NCJ Number
144871
Date Published
1990
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article defends the usefulness of local offender interviews as a technique for crime prevention.
Abstract
Interviews with delinquents who carried out their activity in the London subway may serve to increase our understanding of the logistics of crime. They provide information regarding the criteria used to select victims, locations, methods, etc., and also suggest initiatives which enable us to neutralize this crime. The article also takes note of the difficulties involved in using this method, in particular the small number of people interviewed, the difficulty of establishing a unified method of interviewing, the reliability of the answers received, and ethical questions concerning the respondents' right of privacy. Despite these difficulties, the surveys are a complementary tool for the understanding of the reality of local crime. Among the subjects covered in this article are: (1) Situational prevention; (2) Offender-centered prevention; (3) Developmental intervention; (4) Changing current life circumstances; (5) Community-centered prevention; (6) Offender typologies; (7) Social/cultural context; (8) Sample bias; (9) Coping with uncertain results; and (10) Ethical and legal issues. References