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Controlling Crime Before It Happens: Risk-Focused Prevention

NCJ Number
170539
Journal
National Institute of Justice Journal Issue: 229 Dated: (August 1995) Pages: 10-18
Author(s)
J D Hawkins
Date Published
1995
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article explains the benefits and use of a public health model for violence prevention, based on determining and addressing the risk factors for youth violence and strengthening the protective factors that buffer the effects of exposure to risk.
Abstract
The public health model that has substantially reduced the incidence of cardiovascular disease focused on identifying and addressing both risk and protective factors. Longitudinal research has identified factors that are associated with neighborhoods and communities, the family, the schools, peer groups, and individuals and that increase the probability of violence during adolescence and young adulthood. The five neighborhood risk factors are the availability of guns, community laws and norms favorable to crime, media portrayals of violence, low neighborhood attachment and community disorganization, and extreme economic deprivation. Family factors include poor family management factors, family conflict, and favorable parental attitudes and involvement in violent behavior. School factors include antisocial behavior in kindergarten through third grade and academic failure. Peer and individual factors include friends involved in problem behavior, early initiation of problem behavior, and biological or physiological factors such as lack of impulse control. The three categories of protective factors include individual characteristics, bonding, and healthy beliefs and clear standards. Community leaders who design prevention strategies should focus on known risk factors, gear prevention to the appropriate developmental stages, use early intervention, and use multiple strategies. The criminal justice system should use community policing and other approaches to establish partnerships with other organizations in the community to design violence prevention strategies. Figures, photographs, and reference notes