CCMS 059:CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGIES

CHAPTER ONE: THE CONCEPT OF CRIME PREVENTION

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

1. Defined crime prevention

2. State factors that lead to occurence of crime

3. Outline important statistical data analysis

techniques to detect fraud

4. Discuss AI techniques for fraud managment.

Crime prevention is the attempt to reduce or deter crime and criminals. It is applied
specifically to efforts made by governments with collaboration of memmbers of public to
reduce crime, enforce the law, and maintain law and order.

Criminologists such as Gottfredson, McKenzie,Eck,Farrington, Sherman, Waller and

others have been at the forefront in analyzing what works to prevent crime. Prestigious
commissions and research bodies, such as the World Health Organization, United Nations,
the United States National Research Council, the UK Audit Commission and so on, have
analyzed their and others' research on what lowers rates of interpersonal crime.

They agree that governments must go beyond law enforcement and criminal justice to tackle
the risk factors that cause crime because it is more cost effective and leads to greater social
benefits than the standard ways of responding to crime. Interestingly, multiple opinion
polls also confirm public support for investment in prevention. Waller uses these materials
in Less Law, More Order to propose specific measures to reduce crime as well as a crime bill.

Some of the highlights of these authorities are set out below with some sources for further
reading. The World Health Organization Guide (2004) complements the World Report on
Violence and Health(2002) and the 2003 World Health Assembly Resolution for governments
to implement nine recommendations, which were:
 1. Create, implement and monitor a national action plan for violence prevention.
2. Enhance capacity for collecting data on violence.
3. Define priorities for, and support research on, the causes, consequences, costs and
prevention of violence.
4. Promote primary prevention responses.
5. Strengthen responses for victims of violence.
6. Integrate violence prevention into social and educational policies, and thereby
promote gender and social equality.
7. Increase collaboration and exchange of information on violence prevention.
8. Promote and monitor adherence to international treaties, laws and other mechanisms
to protect human rights.
9. Seek practical, internationally agreed responses to the global drugs and global arms
trade.

The authoritative commissions agree on the Role of Municipalities, because they are best able
to organize the strategies to tackle the risk factors that cause crime. The Forum for Urban
Safety and the African States of Mayors have stressed that municipalities must target the
programs to meet the needs of youth at risk and women who are vulnerable to violence.

To succeed, they need to establish a coalition of key agencies such as schools, job creation,
social services, housing and law enforcement around a diagnosis.

Several factors that come together for a crime to occur:

1. An individual or group must have the desire or motivation to participate in a banned

or prohibited behavior.
2. At least some of the participants must have the skills and tools needed to commit the
crime.
3. An opportunity must be acted upon.
4. Presence of motivated offender.
5. Absence of the security guard /gurdian around the neighbour.

Primary prevention address individual and family level factors correlated with later criminal
participation. Individual level factors such as attachment to school and involvement in pro-
social activities decrease the probability of criminal involvement.
Family level factors such as consistent parenting skills similarly reduce individual level risk.
Risk factors are additive in nature. The greater the number of risk factors present the greater
the risk of criminal involvement. In addition there are initiatives which seek to alter rates of
crime at the community or aggregate level.

For example, Larry Sherman from the University of Maryland in Policing Domestic Violence
(1993) demonstrated that changing the policy of police response to domestic violence calls
altered the probability of subsequent violence.

Policing hot spots, areas of known criminal activity, decreases the number of criminal events
reported to the police in those areas. Other initiatives include community policing efforts to
capture known criminals. Organizations such as Most Wanted and Crime Stoppers these
help catch the criminals.

Secondary prevention uses techniques focusing on at risk situations such as youth who are
dropping out of school or getting involved in gangs. It targets social programs and law
enforcement at neighborhoods where crime rates are high.

The use of secondary crime prevention in cities such as Birmingham and Bogotá have
achieved large reductions in crime and violence. Programs that are focused on youth at risk
have been shown to significantly reduce crime.

Tertiary prevention is used after a crime has occurred in order to prevent successive incidents.
Such measures can be seen in the implementation of new security policies following acts of
terrorism such the September 11, 2001 attacks at twin towers.

Situational crime prevention uses techniques focusing on reducing on the opportunity to

commit a crime. Some of techniques include:

 Increasing the difficulty of crime.

 Increasing the risk of crime.
 Reducing the rewards of crime.

Situational crime prevention.

Situational crime prevention (SCP)- is a relatively new concept that employs a preventative
approach by focussing on methods to reduce the opportunities for crime. SCP focuses on the
criminal setting and is different from most criminology as it begins with an examination of
the circumstances that allow particular types of crime.
By gaining an understanding of these circumstances, mechanisms are then introduced to
change the relevant environments with the aim of reducing the opportunities for particular
crimes. Thus, SCP focuses on crime prevention rather than the punishment or detection of
criminals and its intention is to make criminal activities less appealing to offenders.

