This chapter reviews the learning and accumulated research evidence that has developed over the last 40 years or so with regard to crime prevention, community safety, and urban security. It begins by tracing the historic emergence of the modern ‘preventive turn’, its evolution and institutionalization within the UK, across successive waves of development. In doing so, it highlights three broad periods of change which are characterized as: the ‘early years’ of innovation and experimentation (from the late 1970s to the early 1990s); the period marked by ‘expansion and elaboration’ informed by infrastructure building and the opening up of crime prevention to incorporate wider features of community safety and perceptions of insecurity (the late 1990s to 2010); and ‘fragmentation and retrenchment’ marked by austerity and the rise of vulnerability as an organizing focus for service provision (2010 to the present). It situates the British experience in the wider context of Europe with a particular focus on urban policies, city-level strategies and delivery through multi-sectoral partnerships. This comparative framing helps to understand the particular British experience, its development, trajectories, persisting fault-lines and future challenges. Consideration is given to some of the recurring challenges that feature both across time and across jurisdictions. In particular, the question of institutional responsibility for prevention and the dissonance between the research knowledge base and contemporary policy and practice are explored.
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27. Crime prevention as urban security
Adam Adam, Susan Donkin, and Christine A. Weirich
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35. Crime prevention and community safety
Adam Crawford and Karen Evans
This chapter traces and evaluates both the historic emergence of the modern ‘preventive turn’ as well as the elaboration and institutionalization of crime prevention and community safety over the last thirty years or so. Focusing on the UK, the evolution and changes over time are situated, where relevant, in a broader international context. The chapter identifies three distinct periods of development that structure the shifts in crime prevention policy and practices from the 1980s to the present day. It explores the conceptualization, take-up, and advancement of a preventive mentality and practices in relation to situational, social, and developmental crime prevention as well as community safety. It goes on to assess the institutionalization of preventive partnerships and early intervention as distinct forms of governance and their implications for ‘responsibilization’ and ‘securitization’. In conclusion, it reflects upon the journey travelled thus far as well as possible future directions in an age of austerity.
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22. Searching for the causes of crime
This chapter addresses the causes of crime, the exploration of which has been a high priority within criminology as the main way of explaining crime and of informing responses to crime. The chapter begins by considering how criminologists understand crime and the causes of crime, comparing interpretivism with positivism as ways of exploring and thinking about crime. A central motivation for identifying causes is to validate the factors targeted through criminological responses such as sentencing, crime reduction and prevention activity, and policy. The dominance of positivist experimentation within criminology and the associated search for causes has been re-animated in the 21st century by the growing popularity of experimental criminology in the US, most notably the ‘what works’ experimental method of evaluating crime prevention programmes. The chapter then looks at contemporary challenges to the experimental ‘what works’ approach, namely realistic evaluation, the theory of change model, and chaos theory.
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26. Crime prevention
This chapter highlights crime prevention. Preventive strategies represent an approach that is less concerned with dispensing justice than with minimising the risk of crime being committed in the first place. Crime prevention strategies are thus based on a combination of assumptions about human motivations and research evidence about observed patterns of offending behaviour. The chapter then looks at the political and strategic factors that may influence decisions about which crimes to try to prevent. It considers perspectives on crime prevention focusing on potential offenders (in terms of deterrence and diversionary approaches), potential victims, and the idea of community safety and well-being. Finally, the chapter addresses some of the continuing and unresolved questions about the purported achievements and effectiveness of crime prevention strategies.
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28. Security and smart cities
Ben Bradford and Pete Fussey
This chapter explains the profound implications of digital society on the questions of crime, security, surveillance, and policing. In recent decades, digital technologies brought profound changes to human societies and the way they are governed. The chapter explains that digital processes do more than accelerate the production and availability of information, which highlights the implications of digital society from the abundance of data. The digital revolution has rendered criminological preoccupations more urgent and pressing than ever before. The chapter also provides an overview of the concept of a smart city by considering its criminogenic consequences and its potential for crime prevention and surveillance.
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12. Defences
This chapter begins with a discussion of the law on defences. Even though the prosecution may have proved the mens rea and actus reus of the offence, a defendant may still be able to escape conviction if they can successfully raise a defence. The chapter covers private defence and the prevention of crime; necessity; chastisement; consent; duress; coercion; entrapment; superior orders; automatism; insanity; diminished responsibility; loss of control; intoxication; and mistake. The second part of the chapter focuses on the theory of defences, covering the definition of defences; justifications and excuses; character, choice, and capacity; determinism; the rejection of an overarching theory; insanity; private defence; duress; necessity; and issues that fall between the gaps of the defences.
Chapter
12. Defences
This chapter begins with a discussion of the law on defences. Even though the prosecution may have proved the mens rea and actus reus of the offence, a defendant may still be able to escape conviction if they can successfully raise a defence. The chapter covers private defence and the prevention of crime; necessity; chastisement; consent; duress; coercion; entrapment; superior orders; automatism; insanity; diminished responsibility; loss of control; intoxication; and mistake. The second part of the chapter focuses on the theory of defences, covering the definition of defences; justifications and excuses; character, choice, and capacity; determinism; the rejection of an overarching theory; insanity; private defence; duress; necessity; and issues that fall between the gaps of the defences.
