NCJ Number
81270
Date Published
1980
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the possibilities of applying public relations and marketing techniques to selling crime prevention to the public.
Abstract
Positive examples of such campaigns are the Swedish switch from driving on the left to driving on the right without widespread public resistance and West German publicity promoting the use of seat belts. Efforts to convince the public to conserve energy have been less successful and the American antismoking campaign is deemed a failure, indicating that self-denial is harder to sell. The technique for establishing a crime-prevention marketing approach involves defining goals (to treat crime symptoms or causes) and products (concrete assistance or behavioral models), establishing the price (psychological costs as well as financial costs), developing the communication and advertising approaches (reducing public resistance, general opinion manipulation), and specifying the distribution channels (television, posters, etc). Imaginative, and catchy slogans are vital for capturing popular attention. Additional vehicles for the message may be T-shirts and comic stories for a younger audience. The targets of a crime prevention campaigning are potential perpetrators and victims and the public at large, and the material can be slanted to any of the three. The danger inherent in marketing techniques is that such manipulation limits individual freedom of decision. The cause of crime prevention, however, carries with it a significant social benefit if the populace does become informed, convinced, motivated, and activated toward the intended behavior change. Footnotes are supplied.