SCP focuses on opportunity-reducing processes that:

 Are aimed at particular forms of crime;

 Entail the management, creation or manipulation of the immediate environment in as
organised and permanent a manner as possible and
 Result in crime being more difficult and risky or less rewarding and justifiable.

The theory behind SCP concentrates on the creation of safety mechanisms that assist in
protecting people by making criminals feel they may be unable to commit crimes or would be
in a situation where they may be caught or detected, which will result in them being unwilling
to commit crimes where such mechanisms are in place. The logic behind this is based on the
concept of rational choice theory-

 That every criminal will assess the situation of a potential crime,

 Weigh up how much they may gain,
 Balance it against how much they may lose and the probability of failing, and
 Then act accordingly.

One example of SCP in practice is automated traffic enforcement. Automated Traffic

Enforcement Systems (ATES) use automated cameras on the roads to catch drivers who are
speeding and those who run red lights. Such systems enjoy use all over the world. These
systems have been installed and are advertised as an attempt to keep illegal driving incidences
down.

As a potential criminal, someone who is about to speed or run a red light knows that their risk
of getting caught is nearly 100% with these systems. This completely disincentivizes the
person from speeding or running red lights in areas in which they know ATES are set up.
Though not conclusive, evidence shows that these type of systems work. In a Europe study,
some of the city's most dangerous intersections had a reduction of 96% in red light violations
after the installation and advertisement of an ATES system.
Applying SCP to Information Systems (IS)

It has been suggested that the theory behind situational crime prevention may also be useful in
improving information systems (IS) security by decreasing the rewards criminals may expect
from a crime. SCP theory aims to affect the motivation of criminals by means of
environmental and situational changes and is based on three elements:

 Increasing the perceived difficulty of crime;

 Increasing the risks; and
 Reducing the rewards.

Information System professionals and others who wish to fight computer crime could use the
same techniques and consequently reduce the frequency of computer crime that targets the
information assets of businesses and organisations.

Designing out crime from the environment is a crucial element of SCP and the most efficient
way of using computers to fight crime is to predict criminal behaviour, which as a result,
makes it difficult for such behaviour to be performed. SCP also has an advantage over other
IS measures because it does not focus on crime from the criminal’s viewpoint. Many
businesses/organisations are heavily dependent on information and communications
technology (ICT) and information is a hugely valuable asset, which means IS has become
increasingly important.

While storing information in computers enables easy access and sharing by users, computer
crime is a considerable threat to such information, whether committed by an external Hacker
(computer security)acker or by an ‘insider’ (a trusted member of a business or organisation).
After viruses, illicit access to and theft of, information form the highest percentage of all
financial losses associated with computer crime and security incidents.

Businesses need to protect themselves against such illegal or unethical activities, which may
be committed via electronic or other methods and IS security technologies are vital in order to
protect against amendment, unauthorised disclosure and/or misuse of information.

Computer intrusion fraud is a huge business with hackers being able to find passwords, read
and alter files and read email, but such crime could almost be eliminated if hackers could be
prevented from accessing a computer system or identified quickly enough.

Despite many years of computer security research, huge amounts of money being spent on
secure operations and an increase in training requirements, there are frequent reports of
computer penetrations and data thefts at some of the most heavily protected computer systems
in the world.

Criminal activities in cyberspace are increasing with computers being used for numerous
illegal activities, including email surveillance, credit card fraud and software piracy.As
the popularity and growth of the Internet continues to increase, many web applications and
services are being set up, which are widely used by businesses for their business transactions.

In the case of computer crime, even cautious companies or businesses that aim to create
effective and comprehensive security measures may unintentionally produce an environment,
which helps provide opportunities because they are using inappropriate
controls. Consequently, if the precautions are not providing an adequate level of security, the
IS will be at risk.

Situational Crime Prevention and Fraud.

In computer systems that have been developed to design out crime from the environment, one
of the tactics used is risk assessment, where business transactions, clients and situations are
monitored for any features that indicate a risk of criminal activity.

Credit card fraud has been one of the most complex crimes worldwide in recent times and
despite numerous prevention initiatives, it is clear that more needs to be done if the problem is
to be solved.

Fraud management comprises a whole range of activities, including early warning systems,
signs and patterns of different types of fraud, profiles of users and their activities, security of
computers and avoiding customer dissatisfaction.

There are a number of issues that make the development of fraud management systems an
extremely difficult and challenging task, including the huge volume of data involved; the
requirement for fast and accurate fraud detection without inconveniencing business
operations; the ongoing development of new fraud to evade existing techniques; and the risk
of false alarms.
Generally, fraud detection techniques fall into two categories:

 Statistical techniques and

 Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.

Important statistical data analysis techniques to detect fraud include:

 Grouping and classification to determine patterns and associations among sets of data.
 Matching algorithms to identify irregularities in the transactions of users compared to
previous profiles.
 Data pre-processing techniques for validation, correction of errors and estimating
incorrect or missing data.

