This essay will talk about what Situational Crime Prevention( SCP) is, it will also discuss the theoretical assumptions that underpin this approach, for example, the nature of the offender as well as examining how the SCP strategy has been used to deal with crime as well as the general pros and cons of such an approach.
Situational Crime Prevention is the name given by criminologists for the belief that majority of crime is opportunistic as supposed to crime being the result of those motivated to commit the crime. SCP was derived out of a Home Office Study in the 1970’s. It has five correlated functions: to reduce the physical opportunities for committing a criminal act, to increase the risk of an offender being caught, to reduce the rewards, Reduce provocations and to remove the excuses offenders make in mitigating crime.
This prevention strategy is primarily aimed at reducing the opportunities for crime which arises from everyday life rather than simply responding to crime; relying on the police after the offence for e.g. using closed circuit television surveillance (CCTV) in surroundings that crime might occur with regards to preventing potential offending from causing an offence. For e.g. by placing a limit of access of such a person to shopping malls “only 3 school children are allowed per shopping”. This approach also aims to ‘remove the excuse’ that is eliminating anything that is eye-catching to criminals about accomplishing that specific crime. An illustration of this is the technique they use at the shoe outlet. At the Footlocker shop, there is only one shoe on the display counter, this makes stealing the shoe unpleasing and unproductive for thieve because it would not be logical to steal only one shoe regardless if...
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... choices, which are restrained by limits, ability, and the accessibility of relevant information. SCP includes opportunity-reducing measures that are immensely fixed specific forms of crime involving managing, designing or modifying the immediate environment in an organized way in order to make crime very difficult and risky by decreasing the rewards and increasing the punishments and making it less justifiable as was supposedly judged by a large range of offenders.
Similarly, routine activity theory argues that attention should be focused on the condition in which the crime takes place rather than on the offender. It was devised by Cohen and Felson (1979). They argued that the contemporary society invites high crime by generating illegal opportunities such as public display of expensive portable goods (iPods, iPads, laptops, mobile phones) which are carried out by
Houser, K. (2014). Nature of Crime, Deterrence Theory. Lecture conducted from Temple University, Ambler, Pa.
When criminals think that the benefit of committing the crime will outweigh the cost if they get caught, they make a choice to commit the crime. There are two varieties of rational choice theory. One, situational choice theory, which is an extension of rational choice theory and two, routine activities theory or RAT, which states that the daily routine or patterns in ones’ activities make it much easier for an individual to become a victim of crime. The theory is, crime is more likely to happen when a criminal and their victim come together in the absence of authority (Schmalleger). A situation made easier to come by when the criminal knows the victim’s daily routines or patterns.
According to the book Unsafe in the Ivory Tower, the situational crime prevention model is a promising way of deterring sexual assaults. The situational crime prevention model is a way to make campuses less appealing for sexual offenders. This could be by establishing community partnerships, implementing the buddy system when going out to parties and encouraging and educating students to report or give guidance to friends that disclose that they have been sexually
9. Sherman L., Gottfredson D., MacKenzie D., Eck J., Reuter P., Bushway S. Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising. A Report to the United States Congress. College Park, MD: University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 1997.
...e of the risk for offenders or reducing the attractiveness of potential targets has the great impact on criminal and disorder activities. According to the authors these approaches are part of the interventions of hot spot because they include things like razing abandoned buildings and cleaning up graffiti. However, the increase of misdemeanor arrests of offenders contribute to the crime control in hot spot but not as much situational efforts does (Braga and bond 2008). Authors stated that situational crime prevention strategies are essential for addressing crime in hot spots rather than the aggressive order maintenance of arrests in high disorder places. In other words, if police officers only make arrest in hot spot this will not effectively reduce crime because they need to develop a more complex approach to deal with high crime areas ( Braga & Weisburd , 2010).
Societies have since time immemorial had to deal with wayward individuals who committed various offenses that harms the well-being of other members of the society. Within each community, there are good people and there are bad people. To promote positive overall wellbeing of the community, it is important that individuals of that particular community have systems and mechanisms in place to help deal with those who offend others and deter them from committing further offenses. Traditionally, the most common way to deal with such offenders and deter any more crime was punishment. Depending with the type of crime that an individual has committed, appropriate punishment would be meted out to them so as to make them regret their actions, deter them from committing such crimes again, and set an example to other members of the community who may think of involving themselves
This research is very important in determining the measures to take to be a deterrent to this crime. There are many approaches to dealing with crime. There are preventive methods that seek to prevent a crime from happening. There is also a punitive method of preventing crime that work by making the penalty for committing a crime very high. It prevents people from committing a crime and offenders from repeating the crime.
There are different principles that makeup the crime control model. For example, guilt implied, legal controls minimal, system designed to aid police, and Crime fighting is key. However one fundamental principle that has been noted is that ‘the repression of criminal conduct is by far the most important function to be performed by the criminal processes’. (Packer, 1998, p. 4). This is very important, because it gives individuals a sense of safety. Without this claim the public trust within the criminal justice process would be very little. The general belief of the public is that those that are seen as a threat to society, as well as those that fails to conform to society norms and values should be separated from the rest of society, from individuals who choose to participate fully in society. Consequently, the crime control model pro...
There have been many contributors when it came to tackling anti-social behaviour and preventing crime however, the most influential contributors are Wilson and Kelling. They came up with the theory of broken window which will be further explain in this essay. This essay will outline the broken window theory, as well as explain what is meant by broken window. Finally it will give examples that exemplify the broken window theory. (Maguire, Morgan and Reiner, 2012)
All these types of prevention, whether they are viewed from the perspective of a doctor, or a criminologist, are helpful in how our society approaches crime in an age where as crime becomes deeper and more complicated, so must our methods of understanding be expanded.
During the 1970’s to the early 1990’s there had emerged two new approaches to the study of crime and deviance. The discipline of criminology had expanded further introducing right and left realism, both believe in different areas and came together in order to try and get a better understanding on crime and prevention. There were many theorists that had influenced the realism approaches such as; Jock Young (Left Wing) and James Wilson (Right Wing).
This essay has identified sanctions imposed on offenders including imprisonment and community corrections. Described how punishment is justified with the just desert and deterrence theory. Discussing the rate of individuals being imprison comparted to community, provided rates for assault which shows crime being maintained and community member feel safe enough to allow for this to
Ronald V Clarke originally developed the idea of situational crime prevention in the 1980’s (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). This particular crime prevention theory addresses techniques that increase the effort required to commit the crime, increase the risks involved with committing the crime, reducing the reward gained by the offender after committing the crime, reducing the provocation between the offender and others and remove excuses (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Majority of crime is believed to be committed because there are no high risks of being caught and the rewards outweigh the risks (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Increasing the effort by controlling access to locations and target hardening can deflect many offenders, as more effort is needed to commit the crime (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Another main technique would be to increase the risks; this may be achieved by extending guardianship, creating natural surveillance or artificial surveillance such as CCTV (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005).
Crime has become an ongoing trend, which has become an issue in society today. However, crimes can be prevented through various prevention strategies. The case study regarding the Kings cross shooting, where youths of indigenous background were joyriding in a stolen car in Kings Cross. They were spotted by police and lead to a police chase that resulted in two pedestrians being injured and the youths getting shot by police.
National Center for Victims of Crime. (2001). Primary crime prevention. Retrieved December 2, 2013, from http://www.safetycops.com/crime_prevention.htm