The first section of the report considers the difficulty of defining acts or damage as vandalism. It examines motivations and assesses the extent of vandalism and its importance as an issue for action and concern. Four approaches to the prevention and control of vandalism are presented: education, social programs, the actions of the criminal justice system, and opportunity reduction. Each is discussed separately; the thinking behind each approach is explored, and examples are given to help practitioners in identifying which approach or approaches might be appropriate to their particular vandalism problem. Some key findings are that publicity on its own is not effective in preventing vandalism; more subtle approaches aimed at building up social responsibility by showing children the consequences of their vandalism may be effective in reducing damage caused inadvertently; the criminal justice system's role in preventing vandalism is limited by the fact that so much damage goes unreported and that it is often difficult to identify the offenders in those incidents that are reported to the police; making targets less vulnerable, particularly through increased surveillance, apparently has measurable effects. Four case studies of schemes that have used a combination of the four approaches are examined, and important lessons from each are outlined. The report concludes with a five-step description of how a vandalism-prevention program might best be established and operated. 103 references and a bibliography