Important AI techniques for fraud management are:

 Data mining to categorise and group data and automatically identify associations and
rules that may be indicative of remarkable patterns, including those connected to fraud.
 Specialist systems to programme expertise for fraud detection in the shape of rules.
 Pattern recognition to identify groups or patterns of behaviour either automatically or to
match certain inputs.
 Machine learning techniques to automatically detect the characteristics of fraud
 Neural networks that can learn suspicious patterns and later identify them.

CHAPTER TWO: APPROACHES TO CRIME PREVENTION

 Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

1. Definition of Crime
2. Crime Prevention and Crime Reduction
3. Definition of Crime Prevention
4. Definition of Crime Reduction
5. Overlap between Crime Prevention and
Reduction
6. Types of Crime Prevention
7. Crime Prevention through Social Development
(CPSD)
8. Crime Prevention through Environmental
Design (CPTED)
9. Situational Crime Prevention
10. Types of Crime Reduction

What is Crime Prevention?

Definition of Crime-Crime is an act or omission that violates the law and is punishable upon
conviction. It includes Criminal Code offences against a person or property, drug offences,
motor vehicle offences and other provincial or federal statute offences. Disorderly behaviour
such as aggressive panhandling, public urination and sleeping in the street are not necessarily
criminal acts, but they do affect communities by a gradual erosion of the quality of life. The
Community Crime Prevention Guide can be used to address both crime and disorderly
behaviour.

Crime typically occurs when three things happen at the same time and in the same space:

1. A motivated offender is present.

2. A suitable target is available.
3. There is either something or someone present which encourages the crime, or nothing or
no-one to discourage it.
A slightly different way to look at this is to say that crime is about people, places and
situations. Crime prevention and reduction strategies try to work on all these elements.

Crime Prevention and Crime Reduction

Crime prevention is a concept that has been used for a long time. A more recent concept is
"crime reduction." The terms are sometimes used interchangeably, which can be confusing.
What follows are descriptions of how the terms are typically used, and how they are used in
this Guide.

The major difference between crime prevention and crime reduction is one of perspective.

Definition of Crime Prevention

In its purest form crime prevention looks at people (usually babies, children and young teens)
who are not involved in criminal activity and asks, "What can we do to make sure they never
come into conflict with the law?"

Crime prevention also looks at places and situations which are not yet troubled by much
criminal activity and asks, "How can we make sure crime never becomes a significant
problem here?" For example, in the early 1980s, a new mining community was being built in
north-eastern British Columbia – Tumbler Ridge. The designers of the town followed
principles which ensured a good flow of foot traffic through all parts of the town, and an easy
view of areas where crime might occur, thus discouraging criminal activity. Because this was
a brand new town, Tumbler Ridge was a classic example of pure crime prevention.

Definition of Crime Reduction

The perspective or starting point for crime reduction is people, places or situations already
known for criminal activity. This can be a group of offenders who have racked up a long
record of assaults and robbery. It might be a residential neighbourhood that has been plagued
by break-ins. Or it could be a situation, such as out-of-control house parties where the peace is
disturbed and underage drinking and sexual exploitation may take place.

Crime reduction starts with assessing the current problem and developing strategies to
decrease the amount of criminal activity, or minimize the harm it causes.

Overlap between Crime Prevention and Reduction

Crime reduction and crime prevention activities can often amount to the same thing. If a
couple of assaults have taken place on a street at night, and better lighting is installed, this will
both prevent future assaults and reduce the rate of assault on that street. It is not often that an
entirely new community can be built from scratch, as in Tumbler Ridge, so most crime
prevention takes place in the context of an existing community where there is some level of
crime already. Therefore, many things done to deal with crime can either be called crime
prevention (preventing future occurrences) or crime reduction (reducing an established crime
problem), depending on your perspective. One form of crime prevention is called "tertiary
crime prevention" and it deals specifically with preventing people already involved in crime
from doing more crime. Some believe this is really crime reduction, but it is an established
concept you will see in the crime prevention literature.

In this guide, we use "crime prevention" when talking about people not involved in crime
now, but who may be at risk of criminal activity in the future. And when looking at places or
situations, where the crime is not at a saturation or crisis point because it is difficult to find
many that are completely untouched by crime, we use "crime prevention".

For the purposes of this guide, the term "crime reduction" is reserved for people already
engaged in criminal activity, and places or situations where crime is an acute problem. When
reading material found elsewhere, please bear in the mind that the terms may be used
interchangeably.

Types of Crime Prevention

Crime prevention can be broken down into people-, place- and situation-oriented strategies.
The latter is often a blend of people and place-oriented strategies. The people-oriented
strategy is usually known as "crime prevention through social development," or CPSD. Place-
oriented strategies are known as "crime prevention through environmental design" or CPTED.
When combined with situational approaches, these strategies form a holistic and effective
crime prevention package.

