Situational Crime Prevention Summary

In Situational Crime Prevention, Clarke (1995) presents the classification of situational crime prevention techniques by reducing opportunities. The author argues that by increasing associated risks and difficulties as well as reducing rewards to reduce the opportunities for specific crime categories. Clarke (1995) dwells on the theme of immediate circumstances under which crime is committed to help tackle immediate crime problems.
The author discusses three major elements of situational crime prevention: standard methodology for tackling specific crime problems, articulated theoretical framework, and opportunity-reducing techniques. The standard methodology identifies and tries out possible solutions, analyzes and defines problems, and evaluates and disseminates results. The theoretical framework delves on several opportunity theories, such as rational choice perspectives and routine activity. Opportunity-reducing techniques, on the other hand, involve target hardening and other ways of minimizing inducements and deflecting offenders.
Situational Crime Prevention advocates for discrete environmental and managerial change to mitigate the opportunity for crime rather than eliminating delinquent behavior by improving institutions in society. Clarke (1997) seems to promote ways that make crime less attractive to offenders (p.2).
The book’s theme is manipulation, modification, and management of the environment and design. As such, Clarke (1995) sees crime as opportunistic with criminals applying the rational choice model of decision-making to commit crime.
Situational crime prevention involves altering the physical environment to feature measures, for example, improved lighting in public areas, property marking and identification, better streetscape and building design, traffic calming and creation of green belts, and installations of deadlocks and alarms.
Law enforcement and the community can join hands to increase surveillance of neighborhood activities by employment of private security guards in addition to having community watch committees to deter police harassment. Clarke concludes the book by concluding that criminal conduct is influenced by changes in external pressures and
opportunity.
Situational Crime Prevention contributes to reduction of crime, such as vandalism and theft by advocating for increased use of access controls, such as electronic access to buildings, fences, and entry phones. It also allows law enforcement officers to use reduce the probabilities of crime by reducing provocations, frustrations, and stress. Situational crime prevention supports the use of teamwork to effectively prevent robberies by employing place managers and increasing surveillance. The theory’s strength lies in its scope regarding situational aspects which affect crime.
However, situational crime prevention seems to infringe the freedom and privacy of law-abiding citizens thereby penalizing them since it advocates for measures geared towards social inclusion to keep out strangers. Further, Clarke (1995) by promoting the situational crime prevention theory neglects issues of retribution and moral responsibility. Additionally, situational crime prevention is socially and politically naïve since it neglects the role of economic and social inequalities in defining crime. Clarke (1995) does not address the fundamental causes of crime.