CRIMINOLOGY

CRIME PREVENTION
Objectives of Crime Prevention
 Role Name Affiliation
Principal Investigator Prof. G.S. Bajpai Professor and Registrar,
National Law University,
Dwarka, Delhi
Paper Coordinator Dr. Beulah Shekhar Professor & Head
Department of Criminology
& Criminal Justice
Manonmaniam Sundaranar
University
TIRUNELVELI
Content Writer/Author Dr. Vijaya Soma- Assistant Professor, Department
Sundaram of Management Studies,
Rajalakshmi Engineering
College,
Thandalam, Chennai
Content Reviewer Dr. Syed Umarhathab Assistant Professor
Department of Criminology
and Criminal Justice
Manonmaniam Sundaranar
University
Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu
DESCRIPTION OF MODULE

Items Description of Module

Subject Name Criminology
Paper Name Crime Prevention
Module Name/Title Objectives of Crime Prevention
Module Id 2
Objectives To understand
 the revival of crime preventionin the modern
times and the fundamental values and principles
behind the notion of crime prevention
 Factors driving crime
 Objectives and basic principles of crime
prevention

Key words Crime prevention, crime control, recognition,

redistribution, desistance
1. Introduction:
1.1 Basic Objectives of Crime Prevention
The objectives of crime prevention may be derived from the definition of crime
prevention
‘Crime prevention entails any action designed to reduce the actual level of crime
and/ or the perceived fear of crime’ (Lab, 2013)
According to Lab actions of crime prevention are not restricted to those of the
criminal justice system but include activities of individuals and groups both
public and private. Hence the basic objectives of crime prevention are to reduce
levels of crime and the fear of crime.

1.1 Historical Development of Crime prevention

Colquhoun and others advocated forms of crime prevention that aimed at
reducing opportunities and temptations which resonate with contemporary
trends (Morgan, Maguire, & Reiner, 2012). According to the Oxford Handbook on
Criminology there was a major paradigm shift in the 1970s about criminal justice
and crime control. The objectives and priorities shifted from traditional goals of
prosecution, punishment and criminal justice to prevention, security, loss
reduction, harm reduction and fear reduction (Garland, 2001). Crime prevention
revived in the late twentieth century due to the following reasons(Morgan,
Maguire, & Reiner, 2012)-
 Recorded crime rate increased dramatically placing increasing strain
upon a reactive criminal justice system
 Victimization survey raised fundamental questions about the adequacy of
formal crime reports and the deterrent effects of state administered
punishments
 The importance of institutions and processes of informal control in
sustaining order in society
 The economic crisis of mid -1970s made crime control a significant
financial burden
 There was a criminological shift away from the offender and towards the
offence in terms of the situational and spatial characteristics and the place
and role of the victim

2. Difference between Crime Prevention and Crime Control

Crime prevention is an attempt to eliminate crime either prior to initial
occurrence or before further activity. Crime control refers to the maintenance
of a given or existing level and the management of that amount of behaviour.
It does not address the problem of fear of crime (Lab, 2013)

3. Factors driving crime

According to the Handbook on crime prevention a wide range of factors and
circumstances influence individuals, families,communities, and the situations
and opportunities facilitate victimization andoffending. It is therefore important
to understand the factors associated with each type of crime in order to develop
strategies and programs to act on those factors and prevent or reduce the
incidence of those crimes.The causal factors often termed as risk factors include
those in the external environment of the individual such as geographical, social,
economic conditions on a global as well as local level and factors related to
family and close relationships. Figure illustrates the multifaceted nature of
factors influencing crime and violence.
Source: Handbook on the crime prevention guidelines: Making them work.
Criminal Justice Handbook Series(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
2010)

In order to deactivate the causal mechanisms of crime one must be able to

clearly understand and articulate these mechanisms. According to Felson(Tilley
& Sidebottom, 2017) the basic conditions needed for a crime to be committed
are
1. Likely offender
2. Suitable target
3. The absence of a capable guardian- who could protect the target or inhibit
the offender
Tore Bjorgo, a professor of Police science at the Norwegian Police University
College, Oslo, has provided a new model for crime prevention. The model is
based on a Nordic model of crime prevention that is rooted in “the
Scandinavian, social democratic welfare state, emphasizing
a universal approach to social problems where ‘solidarity’ and ‘justice’ are
core values. In other words combating crime is not only a (scientific)
question of ‘best practice’; it is also a question of values and priorities”
(Leonardsen, 2016) . In his model Bjorgo has listed nine crime preventive
mechanisms (Bjorgo, 2016) -