Crime Prevention through Social Development

Crime Prevention through Social Development (CPSD) involves long-term, integrated actions
that deal with the root causes of crime. Its aim is to reduce risk factors that make people,
particularly children and youth, on the road to crime, and to build protective factors that may
mitigate those risks. The risk factors associated with criminal involvement are also related to
many other social problems, such as child abuse and neglect, drug and alcohol misuse, school
failure, teenage pregnancy, and unemployment. So when people and organizations work to
prevent crime they are also working to make our communities healthy, safe and sustainable in
many respects.

Research shows that certain conditions and experiences may influence whether a person turns
to crime. For example, poor pre-natal care (bad diet, lack of health care and alcohol abuse by
the mother) can lead to low birth weight, fetal alcohol syndrome and other conditions that can
affect a child's physical and mental growth. If children have cognitive problems and have
lacked warm, nurturing care in their early years, they are more susceptible to risky behaviour,
including criminal activity.

CPSD works at making people healthy, responsible and resilient. In a free society, there will
always be opportunities and temptations to do wrong – to take advantage of another person or
a situation for our own benefit. CPSD promotes community values about non violence and
respect for other people and their property, and helps young people resist peer pressure and
make good decisions.

CPSD programming can occur at three levels:

1. At the primary level, crime prevention refers to universal, population-based programs such
as public education and healthcare.
2. At the secondary level, crime prevention refers to programs that target those at higher risk
for criminal activity. This level would include programs for youth at risk of leaving school
and parenting programs for high-risk parents.
3. At the tertiary level, crime prevention refers to rehabilitative and supervision programs for
offenders to reduce re-offending.
Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is about the places and things, the
"built environment," which can be either targets of criminal activity or the location where
crime takes place. The proper design, effective use and maintenance of the built environment
can lead to a reduction in the incidence and fear of crime, and an improvement in quality of
life.

CPTED is complementary to, and inter-related with, CPSD strategies as people live in the
built environment and the built environment influences how people behave.

CPTED is based on the premise that much crime is opportunistic and contextual.
Inadvertently, nuisance and criminal behaviour can be facilitated by poorly planned and
designed space, leading to actual opportunities for crime, as well as increased levels of fear.

Through the effective use of CPTED principles, crime, nuisance behaviour and the fear of
crime can be reduced. Application of CPTED principles to new developments prevents future
problems; and using CPTED enhances problem-solving capability for existing developments.

There are four key CPTED design principles:

1. Natural access control – design that directs and influences the flow of people to naturally
maximize control and surveillance (e.g., exterior and interior design of a building,
landscaping, lighting, and traffic calming).
2. Natural surveillance – design to maximize visibility and ensure legitimate users can
observe and monitor activities around them in a formal or casual manner (e.g., office or
apartment windows with unimpeded sightlines to parking areas or other areas where crime
is likely to occur).
3. Territoriality – design of the physical environment to extend a perceived sense of influence
or territory. People taking ownership of their surroundings makes it more difficult for
offenders to carry out crimes or disorder.
4. Maintenance – enhancement, maintenance and management of the built environment
encourages the users of the area to respect their surroundings (e.g., removing graffiti and
litter, avoiding overgrowth of hedges, fixing inoperative lighting, installing good locks).
Situational Crime Prevention

Situational crime prevention looks at particular circumstances in which people interact with
one another and with the built environment, identifies particularly risky combinations, and
looks for solutions specific to those situations. Solutions may include:

 Increasing the effort required to commit a crime, making it less attractive.

 Increasing the risk of being caught.
 Reducing the potential rewards of crime.
 Reducing provocations and temptations.
 Removing excuses for committing crime.
Some of these solutions involve a combination of people-oriented and place-oriented
strategies that overlap with crime prevention through social development or environmental
design.

An example of situational crime prevention might address problems associated with

intoxicated people leaving bars at closing time, such as fights and impaired driving.
Situational solutions include education of bar staff and patrons about responsible drinking;
regulations addressing the number, size and location of bars and their closing times; police
presence at closing times; and availability of public transport.

Problems with credit cards might be addressed by increased security features on the cards
themselves, business practices which require verification that the person presenting the card is
the owner, bank procedures to rapidly cancel stolen cards, to limit the profit the thieves can
make, and police action which targets known credit card thieves.

Types of Crime Reduction

As with crime prevention, crime reduction activities can focus on people, places or situations.

