Situational Crime Prevention: Theory, Practice and Evidence

Abstract

Situational crime prevention focuses on the settings for criminal acts rather than on the characteristics of offenders. It provides a practical approach to improving safety and challenges criminological theories based on offenders’ propensities for mischief. According to situational crime prevention, crime is the result of an interaction between disposition and situation. Offenders choose to commit crime based on their perceptions of available opportunities. Consequently, situational factors can stimulate crime and addressing these factors can reduce crime. Situational crime prevention focuses on very specific categories of crime or disorder, and takes particular note of crime concentrations. Understanding how crimes are committed is critically important to situational crime prevention. It uses an action-research model and demands considering numerous possible alternative solutions. Situational crime prevention has been widely used across the globe and has been applied to minor deviance (e.g., littering), standard crimes (e.g., burglary and robbery), and to extremely serious crime (e.g., international terrorism and maritime piracy). The evidence for situational crime prevention effectiveness is substantial. Research clearly demonstrates that it does not inevitably displace crime. In fact, it often reduces crime near prevention sites.