PREVENTIVE MEASURES, ALTHOUGH PREFERABLE TO MEASURES OF DETERRENCE THROUGH FEAR, ARE LIMITED BY INCREASING EMPHASIS ON THE CHEAPEST ALTERNATIVE, REPRESSION. PREVENTION IS ALSO HINDERED BY STRESSING TECHNICAL MATTERS; BY FAILING TO RECOGNIZE REAL CAUSES, TO COORDINATE EFFORTS, OR TO ASSESS EFFECTIVENESS; AND BY SUPPORTING THE THEORETICAL DIRECTION OF PREVENTION RESEARCH. REPRESSION CANNOT BE APPLIED TO ALL CRIMES, AND OTHER STRATEGIES ARE HINDERED BY THE MULTIPLICITY OF CRIME CAUSES, CRIMINAL TYPES, AND SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES. PREVENTION PLANNING MUST INVOLVE (1) ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS WHICH ARE CONDUCIVE TO CRIME AND TO CHANGES IN CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR BY COLLECTION OF INFORMATION ON SUCH MATTERS AS THE NUMBER OF OFFENDERS ARRESTED FOR A PARTICULAR CRIME AND THE CONCRETE EFFECTS OF CHANGES IN LAWS AND DECRIMINALIZATION, AS WELL AS KNOWLEDGE OF THE VICTIM'S ROLE AND ANALYSES OF PREVENTIVE MEASURES EMPLOYED; (2) PREDICTION OF THE PREVALENCE AND NATURE OF CRIME IN THE FUTURE; AND (3) PREVENTIVE INTERVENTION WHEN IT IS DEEMED WORTHWHILE USING MEASURES AND LAWS WHOSE EFFECTIVENESS HAS BEEN VERIFIED IN CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS TO MEASURE SUCH FACTORS AS COST EFFECTIVENESS. WHETHER FUND ALLOCATIONS FOR PREVENTION ARE TO BE BASED ON THE EXTENT OF DAMAGES, PUBLIC FEELINGS OF SECURITY OR INSECURITY, OR PRESERVATION OF MORAL VALUES, MUST BE WEIGHED CAREFULLY. PREVENTIVE MEASURES CAN MAKE LAW ENFORCEMENT MORE EFFICIENT BUT NOT DO AVERT CRIME ENTIRELY. --IN GERMAN. (KMD)