NCJ Number
113464
Date Published
1986
Length
132 pages
Annotation
This handbook examines the need for and approaches to crime prevention in urban communities.
Abstract
Urban residents, particularly blacks, are the most frequent victims of violent crimes. Such crimes have high social and economic costs, but can be reduced by empowering residents. Key players in crime prevention include the community, the law enforcement agency, the organizer, and other Government agencies. Each has differing roles and responsibilities in an effective community crime prevention program. In organizing a program, it is essential to know the community. This can be accomplished through informal talks, conducting surveys, identifying community leaders and institutions, and establishing linkages. It is also important to earn the community's trust by understanding its perceptions of crime and law enforcement, developing a sensitivity to cultural differences, and focusing on residents' concerns. The program should emphasize action, community power, and positive motives. Approaches to crime prevention include neighborhood watch groups; individual strategies focusing on victimization prevention, root causes approaches that emphasize social, economic, and other conditions that contribute to a community's crime problem; and comprehensive approaches that integrate all of these approaches with crime-specific and environmental measures. Nine steps are required for action planning: identifying and ranking the crime problem, setting priorities and goals, listing projects, identifying allies, calculating costs, exploring resources, keeping the community posted, and obtaining feedback. Program profiles are provided. Appendixes, forms, photographs, and a resources list.