NCJ Number
157171
Journal
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Volume: 539 Dated: (May 1995) Pages: 102-113
Date Published
1995
Length
12 pages
Annotation
American public opinion has begun to blame capitalism for causing crime in a totally new way, i.e., by failing to do its duty to take obvious, but expensive, crime prevention measures to protect customers on business property.
Abstract
This new determinism has initiated the trend toward public regulation of private crime prevention. Through litigation and legislation, public policy has imposed a myriad of duties on private and quasi-private organizations to undertake crime prevention measures. These responsibilities vary by State, type of organization, and history of crime in a particular location. Litigation has allowed juries to decide whether an organization's crime prevention measures were adequate, while legislation has given the same organizations advance notice of their obligations vis-a-vis physical security measures, crime statistics reporting, and personnel procedures to ensure customer safety. This article discusses the origins of these developments and uses that background to predict future regulatory trends in terms of the provision of public information about crime on private property and the minimum efforts at prevention required in each kind of public place. 29 notes