Approaches to crime prevention

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Approaches to crime prevention have emerged over time and are demonstrated in different solutions, practices, and policies executed by law enforcement, courts, corrections, family, and community. Some of the dominant approaches to crime prevention currently used by law enforcement, courts, corrections, family, and community are: situational crime prevention, crime prevention through social development, crime prevention through environmental design, community crime prevention, reduction of recidivism, and policing. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the dominant approaches used for crime prevention and analyze which approaches are most effective. I will identify and apply at least four approaches used in law enforcement, legislation, courts, corrections, family, and community within the crime prevention programs.
Situational crime prevention reduces the opportunities for criminals to commit crime by making changes to or altering the environment with the assistance of the police, neighbors and other agencies (Worrall, 2008). The main theories of situational crime prevention are: environmental crime prevention, rational offender perspective, and routine activities (Worrall, 2008). Environmental crime prevention basically states that four elements must be present for a crime to occur: a target, a place (opportunity), a law, and an offender. Environmental crime prevention is designed to prevent people from breaking the law by altering street and building designs, or altering the environment to make it safer (Worrall, 2008). An example of this that is used by law enforcement is to place a sign at the public trash dumpsters informing the public that the area is being videotaped. This method is used to alter the publi...

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National Center for Victims of Crime. (2001). Primary crime prevention. Retrieved December 2, 2013, from http://www.safetycops.com/crime_prevention.htm
Tilley, N. (2013). Handbook of crime prevention safety. [Google eBook]. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2SFZM1DyYeEC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=handbook+of+crime+prevention+safety+by+N.+Tilley&ots=yHkOn3iNOq&sig=0bEJa5k2iUubcEqe7-7IYPnUTzY#v=onepage&q=handbook%20of%20crime%20prevention%20safety%20by%20N.%20Tilley&f=fals
Worrall, J. L. (2008). Reducing criminal opportunities through environmental manipulation. In Crime control in America: what works? (2nd ed., pp. 295-296). [Vitalsource for Kaplan University]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781269308267

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