NCJ Number
121785
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 32 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1990) Pages: 185-196
Date Published
1990
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Canada can mount effective crime prevention programs if mayors provide the necessary leadership in the cities and if other orders of government support an interagency approach to crime prevention.
Abstract
Crime-reduction policies should target the occasional offender for school education and the reduction of crime opportunities. The roots of persistent offending must focus on early childhood upbringing, housing, and social services. These efforts require leadership at the community level through mayors. The national leadership in England and France has brought national and local governments together with private and voluntary sectors in coalitions committed to crime prevention. In 1982 France established a National Crime Prevention Council composed of the ministers responsible for education, housing, social services, police, youth, and employment, together with representatives from the voluntary and private sectors. Its major action has been to encourage the creation of over 500 municipal crime prevention councils directed by mayors. The Home Office in England and Wales has created a national focus for crime prevention through activities designed to reduce crime opportunities and the situations that breed crime. Canada has no such system. Such a system would provide a structure for replicating nationwide at the community level those crime prevention programs proven effective.