Because crime reduction is focussed on existing criminals, crime locations and situations, it
relies heavily on information or intelligence which describes those people, places and
situations in great deal. What are the characteristics of the offenders, and the factors that
support their criminal activity? What are the patterns of criminal activity – the frequency,
times, locations, targets, and circumstances of the activity? In crafting a response that will
reduce the activity, a number of partners are typically involved, and the timeliness and
integration of the response is important. Examples of crime reduction include:

 Prolific offender management is a people-oriented strategy that focuses on offenders

who are seen as the generators of the most offences. Generally, about 10 per cent of
offenders are believed responsible for about 50 per cent of crime. Prolific offender
management projects bring together resources from enforcement agencies (police,
corrections and Crown), as well as health and social services to provide services to
offenders. The goal is to address factors in offenders' lives that can increase their
likelihood of offending, such as drug or alcohol use, and ensure an effective response when
they re-offend or relapse.
 Targeting crime "hot spots" or geographic areas where there are high levels of crime, is
primarily a place-oriented strategy. This could include increasing police presence or
applying CPTED principles, such as changing traffic patterns. Hot spot strategies can align
with people-oriented strategies. For example offenders who have court-ordered restrictions
on where they can be, when they can be out, and who they can associate with, may be
checked by police more frequently in hot spots, thus discouraging attendance.
 Managing major public gatherings that have a history of problems such as public
intoxication, accidents and fights, is a situational strategy. Careful planning of the event
from a crime reduction perspective would involve event organizers, police, municipal
officials, first aid providers and others to ensure opportunities for crime are minimized,
supervision and deterrence is maximized and rapid response to emergencies is available.
Crime prevention approaches, theory and mechanisms
Crime prevention refers to the range of strategies that are implemented by individuals,
communities, businesses, non-government organisations and all levels of government to target
the various social and environmental factors that increase the risk of crime, disorder and
victimisation (AIC 2003; ECOSOC 2002; IPC 2008; Van Dijk & de Waard 1991). There are a
variety of different approaches to crime prevention that differ in terms of the focus of the
intervention, the types of activities that are delivered, the theory behind how those activities
are designed to bring about the desired results and the mechanisms that are applied.

Various models have been developed to categorise the broad range of activity that falls within
the definition of crime prevention (Brantingham & Faust 1976; Crawford 1998; ECOSOC
2002; Sutton, Cherney & White 2008; Tonry & Farrington 1995). Understanding the different
approaches to crime prevention is important, as there are implications for determining the
appropriate institutional and management arrangements necessary to support specific crime
prevention interventions (Weatherburn 2004). An understanding of the different approaches
available and their underlying rationale and theory is also crucial to developing effective
crime prevention programs and projects (Eck 2005; Homel 2009a).

The environmental approach, which includes situational crime prevention techniques and
broader urban planning initiatives, aims to modify the physical environment to reduce the
opportunities for crime to occur (Crawford 1998; Hughes 2007; Sutton, Cherney & White
2008). The social approach focuses on the underlying social and economic causes of crime in
the community (eg lack of social cohesion, limited access to housing, employment, education
and health services) and on limiting the supply of motivated offenders, and includes
developmental prevention and community development models (Crawford 1998; ECOSOC
2002; Hope 1995; Hughes 2007; Sutton, Cherney & White 2008; Weatherburn 2004). The
criminal justice approach refers to various programs delivered by police, the courts and
corrections that aim to prevent recidivism among those people who have already engaged in
offending behaviour and who have come into contact with the criminal justice system
(ECOSOC 2002; UNODC 2010).

In this section of the report, a brief outline is provided of the theory underlying environmental
and social approaches to crime prevention (as these fall within the scope of the current
research project), the principles underpinning effective strategies and a brief summary of the
evidence in support of the different approaches. This information was used to assess whether
there was a sound theoretical basis underpinning the interventions that had been evaluated.
 The concept of mechanisms and the CCO, which was an important component of the AIC’s
classification framework for this review, are then explained. While an understanding of theory
was important in the selection of strategies for inclusion in this review, the CCO provides a
useful framework to understand how the interventions delivered a reduction in the targeted
crimes (if at all) and to assist the transfer of these interventions to other contexts.

Environmental crime prevention

The environmental approach seeks to change the specific characteristics of the environment
that may cause criminal events to occur. This includes both situational approaches to crime
prevention and broader planning initiatives, and aims to reduce crime by designing and/or
modifying the physical environment to reduce the opportunities for crime to occur (Sutton,
Cherney & White 2008).

Situational crime prevention

Situational crime prevention is based upon the premise that crime is often opportunistic and
aims to modify contextual factors to limit the opportunities for offenders to engage in criminal
behaviour (Tonry & Farrington 1995). Situational prevention comprises a range of measures
that highlight the importance of targeting very specific forms of crime in certain
circumstances (Clarke 1997). This involves identifying, manipulating and controlling the
situational or environmental factors associated with certain types of crime (Cornish & Clarke
2003). It is also based upon assumptions regarding the nature of offending and of offenders
(Cornish & Clarke 2003). Underlying the situational approach are four key elements,
including:

 three key opportunity theories—routine activity, crime pattern and rational choice theory;
 an action research methodology that involves analysing of specific crime problems and
contributing factors, identifying possible responses, selecting and implementing of the most
appropriate or promising response and evaluating and disseminating the results;
 a classification of 25 situational prevention techniques; and
 a growing body of evaluated projects and examples of different types of strategies (such as
those available on the Problem-Oriented Policing Center website: www.popcenter.org), which
helps to inform the selection and design of specific interventions (Clarke 2005).

