to prevent development of antisocial norms - relentless order maintenance and aggressive law enforcement even against minor crimes like littering
• Outline quality of life initiative

  Bratton

  • Sent 8-10 officers to NY subway & arrest 10-20 fare dodgers at a go as message to others not getting away with it
  • Bratton took on 7000 new officers & apprehended offenders for minor offences e.g. graffiti and emphasised as a priority
  • 1st targeted “squeegees” washing windscreens without invitation & expecting to be paid and arrested those caught doing it
  • Described as assertive policing - offences previously ignored now paid attention to and dealt with
• How effective was quality of life initiative?

  • 1992 arrests for serious crime down by 25% - Bratton & Kelling credit due to zero tolerance policy, concluded serious crime fallen as less mugging & murder in NY
  • Evidence as successful crime prevention strategy on streets of NY and quickly adopted by other police depts. & crime fell in USA for 5 years after
  • Other factors might account e.g. Increased police resources as more officers & increased effort
  • Quality of life only 1 of number of policies Bratton introduced - difficult to establish casual link between zero tolerance & crime reduction
• What did other researchers believe about zero tolerance?

  Pratt et al

  • Order maintenance policing can have negative consequences & criticised for causing tension e.g. stop & search overuse lead to resentment by citizens who object

  Pollard

  • Cautions when zero tolerance involves heavy handed aggression - may be short term improvement but risk in alienating communities long term

  Kelling

  • Broken windows + zero tolerance positive impact
• Outline Newton’s Law of Crime

  Newton

  • Was it down to mean reversion - NY had largest increase in crime due to crack cocaine culture which peaked in early 90s and large declines were expected
  • Wasn’t just due to police strategies and could just be what goes up must eventually come down