NCJ Number
203956
Date Published
2002
Length
182 pages
Annotation
This book synthesizes research and experience related to successful problem-oriented policing and "situational crime prevention" projects, linking the crime prevention mechanisms to theoretical concepts and drawing lessons for the daily practice of problem-oriented policing.
Abstract
The chapters are organized around the problem analysis triangle that breaks down crime into the features of places, offenders, and victims. This well-known analytical device has been used to help analysts visualize crime problems and discern relationships among the three elements. Moreover, research suggests that crime tends to cluster around a few places, offenders, and victims. The developing field of situational crime prevention has supported the problem-oriented policing movement. Instead of preventing crime by altering broad social and economic conditions, the focus is on reducing opportunities related to specific forms of crime by managing, designing, or manipulating the immediate environment of crime places so as to increase the effort and risks of crime and reduce the rewards as perceived by a wide range of offenders. The chapters of this book address the prevention of crime at problem places, control of high-activity offenders, the protection of repeat victims, and the facilitation of problem-oriented policing. Each chapter begins with a few examples of effective crime prevention projects, followed by a discussion of criminological research and theory that provides insight into why these measures were effective. Additional interventions and research are also discussed as each chapter unfolds. The final chapter proposes a few administrative arrangements in police departments that could facilitate effective problem-oriented policing. 300 references and author and subject indexes