NCJ Number
188144
Date Published
April 2001
Length
75 pages
Annotation
This paper is a lecture presented by the Director of the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science to address the objectives and goals of the Institute in altering the way crime and its control are perceived
Abstract
The presentation begins with a review into the prevalence of crime, through recorded crime trends and the roll of science and politics in the controlling of crime. The Jill Dando Institute's goal will be to employ crime science, the application of scientific principles to the reduction of crime. The crime scientists will capitalize on what is already known on crime and extract the preventive implications. One implication addressed is the need to engage a whole range of academic disciplines in crime control. There is the need for epidemiologists, economists, geographers, psychologists, criminologists, mathematicians, engineers, designers, architects, philosophers and creative thinkers to think about crime and what they can offer in its prevention. The Institute will need to persuade and convince government agencies that Crime Science has a lot to offer. The Institute will have three parts: (1) a "think tank" to create the research and knowledge base from which the Institute will gain authority; (2) a "do tank" to develop the levers to ensure the ideas and approaches developed through Crime Science are properly disseminated and implemented; and (3) a "tell tank" will form the focus of the Institute's teaching program. It is stressed that technology will play a major role to the Institute in two ways. The first, is how technology will help to design better goods and services, and second, how it can assist in catching more offenders, more efficiently, or offering new treatment options. In summary, scientists can provide theories of crime and politicians need to take these ideas and decide which are going to be used and how. Those who have the answer to crime are both scientists and politicians, a partnership. Tables, graphs