NCJ Number
144593
Editor(s)
R V Clarke
Date Published
1993
Length
201 pages
Annotation
This book incorporates both theoretical and empirical research on reducing crime opportunities, examines crime control policies designed to modify criminal dispositions via treatment versus punishment, and looks at situational crime prevention.
Abstract
Research indicates that criminal dispositions are remarkably resistant to change and that no one treatment or sentence is clearly more effective than another. Differing sentence lengths seem to have few detectable effects on subsequent offending, and various therapeutic regimes in prisons and training schools appear to be more effective than conventional or punitive ones. Further, noncustodial options, such as fines, probation, and community service, seem to vary little in their ability to bring about correctional reform. The principal objective of crime control policies has been to modify criminal dispositions by imposing either treatment or punishment. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, extensive experiments were conducted with different forms of rehabilitative treatment and deterrent sentencing. The policy focus shifted in the 1980's to simple incapacitation of career criminals through lengthy imprisonment terms. In the 1990's, it is becoming apparent that incapacitation is no more successful than treatment or deterrence in reducing crime. Situational crime prevention is being reflected in policy approaches that focus on crime prevention through environmental design, defensible space, and problem-oriented policing. Situational crime prevention consists of three essential elements: explicit theoretical framework, standard methodology for addressing specific problems of crime and disorder, and crime opportunity reduction techniques. Book chapters include case studies of specific applications of situational crime prevention and general discussions relating to crime prevention theory and practice. Particular attention is paid to crime facilitators in homicide and suicide, situational deterrence and the importance of fear during the criminal event, auto theft prevention, shoplifting prevention, credit card fraud prevention, public transport fare evasion in London, situational prevention of public disorder, and the use of cameras in Australian traffic law enforcement. References, tables, and figures