Situational Crime Prevention: Understanding the Approach

Crime prevention is a complex issue that requires a multifaceted approach. One effective strategy in this regard is situational crime prevention, which aims to reduce crime by manipulating opportunities and controlling precipitators. In this article, we will explore the key concepts and strategies underlying this approach.

Understanding Excuses and Disinhibitors

Researchers such as Wortley (1996, 2001) and Newman (1997) have highlighted the importance of understanding excuses that offenders provide for their behavior and disinhibitors that undermine usual social or moral inhibitions. These factors can contribute to a decrease in crime by:

Removing Excuses: Clarke’s (1997) strategy focuses on removing excuses, aiming to restore feelings of shame and guilt in specific situations rather than inducing long-term changes in dispositions.
Situation-Generated Motivation: Wortley’s (2001) second concern involves situation-generated motivation, where situational precipitators can induce individuals to commit crimes they wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

Controlling Precipitators

Wortley identified four types of precipitators – prompts, pressures, permissions, and provocations – that can arouse immediate motivation to commit crime. By controlling these precipitators, we can reduce the likelihood of criminal behavior.

Prompts: These are cues or triggers that can lead individuals to engage in criminal behavior.
Pressures: Pressures refer to external factors that force an individual to commit a crime.
Permissions: Permissions involve social norms or laws that allow or encourage criminal behavior.
Provocations: Provocations are situations that arouse strong emotions, leading to impulsive and often illegal behavior.

New Techniques and Strategies

Cornish and Clarke (2003) added new techniques and strategies to their classification, including reducing provocations in order to influence the decision-making of provoked offenders. By understanding these factors, we can develop more effective crime prevention strategies.

Conclusion

The situational crime prevention approach recognizes that crime is a normal aspect of society caused by social and economic structures rather than special motivations or pathologies. By manipulating opportunities and controlling precipitators, we can reduce crime and create safer communities.