Situational Crime Prevention Notes

Situational Crime Prevention

• Situational crime prevention is a crime prevention method developed by Ron Clarke at the UK Home Office in the 1970s and 1980s. It is rooted in the idea that crime is not simply a result of deep-seated social or psychological issues but is also influenced by immediate environmental factors.

• It precedes the articulation and development of the rational choice perspective, which emphasizes that offenders make calculated decisions based on the available information and perceived risks and rewards.

• It posits that crime results from opportunities and provocations, meaning that the presence of easily accessible targets and situations that incite criminal behavior play a significant role in crime occurrence.

• Situational crime prevention aims to block opportunities for crime by manipulating the environment through design or management. The goal is to make committing a crime more difficult or less appealing; this can involve physical changes to the environment, procedural changes, or changes in how an environment is managed.

• It intervenes in the rational decision-making process of offenders, altering their risk-reward calculations by increasing risk or reducing reward. This intervention can deter potential offenders by making the perceived costs of committing a crime outweigh the potential benefits

• To be effective, situational crime prevention must target specific forms of crime in specific locations, requiring a micro-focus. Generic approaches are often less effective because they fail to address the specific factors that contribute to crime in a particular setting.

• It necessitates breaking down a crime problem into sub-problems to understand the mechanisms driving it. This involves analyzing the specific circumstances, motivations, and methods associated with different types of crime.

  • For instance, robbery varies in motivation and mechanism, such as robberies involving school kids versus intoxicated bar patrons or robberies for mobile phones versus revenge. Each of these scenarios requires a different situational crime prevention strategy.

• Altering the offender's perceptions is a central goal of situational crime prevention.

  • Increase the offender's perceived effort, time, energy, and resources required to commit the crime. This may involve increasing physical barriers, improving surveillance, or implementing stricter rules and procedures.

  • Increase their perception of the risks involved. This can be achieved through greater police presence, improved lighting, or the use of security cameras.

  • Reduce the perceived rewards of the crime. This can involve removing valuable targets, concealing potential gains, or disrupting markets for stolen goods.

  • Reduce provocations and remove excuses. This involves addressing factors that may incite criminal behavior, such as alcohol consumption or social disorganization, and challenging justifications for committing crimes.

25 Techniques of Situational Crime Prevention

• Clark and Professor Richard Wortley developed 25 techniques of situational crime prevention, categorized under five themes; these techniques are intended to provide a comprehensive framework for addressing a wide range of crime problems.

• These themes relate to mechanisms that alter the cost-benefit calculation made by offenders, influencing their decisions about whether or not to commit a crime.

Increasing Effort

• Increasing effort deters easily dissuaded potential offenders, achieved through:

  • Target hardening: Using locks on houses to make them harder to break into. This can also include measures such as reinforced doors, window bars, and alarm systems.

  • Controlling access to facilities. Limiting who can enter an area can reduce the opportunity for crime. This can include measures such as security guards, access cards, and fences.

  • Deflecting offenders. Directing potential offenders away from a target can reduce the likelihood of crime. This may include measures such as street closures, diversion programs, and warning signs.

Increasing Risk

• Increase the perception of risk. Making potential offenders believe they are more likely to be caught can deter crime.

  • Strengthening formal surveillance (police, security guards) and informal methods. The presence of authority figures or watchful citizens can increase the perceived risk of committing a crime.

  • Mobilizing place managers: Utilizing individuals with responsibility over an area. Encouraging those who oversee a space to take an active role in preventing crime can improve safety.

  • Reducing anonymity: Requiring motorcyclists to remove helmets in petrol stations. Making it easier to identify potential offenders can deter crime.

  • Assisting natural surveillance: Making it easier for people to be seen. Ensuring that people can be easily observed can deter potential offenders.

  • Extending guardianship. Encouraging people to take responsibility for protecting property can reduce the likelihood of crime.

Reducing Rewards

• Reducing rewards is especially effective for property crime. Making it less appealing to steal or damage property can deter crime.