The focus of the three key opportunity theories is actually quite different. Under routine
activity theory, three critical elements must occur simultaneously for a criminal event to take
 place—a motivated offender, a suitable target and the absence of a capable guardian (Clarke
1997). The theory seeks to explain how societal changes can impact upon opportunities for
crime (Sutton, Cherney & White 2008). Crime pattern theory seeks to explain the influence of
communities and neighbourhoods, and focuses on how offenders may come across
opportunities for crime in the course of their everyday lives (Clarke 2005). Rational choice
theory has a more individualistic focus and explores the decision-making processes that lead
to an offender choosing to become involved in crime or specific criminal events, including
weighing up the relative risks and rewards associated with offending (Clarke 2005; 1997).

Situational crime prevention interventions include activities such as improved security

through strengthening locks and improving surveillance. Cornish and Clarke (2003) have
classified 25 situational crime prevention techniques into five broad categories that are based
on the mechanisms underlying the different methods:

 increasing the effort involved in offending;

 increasing the risk associated with offending;
 reducing the rewards that come from committing a crime;
 reducing situational factors that influence the propensity of an individual to offend; and
 removing excuses for offending behaviour.

This relative simple classification scheme provides a useful framework for describing the
range and variety of situational techniques on offer to those working in crime prevention
(Cornish & Clarke 2003).

Important lessons for the implementation of situational crime prevention projects (taken from
the UK experience where situational approaches have been common), include that it:

 works most effectively when it is targeted at a specific crime problem in a specific context;
 involves a thorough and systematic analysis of current and emerging crime problems and their
causes and risk factors that is based on accurate and wide-ranging sources of information and
has analysts with the capacity to interpret the data;
 requires appropriate consultation mechanisms to seek input from stakeholders and the
community into the development of strategies that are likely to require their action,
involvement or cooperation; and
 requires strong project management skills, a comprehensive implementation plan that
describes the key stages in project delivery and the interrelationships between different but
complementary interventions, and a committee made up of representatives from key
stakeholder groups to oversee project development, implementation and review (Marshall,
Smith & Tilley 2004)

There is considerable evidence of the effectiveness of situational crime prevention in reducing

crime, both in Australia and overseas. Despite there being limitations in the evaluation
literature, a review of the evidence by Eck (2006a) showed that opportunity reduction
measures can reduce crime in many circumstances with little evidence of displacement. An
evaluation of the UK Reducing Residential Burglary Initiative found that areas where more
money had been invested in situational prevention rather than offender-focused prevention
and those that were flexible in their delivery, were generally more successful in reducing
residential burglary (Hope et al. 2004). While there is insufficient evidence to determine the
most cost-effective approach in modifying environmental conditions to prevent crime, there is
sufficient evidence that situational crime prevention is an economically efficient strategy in
reducing crime (Welsh & Farrington 2001).

There are some notable exceptions. A recent systemic review concluded that CCTV has a
modest but significant positive effect on crime, but that it is most effective in reducing crime
in car parks and when targeted at vehicle crimes (Welsh & Farrington 2008). Further, the cost
of establishing, maintaining and monitoring a CCTV system can be prohibitively expensive,
and potentially exceed any financial savings that might result from a reduction in property
crime (Clancey 2010). Taken together, these results lend support for the continued use of
CCTV to prevent crime in public space, but suggest that it needs to be more narrowly targeted
than its present use would indicate (Welsh & Farrington 2008).

Urban design and planning

Broader planning initiatives include CPTED and urban renewal projects, and seek to reduce
the opportunities for crime through the design and management of the built and landscaped
environment (Crowe 1991; Schneider & Kitchen 2007). Crime prevention is being recognised
as an increasingly important consideration in urban regeneration programs (Schneider &
Kitchen 2007). This includes strategies that involve modifying the built environment to create
safer places that are less crime prone or can make people feel safer (such as by designing
public spaces that encourage large numbers of users and provide greater natural surveillance,
or by designing pedestrian thoroughfares that are well lit and do not create places for potential
offenders to hide). CPTED has a major influence on crime prevention policy and practice in
 Australia and in other parts of the world, and a number of state, territory and local
governments now have specific planning policies that incorporate CPTED principles or
guidelines (Bodson et al. 2008).

