Situational Crime Prevention

TLDR

Situational crime prevention reduces crime opportunities by increasing risks, raising difficulties, and lowering rewards, and is organized around a theoretical framework, an action‑research methodology, and a spectrum of opportunity‑reducing techniques from target hardening to offender deflection. Crime displacement is less problematic than once believed, and situational measures may diffuse benefits to crimes not directly targeted.

Abstract

Situational prevention seeks to reduce opportunities for specific categories of crime by increasing the associated risks and difficulties and reducing the rewards. It is composed of three main elements: an articulated theoretical framework, a standard methodology for tackling specific crime problems, and a set of opportunity-reducing techniques. The theoretical framework is informed by a variety of "opportunity" theories, including the routine activity and rational choice perspectives. The standard methodology is a version of the action research paradigm in which researchers work with practitioners to analyze and define the problem, to identify and try out possible solutions, and to evaluate and disseminate the results. The opportunity-reducing techniques range from simple target hardening to more sophisticated methods of deflecting offenders and reducing inducements. Displacement of crime has not proved to be the serious problem once thought, and there is now increasing recognition that situational measures may result in some "diffusion of benefits" to crimes not directly targeted.