Crime Prevention Policy: Current State and Prospects

• NCJ Number: 123048
• Author(s): J J M van Dijk
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: Netherlands
• Note: Draft paper for II European Colloquium on Crime and Public Policy in Europe, Buchenbach/Freiburg, September 3-7, 1989

Annotation

This overview of crime prevention focuses on efforts in Western Europe and argues for a conceptual model that distinguishes between victim-oriented and offender-oriented crime prevention and for the retention of the distinction between primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.

Abstract

Victim-oriented crime prevention includes the use of locks and bolts, alarm systems, closed-circuit television, design that reduces crime, neighborhood watch programs, private security personnel, and the use of professional surveillance. Policies related to victims can also provide primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention depending on the population group's degree of exposure to criminal victimization. Offender-oriented crime prevention includes training programs and truancy prevention in all schools; employment, drug treatment, and other programs targeted at high-risk groups; and victim support, legal aid, restitution, diversion, and other measures provided by the criminal justice system. Developing these policies and programs in local communities will require a partnership between local government and the police. 33 references.