NCJ Number
197918
Date Published
2001
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses issues in designing products, including buildings and environments, to include the objective of reducing crimes that may involve those products, either as objects or places of crime, with attention to such design in Great Britain's Crime Reduction Program.
Abstract
In addition to discussing where design against crime fits into the Crime Reduction Program, the paper mentions other British actions in this arena; for example, the Home Office supports the training of police design advisers and architect liaison officers and hosts a range of independent working groups, such as the Property Crime Reduction Action Team and its vehicular and retail equivalents. Representatives of the Crime Reduction Program have been working with the Design Council to assess the state of design against crime in the design education world and in industry. In discussing issues pertinent to crime reduction through design, the paper first outlines the factors that underlie and facilitate crime, followed by an overview of measures that can counter the causes of crime. Crime prevention by design focuses on situational factors in crime. This focus assumes that there will always be people ready to commit crimes under certain conditions. The objective of crime prevention by design is to limit by design the attractions and opportunities for crime associated with various products and places. The paper outlines key challenges in design that reduce crime. The first challenge is to make designers aware of crime prevention as an element of design, and a second challenge is to make product design user friendly while being abuser unfriendly. Another design challenge is the constant need to update crime-prevention designs, since criminals will always find ways to defeat particular designs with the development of new tools and methods. Some of the constraints on crime prevention by design are discussed as well. These include the reluctance of designers and manufacturers of products to give high priority to this issue, particularly when consumers do not demand it and when it increases the cost of the product. 7 suggestions for further reading and a listing of 6 Websites