Situational Crime Prevention

By: Auzeen Shariati and Rob T. Guerette

Traditional criminology has focused on the criminal nature of offenders as a means for reducing crime. In contrast, situational crime prevention (SCP) is a process of multiple stages, and seeks to understand where, when, and how crime incidents occur. Similar to epidemiology, SCP has sought to alter environments which host crime behavior in order to make them less suitable for offending. Based on an analysis of the incidence and distribution of a given crime problem, the SCP approach then identifies risk factors, formulates and implements appropriate solutions, and evaluates the results. In this way, the individual “propensity” of offenders, like individual diagnoses, becomes less important, at least as a means of prevention. This chapter discusses in more detail the situational crime prevention approach. Following a brief description of its historical development, the theoretical foundations are presented. An overview of the process and types of prevention techniques are then outlined followed by a discussion on the existing evidence of effectiveness.

December 2017 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-44124-5_22