NCJ Number
142079
Journal
Enforcement Journal Volume: 30 Issue: 1 Dated: (January-March 1991) Pages: 24-27
Date Published
1990
Length
4 pages
Annotation
School design should increase the safety of students and personnel by using a new approach, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), that is based on an understanding of how the constructed environment affects behavior.
Abstract
Today's school planners and architects are returning to traditional values of school design, which emphasizes the classroom. Designers are working toward the general objective of personalizing space to give each person the perception of ownership. Responsibility for the general supervision and care of the newly assigned territories goes with the ownership. Making a CPTED assessment is one of the first steps in the design or redesign of a school layout. The total campus should be considered. CPTED strategies include clearly marking transitional zones that indicate movement from public to semipublic to private space, relocating gathering areas to locations with natural surveillance and access control or to locations away from the view of potential offenders, and improving scheduling of space to allow for the most effective use. The potential value of these and other strategies are worth the time and effort required to implement them. Charts