Assess Sociological Views on Crime Prevention Strategies

Assess sociological views on crime prevention strategies * Many variations of crime reduction methods * Situational crime prevention * Environmental crime prevention * Social and community crime prevention * First situational crime * Ron Clarke 1992 * Defined as “a pre-emptive approach that relies, not on improving society or its institutions, but simply on reducing society or its institutions, but simply reducing opportunities for crime” * 3 features of measures aimed at situational crime prevention * Directed at specific crimes * Involve managing altering the immediate environment of the crime * Aim at increasing the effort and risks of committing crime and reducing the rewards * Target hardening – cctv surveillance, locking doors, gated areas etc * Make it harder to commit crimes and the rewards of committing those crimes reduced * The theory of weighing up the benefits and costs of committing these specific crimes (rational choice theory – right realism) * Most crime is opportunistic and so we need to reduce the opportunities * Marcus Felson 1998 – example – The Port Authority Bus Terminalin New York City was poorly designed and provided opportunities for deviant conduct. For example, the toilets were a setting for luggage thefts, rough sleeping, drug dealing and homosexual liasions. Ways to improve it and re-shape the environment….smaller sinks where homeless people can no longer bath in. * Criticism – they do not reduce crime, they displace it. E.g. if criminals act rationally they will move away form areas where there is target hardening and would go to areas where there is less cctv or surveillance, gated areas etc * (possibly put in) displacement can take many forms – spatial – moving elsewhere to commit crime * Temporal – committing it at a different time * Target - choosing a different victim * Tactical – using a different method * Functional – committing a different type of crime * Environmental crime prevention – based on James Q. Wilson and George Kelling’s article Broken windows * Zero tolerance policing – Wilson+kellings key idea is that “disorder and the absence of controls leads to crime. * Solution is to crack down on any disorder using a twofold strategy – first environmental improvement strategy – any broken window should be repaired immediately, abandoned cars should be towed without delay, otherwise more crimes of this nature will follow and the neighbourhood will be on the slide * Secondly – the police should adopt a zero tolerance policing strategy – instead of merely reacting to crime, they should tackle the slightest offence/ disorder even if it is not criminal. Therefore halting neighbourhood decline * Good success of zero tolerance policing especially in New York – however not clear how far the zero tolerance was the cause of the improvements * The NYPD benefited from 7,000 extra officers * There was a general decline in crime rate across cities in the US at the time, even in areas where the zer tol pol wasn’t followed * Early 90’s high unemployment…however in 1994 onwards more jobs have been created * However policy is very influential globally, but especially in UK as it has influences New Labour’s anti-social behaviour policies