1. Establishing and maintaining moral (normative) barriers

againstcommitting criminal acts. Moral barriers against criminal gangs
can be done through, public statements, media coverage, debates, social
media.
2. Reducing recruitment to criminal social environments and activities by
eliminating or reducing the social and individual causes and processes that
lead to criminality.Bjorn advocates social prevention from young age as a
measure to reduce recruitment in criminal gangs. Preventive dialogues,
warnings, negative social or judicial sanctions, appeals from
family/girlfriends are some of social prevention methods
3. Deterrence by threat or by increasing costs: Getting potential
perpetrators to refrain from criminal actsthrough the threat of
punishment or other negative consequences. By creating and
increasing cost of criminal activities though criminal prosecution,
licenses and permits for gaining access to elements that are
contiguous to crime such as liquor and weapons.
4. Disruption by stopping criminal acts before they are carried out.
Measures to disrupt criminal activities maybe as below:
 Surveillance, communication control, informants, infiltration and
other concealed methods
 Arrests or other means to thwart criminal plots in advance
 Confiscation of weapons and drugs
 Early intervention with warnings
 Preventive dialogue with participants and their close ones
 (parents, spouse)
 Controls and ransacking of persons, vehicles and club houses
 Sharing of information between agencies and information to the
public
5. Incapacitation (or neutralization) by denying perpetrators the
ability(capacity) to carry out new criminal acts. Measures of
incapacitation include imprisonment; confiscation of weapons,
explosives,economic resources, vehicles, neutralizing leaders
and the hard core, positive measures directed towards the
others.
6. Protecting vulnerable targets against criminal acts reduce opportunities.
Measure to reduce profits and participation in criminal activities include
confiscating criminal profit, disturbing the crime scene tomake
participation a social liability, reducing the power, status and social
benefits of membership to outlaw gangs.
7. Reducing the harmful consequences of crime. Conflict management,
regulation, preventivedialogue, victim protection are methods of reducing
crime
8. Reducing the rewards from crime. Regulation, control, building permits,
witness protection, making it easier to ask the police for protection
against illegal money lenders are ways of reducing opportunities for
crime
9. Desistance and rehabilitation: Helping people who have been involved
inor punished for crime to settle back into a normal life.Established
procedures for those who quit or surrender, witness protection or new
identity for those quitting , practical assistance to those who exit criminal
gangs are some methods of disengagement and rehabilitation
Bjorgo has applied his model to five types of crime- domestic burglary;
criminal youth gangs; driving under the influence; organized crime
originating in outlaw motorcycle clubs; and terrorism.
4. Objectives of Crime Prevention
The broadobjectives of crime prevention are to create justice, respect and
recognition for individuals in society (Barry, 2016). Barry explores the
relevance of the concepts of recognition and redistribution from critical
theory to crime prevention. Recognition in social philosophy refers to an
individual’s need for mutual acknowledgement and the resultant struggles
for identity and diversity within a given society. Without recognition feelings
of disrespect (shame, anger or indignation) and injustice will result. Social
justice can be achieved only through recognition (Honneth, 2007). Nancy
Fraser found Honneth’s definition of recognition too narrow and individually
focused. She argues that Social justice requires recognition and
redistribution: ‘virtually every struggle against injustice, when properly
understood, implies demands for both redistribution and recognition’. In her
view, recognition must incorporate the cultural politics of difference with the
social politics of equality ((Fraser (1995) in (Barry, 2016). Barry applies this
theory of recognition and redistribution to desistance. Desistance from crime
is the long-term abstinence from criminal behavior among those with
criminal offending as a pattern of their behavior. Producing or encouraging
desistance is the implicit focus of criminal justice policy, practice and
research (McNeill, Farrall, Lightowler, & Maruna, 2012). Barry states that
desistance requires the restructuring of wider economic and social policy to
ensure social justice for marginalized young people.
The finer objectives of crime prevention are to deactivate/ degrade crime
producing mechanisms and / or to introduce/ strengthen mechanisms that
will counter those liable to generate crime (Ekblom, 2011).

4.1 Basic Principles of Crime Prevention

The Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime set out eight basic principles
underlying the development of crime prevention strategies as follows:

4.1.1 Government leadership

All levels of government should play a leadership role in developing
effective and humane crime prevention strategies and in creating and
maintaining institutional frameworks for their implementation and
review.

