U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Strategic Approaches to Crime Prevention (From Building a Safer Society: Strategic Approaches to Crime Prevention, Volume 19, P 1-20, 1995, Michael Tonry and David P Farrington, eds.)

NCJ Number
159615
Author(s)
M Tonry; D P Farrington
Date Published
1995
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This volume presents a wide-ranging and comprehensive summary of research findings on developmental, community, and situational crime prevention that is intended to advance knowledge about effective crime prevention strategies.
Abstract
Four major crime prevention strategies are identified and described: law enforcement, developmental, community, and situational approaches. A prevention framework is presented that encompasses a much fuller range of initiatives than governments typically pursue. Law enforcement or criminal justice crime prevention operates directly through deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation and indirectly through effects on socialization. Developmental strategies aim to prevent the criminal potential in individuals by targeting risk and protective factors; community strategies incorporate interventions to change social conditions that influence offending in residential communities; and situational strategies are intended to prevent the occurrence of crime, especially by reducing opportunity and increasing risk. Key practical and theoretical issues in crime prevention are examined, along with issues relevant to crime prevention measurement and evaluation. 54 references