Evaluation of the Commercial Demonstration Program of the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Demonstration Effort (A Methodological Review) (From Link Between Crime and the Built Environment, Volume 2, P C200-C218, 1980, by Tetsuro Motoyama et al - See NCJ-79544)

• NCJ Number: 79558
• Author(s): T Motoyama; S Meyers; H Rubenstein; P Hartjens
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 19 pages
• Corporate Author: American Institutes for Research
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche from NCJRS as NCJ-79544.

Annotation

This review assesses a study by the Westinghouse National Issues Center that describes the implementation strategy of the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) demonstration program in Portland, Ore., and presents preliminary evaluation results.

Abstract

The CPTED program implemented strategies intended to reduce crime and fear of crime and revitalize businesses in the Union Avenue Corridor in Portland. Strategies include target hardening, redesign and reconstruction of the built environment, installation of high-intensity lighting, and assorted crime reduction publicity campaigns. The evaluation design involved the exploration of the effects of these strategies on dependent variables such as crime rates and fear of crime. Pretests and posttests were used, along with tests of significance. Data sources were archival crime records, interviews with business persons and residents, structured observations of pedestrian activity, economic data from tax files, and interviews with community leaders and patrol officers. The evaluation conclusions lending support to the CPTED theory are premature. The poor operational definitions, the limitations of the research design, and the inadequate use of available statistical methods prevent the evaluation's inference of causality between treatment and data findings. The study does not take into account the many exogenous factors which may have influenced crime rates and other dependent variables.