NCJ Number
90142
Journal
Community Action Volume: 1 Issue: 5 Dated: (1983) Pages: 35-56
Date Published
1983
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This review of research on community crime prevention efforts points toward the organization and strategies that tend to be effective.
Abstract
In the area of organization, research has shown that groups are more likely to be effective and maintain active citizen support if they deal with a variety of neighborhood problems as well as with crime. Research also shows that citizens are less fearful and more active when citizens and police work together to control events in their neighborhood. Further, research demonstrates that crime prevention activities can be organized more effectively through existing community groups such as civic associations, churches, or youth organizations than through new organizations. Several studies have also found that the mass media can play a constructive role in the organization of community anti-crime efforts. The broad strategies that have proven most effective are protective neighboring and environmental design. Generally, protective neighboring programs have been found to be most effective when they include incentives to promote citizen surveillance and crime reporting, use security surveys by police to identify and remove sources of residential vulnerability to crime, and encourage marking of personal property and goods. The environmental-design strategy includes a number of strategies designed to reduce crime in residential and commercial settings, including target hardening, security design, street lighting, and land use. Seventeen references are provided.