NCJ Number
86456
Date Published
1981
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article gives advice on the considerations by which prevention crime planners can assess the potential impacts of preventive strategies (warnings, public education campaigns).
Abstract
Among the decisionmaking aids is a chart which conceptualizes the interrelationships between police planning and criminology, forensics, criminalistics, and logistics. Other conceptual aids are given for choosing the appropriate target of a specific preventive campaign (i.e., the public at large, a specific third party, potential victims, offenders) and deciding on the stage of problem development at which to introduce preventive action. Constraints and possible pitfalls of early preventive attempts, particularly interventions against white-collar crime, are discussed. The text emphasizes that precrime warnings must avoid the pillory effect of prematurely exposing or warning offenders or becoming involved in illegal interference with trade undertakings. Sufficient information on the offender's guilt must be on hand before a preventive public warning can be issued. Preventive strategies against fraudulent scams should aim to terminate such enterprises at the administrative levels of justice, before criminal processing. The prevention strategist must assess the potential negative impacts a crime countermeasures by assessing their legal implications and psychological effects. Charts, illustrations, and seven references are given.