Prevention
Sociology: AQA A Level, topic 10.3.2
Situational Crime Prevention
Felson describes how situational crime prevention can ‘design crime out’ of a particular area.
Situational crime prevention
- Felson describes how situational crime prevention can ‘design crime out’ of a particular area.
- He uses the example of a restroom within a bus terminal in New York which was poorly designed and therefore provided opportunities for deviant and criminal behaviour.
Restroom in New York
- For example, the cubicles were large which encouraged drug dealing and the sinks were very long which encouraged homeless people to sleep in the restrooms overnight.
Situational crime prevention
- After implementing methods of situational crime prevention such as smaller cubicles, smaller sinks etc. crime was reduced as the difficulty to commit a crime became greater.
Chaiken et al.
- However, Chaiken et al. argue that this method doesn’t always reduce crime, instead it moves it somewhere else.
- This is known as displacement.
Environmental Crime Prevention
Right realists, Wilson and Kelling created the ‘broken windows theory’.
The ‘broken windows theory’
- Right realists, Wilson and Kelling created the ‘broken windows theory’.
- It centres around the principles of ‘zero-tolerance’ when it comes to any form of disobedience.
Example
- It begins by cracking down on basic standards such as the appearance of an area, if windows are broken in a property, then they need to be fixed immediately in order to maintain the expected standards.
- By leaving the windows broken, it sends out a message that no-one cares about the community and so crime will increase in these areas.
Uses
- Environmental crime prevention was used in New York in the 1990’s and crime was reduced significantly.
Social and Community Crime Prevention
Left realists argue that the most effective way of reducing crime is to improve education and employment opportunities for the most disadvantaged groups in society.
Left realists
- Left realists argue that the most effective way of reducing crime is to improve education and employment opportunities for the most disadvantaged groups in society.
Schweinhart
- Schweinhart conducted a longitudinal study on the ‘Perry Preschool Project’ in Michigan.
- This showed how early intervention can lead to a reduction in crime later in life.
The ‘Perry Preschool Project’
- The project targeted a small sample of 3-4 year-old black children who participated in an intellectual enrichment programme.
- They were compared to a control group who were not part of the programme.
Longitudinal study
- 40 years later, the group who engaged with the programme were more successful in life than the control group in a number of metrics.
Results
- They were more likely to:
- Graduate from high school.
- Be in stable employment.
- Not be in prison.
Test yourself on Prevention
What did Chaiken et al. argue about situational crime prevention?