NCJ Number
81268
Date Published
1980
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article advocates 'preventology,' a criminological approach that derives crime-specific prevention measures from crime analysis and seeks effective anticrime campaign strategies to mobilize citizen involvement.
Abstract
Information dissemination on preventive techniques for a wide range of crimes is envisioned, similar to the existing police information programs for burglary prevention. The focus should be on specific crimes evidencing a statistical rise or on crimes targeted for a special control effort by the police. The campaign thrust is best carried by a psychologically striking slogan that captures the public imagination and is geared to potential victims or perpetrators. That such anticrime publicity can result in widespread public awareness and citizen involvement is demonstrated by the 1978 and 1979 anticrime campaigns of the criminal police department in Bremen. Geographical crime analysis techniques clarified delinquency patterns in a neighborhood where juvenile crime was sharply rising; this enabled juvenile assistance workers to effectively target their services. Two publicity actions, one for rape awareness and another against drug traffickers, elicited lively public debate and revealed unsuspected opposition to police prevention efforts from the professional treatment sector. Future prevention planning by the police should take such undercurrents of political and public opinion into account. In translating crime analysis findings into operational strategies, conflicting police responsibilities (e.g., confidentiality vs. public accountability) must be weighed against one another by means of a systematic decisionmaking model. Cost-effectiveness of alternatives must be considered. Brainstorming sessions should be held to crystallize and exchange crime prevention ideas among State criminal police departments. A table and footnotes are supplied.