Reorienting Crime Prevention Research and Policy: From the Causes of Criminality to the Context of Crime

• NCJ Number: 165041
• Date Published: 1997
• Author(s): D Weisburd
• Length: 31 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Research Report
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis; Issue Overview

Annotation

This report contends that reorienting crime prevention research and policy from the causes of criminality to the context of crime holds much promise and suggests that more work must be done before it can be assumed that this shift in focus will lead to more successful crime prevention policies.

Abstract

The report reviews factors that have hindered the development of a situational approach to crime prevention research and policy in the past and factors that have contributed to the growing influence of situational crime prevention in recent years. Relative strengths of situational crime prevention are compared with more traditional crime prevention approaches, areas where situational crime prevention has generated new insights about crime and potential responses to it are identified, and evidence that supports situational crime prevention strategies is discussed. The development of a research agenda is recommended to permit the critical exploration of assumptions on which situational crime prevention is based.