Experience has shown that CPTED:

 needs to be integrated as part of a broader crime prevention strategy targeting other risk
factors and neighbourhood problems, which requires community involvement, partnerships
and the coordination of activities;
 is underpinned by a number of important principles such as natural surveillance, territoriality,
sustainability and vulnerability of public spaces, and these principles should drive design
decisions;
 should be focused at both the macro (overall design of the built environment) and micro level
(finer details);
 should be applied to both public initiatives and private developments, and involves careful
management of the relationship between public and private space;
 requires a balance between competing interests, such as between privacy and security; and
 requires the involvement of different design-related professional disciplines (Queensland
Government 2007; NZ Ministry of Justice 2003).

The evidence in support of CPTED is growing, although unlike other approaches to crime
prevention, CPTED has not been systematically evaluated (Shaftoe & Read 2005). A recent
review suggests that there is some evidence that CPTED is a promising approach, although
this evidence is not definitive and has attracted criticism (Cozens, Saville & Hillier 2005).
Research has demonstrated that there is a strong relationship between certain characteristics
of the built environment and crime levels, although the research into certain relationships
(such as the relationship between through-movement and connectivity and crime) has been
inconsistent (Armitage 2011a). While further research into the impact of CPTED is
warranted, there is sufficient evidence to support the application of CPTED principles, as well
as environmental safety assessments more broadly, as a key consideration in the development
of the built environment, including new development proposals and urban regeneration
initiatives.

Social crime prevention

 Rather than focusing on the physical environment, social crime prevention is most commonly
directed at trying to influence the underlying social and economic causes of crime, as well as
offender motivation. This approach tends to include crime prevention measures that take some
time to produce the intended results. This may include action to improve housing, health and
educational achievement, as well as improved community cohesion through community
development measures.

Developmental crime prevention

Developmental crime prevention initiatives are becoming increasingly popular in Australia

(Weatherburn 2004). There has been considerable investment in early intervention programs
in Australia, many of which do not have explicit crime prevention objectives (Homel et al.
1999; Weatherburn 2004). Developmental crime prevention is based on the premise that
intervening early in a young person’s development can produce significant long-term social
and economic benefits. While there is evidence of the importance of intervening early in life,
the focus of developmental crime prevention is on intervening early at any of a number of
critical transition points in a person’s development to lead them on a pathway to prevent
future offending. Transition points occur around birth, the preschool years, transition from
primary to high school and from high school to further education or the workforce (Homel et
al. 1999).

Early intervention aims to address risk factors and enhance protective factors that impact upon
the likelihood that a young person will engage in future offending behaviour (Homel et al.
1999). Risk and protective factors can be categorised into child factors, family factors, school
context, life events and community and cultural factors (Homel et al. 1999). Developmental
programs aim to identify, measure and manipulate risk and protective factors that research has
confirmed are important in predicting future offending (Homel 2005). In practical terms,
developmental crime prevention involves providing basic services or resources to individuals,
families, schools or communities to minimise the impact of risk factors on the development of
offending behaviours (Homel 2005). Most often these resources and services are directed
towards disadvantaged or ‘vulnerable’ families with young children.

Several factors have been identified as contributing to the successful implementation of

developmental crime prevention initiatives, including:

 the importance of timing and intervening at critical junctures, such as times of stress or when
people are open to external influences (which may not mean early in life);
 the need to target multiple risk factors due to their cumulative impact, with bias towards those
factors regarded as having the greatest impact, and to target multiple offence types;
 the need to be sensitive to the needs of the local area (including the need to be culturally
sensitive), involve and empower the community (in decision making, as volunteers and as
paid professionals) and identify local change agents;
 the importance of detailed assessments of community readiness (the presence of existing
partnerships and management structures, leadership stability, community engagement and
support for and commitment to prevention), which is a key component of programs such as
Communities that Care (Crow et al. 2004);
 the importance of strategies to make programs accessible, keep people involved and to avoid
stigmatising at-risk young people or families;
 the value of partnerships and coordination between new and existing service providers,
whether they rely on formal interagency structures or more simple arrangements; and
 the requirement for longer term investment, as the benefits of developmental crime prevention
are not immediate (Crow et al. 2004; Homel et al. 1999).

Evidence from a small (but growing) number of comprehensive evaluation studies has
demonstrated the long term effectiveness of early intervention in achieving significant
reductions in participant’s involvement in crime, as well as improvements in areas such as
educational performance, child maltreatment, workforce participation, child and youth
behaviour, income and substance abuse (Homel 2005). In addition to the obvious social
benefits, these outcomes are also associated with significant financial savings, both for the
community and the participant (Homel et al. 2006; Schweinhart et al. 2004). The savings
produced by early intervention programs include reductions in welfare assistance, decreased
need for special education, increases in income tax revenue from the higher wages of
participants (due to improved educational attainment), reduced operational costs to the
criminal justice system and reduced costs to victims (Homel et al. 2006).

