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Carbon Cost of Crime and Its Implications

NCJ Number
234158
Author(s)
Ken Pease
Date Published
2009
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This report evaluates the need to assess the carbon footprints of crime and the local, national, and global responses to crime.
Abstract
The author of this report looks at the previous lack of and need for calculating the carbon footprints of crime and the local, national, and global responses to crime. The report reviews the current literature on the costs of crime and notes the lack of research exploring the connection between crime and carbon-centric lifestyles. Four factors are examined that explain why crime is placed outside the mainstream of carbon costing: 1) the mental unavailability of alternatives for crime control which would be less carbon costly; 2) the degree of contingency and consequent mental accessibility of carbon reduction techniques; 3) consideration of the costs of crime remedies without consideration of the problems that cause crime; and 4) the belief that effective crime prevention tends towards a police state. This report presents a tentative method of carbon costing crime and examines whether place design can be used as a crime reduction technique. The authors posit that high carbon societies tend to be high crime societies, and that authorities' recognition of this would lead to policies favoring primary crime prevention through the design, implementation, and maintenance of products and services less prone to crime. Tables, figures, and references