Situational Crime Prevention (SCP)

Clarke 1992 — 3 elements of SCP

1. Pre-emptive

2. Reduction of crime opportunities

3. NOT: improving society/societal institutions

Clarke — 3 elements of SCP measures

1. Directed at specific crimes

2. Manage/alter the immediate environment of crime

3. Aim to increase the efforts/risks and reduce the rewards of crime

Example of target hardening that increases effort of crime

• Locking doors and windows

Example of target hardening that increases risks of crime

• Surveillance in shops e.g. CCTV, security guards

  • More risk of getting caught

Example of target hardening that reduces rewards of crime

• Coin operated gas metres → prepayment cards

SCP and rational choice theory

• SCP = application of RCT

RCT

• Contrasts to root cause theories that focus on socialisation and exploitation

CRTICISMS of root cause theories — Clarke

• Unrealistic

Clarke — alternative to root cause theories

• Focus on immediate crime situation as allows for better prevention

  • If increase in crime is because it’s opportunistic, then we should reduce opportunities

Felson 2002 — example of SCP

• Re-design of Port authority Bus Terminal in NYC

Felson 2002 — PABT before

• Toilets used for luggage theft, sex, drugs and rough sleeping

Felson 2002 — PABT after its redesign

• Large sinks made smaller so can’t bathe in them

CRITICISM of SCP

• Doesn’t reduce crime but displaces it

  • If criminals = rational, surely they would take target hardening as an opportunity to move to softer targets

Example of displacement — Chaiken et al 1975

• Crackdown on NYC subway robberies → more street robberies

5 forms of displacement

1. Spatial, i.e. moving elsewhere

2. Temporal, i.e. taking place at another time

3. Target, i.e. change of victim

4. Tactical, i.e. change of method

5. Functional, i.e. change in type of crime

Example of success of SCP (i.e. no displacement)

• ½ decline in suicides due to gassing after gas supply changed from coal (toxic) → natural gas

  • 1960s-1997 — almost 0 suicides from gassing

• No displacement of gassing to other methods and a decline in suicides overall

3 CRITICISMS of SCP

1. Focuses on W/C crime, not violence/drugs/alcohol

2. Assumes rationality, which isn’t always the case when someone’s taken something

3. Ignores root causes of crime and thus cannot find long-term solutions