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CRITIC: A Prospective Planning Tool for Crime Prevention Evaluation Designs

NCJ Number
226050
Journal
Crime Prevention and Community Safety Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2009 Pages: 48-70
Author(s)
Kate J. Bowers; Aiden Sidebottom; Paul Ekblom
Date Published
February 2009
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study examined and evaluated CRITIC, the systematic prospective planning tool.
Abstract
This study traces the development of CRITIC, illustrates the utility of CRITIC as a prospective planning tool, and explores the wider use and implications of CRITIC. The study discusses the effect of Crime history (how crime-prone the action and control sites are), Reduction (in terms of proportional reduction in the crime problem anticipated in the action sites when compared to the control), Intensity (in terms of the number and/or strength of interventions necessary per target exposed to crime risk), Time period (that over which the action and control sites are tracked before and after implementation), Immensity (in terms of the number of units of analysis at risk of crime to be tracked) and Cost (in terms of the unit cost per intervention) on the likelihood of statistically significant outcome analyses and cost-effective results. The purpose of CRITIC is both to raise evaluators’ awareness of the aforesaid elements, and to provide a systematic technique for their inclusion. The application of CRITIC is demonstrated on a bag-theft reduction study in a chain of bars in central London. Its wider utility to other crime prevention evaluation contexts is also discussed. Tables, figures, notes, and references