Conversely, at least one study has demonstrated long term negative outcomes for participants
and the problems of stigmatising participants as being ‘at risk’ or delinquent (Homel R 2005).
Further, despite the increased popularity of early intervention as a crime prevention strategy
with promising results, evidence of long term cost effectiveness has been limited to a small
number of overseas studies and one notable Australian example. Nevertheless, taken as a
whole, research into the impact of developmental crime prevention suggests that intervening
 early in a young person’s development is a promising strategy in improving the life course
development of at-risk children and their families, and in reducing the long-term costs
associated with delinquency and future criminal offending (Schweinhart et al. 2004; Welsh &
Farrington 2001).

Community development

Community development is premised on the notion that changing the physical or social
organisation of communities may influence the behaviour of individuals who live there
(Tonry & Farrington 1995). The risk of becoming involved in crime, or being victimised, is
greater in those communities that experience high levels of social exclusion or a lack of social
cohesion. Also underlying the community development approach is the belief that crime in a
particular community is not primarily or solely the result of the actions of a small number of
criminogenically disposed individuals, but the result of the coincidence of a series of
structural determinants present within particular communities (eg differential rates of access
to housing, employment, education and health services, among other factors; Bennet 1998;
Welsh & Hoshi 2006). The underlying assumption is that if these crime-promoting structural
stress factors can be relieved, reconfigured or removed, then crime will be reduced (Hope
1995). Community development strategies can aim to build social cohesion and address
factors leading to community disorganisation, empower communities to participate in
decision-making processes, increase resources, services and economic opportunities in
disadvantaged communities or address low level physical or social disorder that may be a
precursor to more serious problems (Bennet 1998; Lane & Henry 2004; Welsh & Hoshi
2006). Community development programs that focus on strengthening informal networks and
enhancing community structures have the potential to build community capacity, which can,
in turn, provide opportunities to mobilise communities to address local crime problems.

The implementation of community-wide programs has proven difficult due to the challenges
of rolling out these types of programs on a broader scale, including problems associated with
engaging the wider community (or even identifying who the ‘community’ is) and maintaining
their involvement (Bushway & Reuter 2006). For example, cooperation and participation can
be lacking in highly disorganised communities, who might benefit most from these types of
programs. Community development-type programs are more likely to be effective when they:

 identify communities at need based on evidence and community consultation, and analyse
factors that may contribute to social disadvantage or exclusion;
 take into consideration a community’s capacity to implement change and level of social
disorganisation;
 increase opportunities to participate and promote community involvement and consultation in
program design and decision making, as well as in the management of activities that impact
on, either directly or indirectly, those social conditions believed to sustain crime in residential
settings;
 encourage representation from diverse groups, particularly those community members most at
risk of being marginalised;
 coordinate efforts between agencies across government and non-government sectors to target
multiple areas of disadvantage, supported by neighbourhood regeneration;
 are provided with ongoing support (including human, financial and physical resources); and
 regularly review progress to ensure that initiatives remain on track (Forrest, Myhill & Tilley
2005; Hayes, Gray & Edwards 2008; Johnson, Headey & Jensen 2005; Social Inclusion Unit
2009).

When compared with situational or developmental approaches, there is limited evidence of

the effectiveness of efforts to modify community level factors to reduce crime (Tonry &
Farrington 1995). Hope (1995: 22) observed that ‘…much of the effort to alter the structure of
communities in order to reduce crime has not been noticeably successful or sustainable’.
There is some evidence that neighbourhood level interventions to address issues related to
economic and social regeneration in deprived areas in the United Kingdom (as part of the
New Deal for Communities Programme) resulted in reductions in crime and fear, and
increased satisfaction with the local area (Pearson et al. 2008). However, these interventions
were not subject to rigorous testing.

Crime prevention mechanisms

To accurately identify and share information on the types of mechanisms used in the studies
reviewed as part of this project, a consistent and comprehensive framework was required for
classifying the mechanisms underpinning the various interventions that have been evaluated.
Without a clear framework for their classification, it would be difficult to describe an
intervention in a way that can be shared and potentially replicated in another crime prevention
strategy. For this reason, the CCO was chosen as the conceptual framework for this
review.The CCO framework has been developed to provide a common point of reference to
facilitate the effective and efficient transfer of knowledge about the principles underpinning
the full range of prevention strategies, as well as to help inform the choice of interventions by
practitioners and policymakers (Ekblom 2010, 2002). The CCO framework allows for
interventions to be classified in accordance with one or more identified precursors for crime
and disorder events (see Table 4). These classifications take into consideration both social and
environmental causes (reflecting the range of approaches to crime prevention described
above). For each precursor, a corresponding principle of prevention is also identified.

However, the CCO does not explicitly identify the specific causal mechanisms that explain
how an intervention aims to bring about the desired outcomes. The mechanism is the theory
that explains how the intervention is intended to prevent or reduce crime through targeting
specific precursors for criminal events. To overcome this limitation, the AIC has extrapolated
the CCO to identify eleven common mechanisms underpinning different prevention strategies
(as shown in Table 4).