Controlling Vandalism: The Person-Environment Duet (From School Violence Intervention: A Practical Handbook, P 290-321, 1997, Arnold P. Goldstein and Jane Close Conoley, eds. - See NCJ-169051)

• NCJ Number: 169065
• Author(s): A P Goldstein
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 32 pages
• Sale Source: Guilford Publications, Inc.
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Techniques for addressing and controlling vandalism committed by students against school property are explained, based on the interactionist approach to understanding and predicting human behavior.

Abstract

The interactionist approach emphasizes the need to consider both individual characteristics and the relevant characteristics of the individual's environment. The vandalism prevention tactics that this approach suggests include target hardening, access control, deflecting potential offenders in more prosocial directions through architectural and other alterations, and controlling facilitators such as construction debris and trash. Other techniques include exit-entry screening, formal surveillance by paid or volunteer security personnel, target removal, property marking, and removal of inducements such as graffiti. Further approaches include rule setting, education, publicity, punishment, counseling of perpetrators, efforts to increase a sense of involvement and ownership of potential vandalism targets, and procedures to improve the organizational climate. Definitive data are not available regarding the specific tactics that are the most effective, but the complexity of causes indicates the need for combinations of interventions. The need for person-environment targeting, multiple levels of intervention, and multichannel interventions also mean that a variety of persons and agencies may be offering parts of an intervention combination and underscore the need for coordination of efforts. Charts and 108 references