NCJ Number
214073
Date Published
2005
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes the developmental crime prevention perspective.
Abstract
The main argument of this chapter is that a developmental approach to crime prevention can account for the changes and transition points that any life course takes, offering a richer framework for crime prevention than either the risk-focused prevention strategies or the early-in-life intervention strategies. The author begins with a discussion of the risk-focused and early-in-life crime prevention approaches, highlighting their successes while also considering their shortcomings in terms of crime prevention focus. The main strengths and limitations of a risk-focused approach and the missed opportunities related to a too-narrow focus on early childhood interventions are considered. Developmental pathways to crime are discussed, which involve complex and varied interactions between an individual and their environment. The author argues that an individual’s life course is not set on an unwavering course during early childhood, but rather is made up of a number of transition points and is inherently flexible and changing. A developmental approach to crime prevention is preferable to either a risk-based approach or an early intervention approach, both of which tend to view the life course as set and unchanging after early childhood. A case study of a 14-year-old boy, Jack, is presented to illustrate developmental prevention concepts and how a developmental approach to crime prevention could capitalize on the life phases and life transition points to create turning points in the life course. Finally, the author offers new directions for the field of developmental crime prevention and stresses that developmental approaches must involve local communities and incorporate an unwavering commitment to quantitative evaluation. Tables, box, notes, references