crime prevention and control

Question 1

situational crime prevention

Answer 1

Clarke - pre-emptive approach that relies not on improving society or its institutions but simply on reducing opportunities for crime. he identifies three features of measures aimed at situational crime prevention
- directed at specific crimes
- involves managing / altering immediate environment of the crime
- aim at increasing effort and risks of committing crime and rewarding efforts
target hardening measures such as locking doors and windows increased effort a burglar needs to make
underlying situational crime prevention approaches is an opportunity or rational choice theory

Question 2

explain the displacement criticism of situational crime prevention

Answer 2

spacial - moving elsewhere
temporal - different time
target - choosing a different victim
tactical - different method
functional - different type of crime

Question 3

explain Wilson and kelling’s broken windows theory and how it links to environmental crime prevention

Answer 3

stands for all disorder and lack of concern. There is an absence of both formal social control and informal social control.
Wilson and kelling’s key idea is that disorder and absence of control leads to crime. Solution is to crack down on disorder using a twofold strategy.
an environmental improvement strategy - all broken windows must be repaired and police must adopt a zero tolerance approach

Question 4

explain the new York city case study of zero tolerance

Answer 4

a clean car programme was instituted on the subway in which cars were taken out of service immediatly if they had graffiti on them and the result was that graffiti was largely removed. Later, the same approach was extended to the police’s precincts. A crackdown on squeegee merchants discovered that many had outstanding warrants for property crimes.
- the NYPD beneffited from 7000 extra officers
- general decline in crime rate

Question 5

what is social and community prevention

Answer 5

strategies which place emphasis on potential offender and social context
the aim is to remove conditions that predispose individuals to commit crime

Question 6

the perry pre-school project case study

Answer 6

community project aimed at reducing criminality amongst disadvantaged black children in Ypsilanti, michigan
an experimentla group of 3-4 year olds was offered a two year intellectual enrichment programme during which time the children received weekly home visits
a longitudinal study followed children’s subsequent progress, showing striking differences with a control group who had not undergone the programme
for every dollar spent on the programme, $17 was saved on welfare, prison and other costs