4.1.2. Socio-economic development and inclusion

Crime prevention considerations should be integrated into all relevant
social and economic policies and programmes, including those addressing
employment, education, health, housing and urban planning, poverty,
social marginalization and exclusion.
Particular emphasis should be placed on communities, families, children
and youth at risk.

4.1.3. Cooperation/partnerships
Cooperation/partnerships should be an integral part of effective crime
prevention, given the wide-ranging nature of the causes of crime and the
skills and responsibilities required to address them. This includes
partnerships working across ministries and between authorities,
community organizations, non-governmental organizations, the business
sector and private citizens.

4.1.4. Sustainability/accountability
Crime prevention requires adequate resources, including funding for
structures and activities, in order to be sustained. There should be clear
accountability for funding, implementation and evaluation and for the
achievement of planned results.

4.1.5. Knowledge base

Crime prevention strategies, policies, programmes and actions should be
based on a broad, multidisciplinary foundation of knowledge about crime
problems, their multiple causes and promising and proven practices.
 4.1.6. Human rights/rule of law/culture of lawfulness
The rule of law and those human rights which are recognized in
international instruments to which Member States are parties must be
respected in all aspects of crime prevention. A culture of lawfulness
should be actively promoted in crime prevention.

4.1.7. Interdependency
National crime prevention diagnoses and strategies should, where
appropriate, take account of links between local criminal problems and
international organized crime.

4.1.8. Differentiation
Crime prevention strategies should, when appropriate, pay due regard to
the different needs of men and women and consider the special needs of
vulnerable members of society.
In essence, the principles laid out in the Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime
andthe Guidelines for Cooperation and Technical Assistance in the Field of Urban
Crime Prevention establish the normative basis, stressing the importance of the
rule of law and respect for human rights, of the social and economic inclusion of
populations, whatever their status and background, and the importance of
ensuring that the particular needs of vulnerable minorities, as well as gender
differences, are taken into account.
They also emphasize that crime prevention action should focus on local
communities, and that it should be conducted through partnerships across
government sectors and with civil society and the participation of communities.
It should also be sustained and accountable, rather than short-term, and based
on sound evidence based practice.

4. Conclusion
The definition of crime prevention provides the basic objectives of crime
prevention as the need to reduce levels of crime and the fear of crime.
Contemporary trends in criminology advocated forms of crime prevention that
aimed at reducing opportunities and temptations. A major paradigm shift in the
1970s gradually changed the objectives and priorities of crime prevention from
traditional goals of prosecution, punishment and criminal justice to prevention,
security, loss reduction, harm reduction and fear reduction. There was actually a
revival of crime prevention in the late twentieth century due to reasons such as
increasing crime rates, new revelations from victimization surveys, importance
of institutions and informal control and the global economic crisis. Crime
prevention focus shifted from the offender to the offense in terms of the
situational and spatial characteristics associated with crime and the place and
role of the victim. Criminologists advocated crime prevention in lieu of crime
control which is a narrower concept in that it does not deal with the fear of
crime. Bjorgo has postulated a new model of crime prevention that gives nine
crime preventive mechanisms applicable to different types of crime.
From its inception the broad objectives of crime prevention are acknowledged as
the need to create justice, respect and recognition for individuals in society.
Ekblom gave the finer objectives of crime prevention as the need to deactivate/
degrade crime producing mechanisms and / or to introduce/ strengthen
mechanisms that will counter those liable to generate crime. Government
leadership, socio-economic development and inclusion, stakeholder
partnerships, sustainability, knowledge base, culture of lawfulness,
interdependence and differentiation are the eight principles laid down by UN
Guidelines for crime preventionfor the development of crime prevention
strategies.
References

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desistance among young offenders. Theoretical Criminology, 20 (1), 91-106.

Bjorgo, T. (2016). Counter-terrorism as crime prevention: a holistic approach.

Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 8 (1).
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Framerwork. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Fraser, N. (1995). From redistribution to recognition? Dilemmas of justice in a

'post-socialist' age. New Left Review , 69-70.

Garland, D. (2001). The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in

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Honneth, A. (2007). Disrespect: The Normative Foundations of Critical Theory.

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McNeill, F., Farrall, S., Lightowler, C., & Maruna, S. (2012). How and why people
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Morgan, R., Maguire, M., & Reiner, R. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of
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