Guilt, Shame and Situational Crime Prevention (From Politics and Practice of Situational Crime Prevention, P 115-132, 1996, Ross Homel, ed. -- See NCJ-167524)

• NCJ Number: 167530
• Author(s): R Wortley
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Crime Prevention Studies, Volume 5

Annotation

This paper expands the situational crime prevention model to include new techniques for making potential offenders feel guilty or ashamed about their contemplated crimes.

Abstract

Criticisms of the situational crime prevention model have typically concerned target hardening aspects of opportunity reduction. Such measures have been portrayed as narrow and simplistic responses to crime that do not adequately consider offender motivations. The situational crime prevention model is expanded to include two separate categories involving the manipulation of internal controls (guilt) and social controls (including shame). The addition of these categories expands the repertoire of available crime prevention techniques by more fully recognizing complexities associated with offender motivations implicit in the rational choice perspective. The author believes the narrow, target hardening image of the situational crime prevention approach needs to be softened, in part to help researchers avoid counterproductive situational crime prevention effects. The expansion of strategies for inducing guilt and the role of shame as a social influence on crime are examined. 42 references and 3 tables