NCJ Number
222422
Journal
Crime Prevention and Community Safety Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2008 Pages: 75-84
Date Published
April 2008
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Following a description of a situational crime prevention framework and focused deterrence approaches, this paper presents arguments for locating focused deterrence approaches within the framework of situational crime prevention.
Abstract
It is argued that there is merit in bridging two areas of research by locating focused deterrent approaches within a situational crime prevention framework. It not only suggests innovative ways for conceptualizing and implementing techniques of situational crime prevention, but provides a more systematic method for designing, implementing, evaluating, and disseminating the results of focused deterrence approaches. This type of integration encourages a practical, yet theoretically grounded approach to preventing crime. It is also argued that focused deterrence lends innovative insight into situational crime prevention by extending the understanding of offender perceptions and the context in which they are formed, and how these perceptions can be altered. Both situational crime prevention techniques and focused deterrence approaches have been used successfully in recent years to address various crime problems. Situational crime prevention uses a method of action research in which crime problems are analyzed and defined, solutions are identified and implemented, and the results are evaluated and disseminated. Focused deterrence strategies are offender-based. The group focus sheds light on the potential formal, informal, external, and internal sanctions that can be attached to behavior to serve as deterrents. This paper describes each approach and demonstrates how focused deterrence approaches embody elements of situational crime prevention. Arguments are presented for locating focused deterrence approaches within the framework of situational crime prevention. Table and references