Situational Crime Prevention (SCP)

• Situational Crime Prevention (SCP)

  • Specific changes to a location that make petty crime harder to commit or capture more likely.
  • 'Target Hardening' = increasing security around targets of crime
  • E.g. alarms, better locks, anti-climb paint, and CCTV
• Clarke (SCP)

  Cites the use of steering column locks and newer cars having security devices as standard, which significantly reduces car theft.
• Felson (SCP)


  Tried to 'design crime out' of The Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC by increasing brightness, installing a centralised CCTV system, more security, and smaller sinks so the homeless couldn't bathe in them.
• Farrington & Painter (SCP)


  Increased street lighting in Stoke-on-Trent and found crime decreased by 43%. Also encourages more people to go out as they feel safer which further reduces criminal opportunity - 'Diffusion of Benefit'
• SCP Criticism

  In reality SCP leads to the 'displacement' of crime in which it moves to another area. Criminals are inventive and will find another way or place. Felson noted how crime inside the NYC bus station increased but crime around it drastically increased.