NCJ Number
89420
Journal
Juvenile and Family Court Journal Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1983) Pages: 43-62
Date Published
1983
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Crime prevention through the application of bioenvironmental criminological principles holds great promise if policymakers are willing to reject traditional crime control models.
Abstract
According to Jeffery, a new school of bioenvironmental criminology is needed which would address the issues of making, breaking, and reaction to the breaking of laws; the theories of behavior and learning, crime, and criminal behavior; and the crime control model of crime prevention through intervention of the physical environment and into the biosocial organism. Questions of morality and ethics obviously arise from such an approach. The paper reviews the research literature on environmental and biological factors involved in criminality. It notes moral and ethical issues related to medical and biological research and examines social policy issues involved in a crime prevention model which also addresses the environment. The discussion covers the current emphasis on planning and design problems of the microenvironment (architectural design, street layout, building security, and crowding) and explores crime prevention strategies using bioenvironmental aspects of criminology which are available to lawmakers, the courts, the police, and corrections. A concluding section reviews political and policy implications. A total of 84 notes and 6 references are given.