Crime Prevention & Control

• Situational Crime Prevention- Clarke

  A pre-emptive approach, relying on reducing the opportunities for crime, they don't focus on improving society or its institutions. They are directed at specific crimes. Involving managing or altering the immediate environment of the crime. Aim to increase the effort and risks of committing, and reducing the rewards. E.g. 'target hardening' such as locking doors to increase the effort of burglars, and CCTV or security guards which increase their chances of being caught.
• Situational Crime Prevention- Clarke

  Basis of explanation: takes an 'opportunity' or rational choice theory (Right Realism) of crime. Seeing criminals as acting rationally, weighing up the costs and benefits before deciding. Contrasting the 'root theories' like socialisation or capitalism. Instead of then changing the socialisation of young children, or starting a revolution, Clarke argues that these theories offer no realistic solution. Seeing the scope of prevention as greatest in the immediate situation, hence reducing opportunities.
• Situational Crime Prevention Example- Felson

  The Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC was poorly designed and provided opportunities for deviant conduct. E.g. toilets were a setting for luggage thefts, rough sleeping, drug dealing, sexual activity. Re-shaping the physical environment to 'design crime out' greatly reduced such activity. E.g. large sinks, were the homeless were bathing, were replaced by small hand basins.
• AO3: Situational Crime Prevention- Displacement

  If this approach assumes criminals are acting rationally, they will then respond to target hardening by moving to an area where opportunity is available. Chaiken et al found a crackdown on NY subway robberies merely displaced them to the streets above.
• AO3: Situational Crime Prevention- Types of Displacement

  Spatial- moving elsewhere to commit; Temporal- committing at a different time; Target- choosing a different victim; Tactical- using a different method; and Functional- committing a different type of crime.
• AO3: Situational Crime Prevention- Real World Example

  An example of the success of situational measures- though not about crime- is a reduction in suicide. In 1960s, 1/2 of all suicides in UK were the result of gassing. Though as the coal gas was gradually replaced by less toxic natural gas, the suicides from gassing had fallen to near zero. Moreover, the overall suicide rate declined, meaning those who were suicidal didn't select another method- there was no displacement.
• AO3: Situational Crime Prevention

  Focuses on opportunistic petty street crime and ignores white collar, corporate and state crime which are most costly and harmful. It assumes criminals make rational calculation- though this seems unlikely in many crimes of violence, and crimes committed under the influence. Ignores the root cause of crime, such as poverty or poor socialisation, making it hard to develop a long-term strategy for reducing crime.
• Environmental Crime Prevention- Wilson & Kelling (Right Realism)

  'Broken Windows'- they argue that leaving various signs of disorder (noise, graffiti, begging, littering) then sends a signal that no one cares. There is an absence of formal social control (police) and informal social control (community). Police are only concerned with serious crime, ignoring nuisance behaviour which makes respectable community members feel powerless. Without remedial action, the situation deteriorates and causes a spiral of decline. Respectable people leave and the area is a target for deviants.
• Environmental Crime Prevention- Zero Tolerance Policing

  Wilson & Kelling- disorder and absence of controls lead to crime. Their solution is a twofold strategy. First, environmental improvement strategy- any sign of disorder (like a broken window or abandoned cars) must be repaired or moved immediately, else more will follow. Secondly, police must adopt a zero tolerance policing strategy- tackling the slightest sign of disorder to prevent serious crime taking root.
• Environmental Crime Prevention- Real World Example

  Great successes have come from zero tolerance policing, for example the 'Clean Car Programme' in New York subways. Where cars were taken out of service immediately if they had graffiti on them, only returned once clean. As a result, graffiti was largely removed from the subway.
• AO3: Environmental Crime Prevention

  It only deals with the symptoms, not the cause (Left Realist/Marxist). It only targets working class people and street crime rather than the corporate or white collar crime (Marxist). The idea of the Displacement Theory.
• Social & Community Crime Prevention- Left Realist

  Places emphasis firmly on the potential offender and their social context- the aim is to remove the conditions which predispose individuals to crime initially. These are long-term strategies as they tackle the root cause for offending (like poverty, unemployment, poor housing). More general reform strategies, even if it isn't their main focus, tend to reduce crime as a 'side effect' (e.g. policies to promote full employment).
• Social & Community Crime Prevention- Real World Example

  The Perry Pre-School Project: a project for disadvantaged Black children in Michigan. An experimental group of 3-4 year olds were offered a 2 year intellectual enrichment programme, and received weekly home visits. Longitudinal study then tracked pupils progress; finding that by the age of 40 they had significantly fewer lifetime arrests for violent/property/drug crime, and more graduated and were employed than the control group. Every dollar spent on the programme saved $17 on the cost of welfare/prison.
• AO3: Social & Community Crime Prevention

  Assumes a value consensus within a community and ignores issues such as relative deprivation and institutional racism which can limit the effectiveness of community and social policies. It too doesn't offer a solution for corporate and white collar crimes.