  • Removing removable car stereos or stereo faceplates:

  • Concealing or removing targets: Apple stores using dummy iPhones and iPads. Making it more difficult to access valuable items can reduce the likelihood of theft.

  • Identifying property for police identification and theft prevention. Marking property can make it more difficult for thieves to sell stolen goods.

  • Disrupting secondhand goods markets or illicit markets (e.g., drug markets). Making it more difficult to profit from crime can deter potential offenders.

  • Denying benefits: Dye-releasing tags on clothing that ruin the garment if stolen.

Reducing Provocations and Removing Excuses

• This will covered more thoroughly next week about the provocations and the excuses that can motivate people to commit crime or can justify why they think it's okay to commit crime.

Situational Deterrents in Everyday Life

• Society is designed around situational deterrents:

  • Signs clarifying acceptable behavior, such as harassment warnings. Clear communication of rules and expectations can reduce the likelihood of crime.

  • Rules about where dogs or children are allowed. Setting clear boundaries can help prevent conflicts and reduce the potential for crime.

  • Tamper seals on medicine and food products to prevent adulteration. Protecting products from tampering can reduce the potential for harm and deter potential offenders.

  • Steering wheel locks to prevent car theft by increasing effort and risk for offenders.

  • Access control systems (pass cards, smart cards) in buildings. Limiting who can enter a building can reduce the opportunity for crime.

  • Barriers at transport areas restricting access without a ticket. Enforcing rules about who can access transportation can reduce the potential for crime.

  • Marking property, like sheep, to deter theft. Identifying property can make it more difficult for thieves to sell stolen goods.

  • Neighbourhood watch programs to mobilize guardianship and assist natural surveillance. Encouraging citizens to take an active role in preventing crime can improve safety.

  • Supermarket workers acting as place managers to regulate behavior and prevent crime. Encouraging those who oversee a space to take an active role in preventing crime can improve safety.

  • Alerting conscience with PSAs; "If you drink then drive, you're an idiot."

  • Sex-segregated bathrooms to protect women from violence. Providing safe spaces for vulnerable populations can help prevent crime.

  • Modern phones disabled and tracked remotely to discourage theft.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)

• Protection through design is an established concept throughout human history, from ancient civilizations building walls and trenches to modern architecture and town planning. Designing environments to reduce the potential for crime has been a longstanding human practice.

• CPTED is the general term for environmental design, founded on the principle that crimes are less likely when other people are around. This approach focuses on creating environments that encourage social interaction and discourage criminal behavior.

  • Design environments to increase the presence of people and assist their ability to see what's happening (natural surveillance). This can include measures such as street lighting, open spaces, and clear sightlines.

  • Create environments and social conditions that maximize the risk of offenders being caught, the effort required to commit a crime, and minimize the actual and perceived benefits and excuse-making opportunities. This involves a comprehensive approach that addresses both physical and social factors that contribute to crime.

CPTED Principles

• Five key principles of CPTED:

  • Surveillance: Design allows for everyday observations (natural and passive surveillance). Windows facing the street, clear sight lines. Providing opportunities for people to observe their surroundings can deter potential offenders.

  • Legibility: Design features help people know where they are and how to reach their destination. Clear signage and intuitive layouts can help prevent people from getting lost and reduce the potential for crime.

  • Territoriality: Tendency to claim an area and defend it against intruders. Clear boundaries between private, semi-private, community, and public spaces. Encouraging a sense of ownership can deter potential offenders.

  • Management: Design allows regular maintenance and discourages damage, encouraging a sense of ownership. Well-maintained environments signal that people care about a space, which can deter potential offenders.

  • Symbolic markers:

    • Defined pathways in town centers and other places, flower beds and things like that encourage people to understand how different space should be used and encourage territorial behavior.

    • Fences can be very useful especially for private property.

    • Experiments where they've painted yellow boxes outside of ATM. It increase this territoriality; It can make it very clear when