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Victim Support and Crime Prevention in an Inner-City Setting

NCJ Number
160103
Author(s)
A Sampson; G Farrell
Date Published
1990
Length
33 pages
Annotation
A victim-based approach to crime prevention was adopted as part of an initiative by England's Home Office Crime Prevention Unit and National Association of Victim Support in which an interagency working group was established to assist mothers and young children.
Abstract
The project was designed to contact crime victims, offer emotional and practical support including crime prevention advice, reduce the fear of crime, encourage self-help and networking between neighbors, and facilitate crime prevention. As part of the project, a crime victimization and prevention survey was conducted in 1988; 600 interviews were conducted and analyzed to assess the extent to which respondents were victims of criminal incidents during 1987. The survey specifically looked at unreported crime, crime against the person, burglary, target hardening, and fear of crime. Survey findings were used to guide an interagency working group to help crime victims, particularly mothers and young children. Care watches, comparable in scope to neighborhood watches, were established as part of a crime prevention package. Victim support groups for mothers and young children were also established, and a community mediation scheme was implemented. Lessons learned during the project's implementation phase are reported in a separate publication. 27 references, 15 tables, and 1 figure