Evaluation of a National Burglary Reduction Initiative Targeting Older People

Abstract

Although older people only rarely experience crime, their status as “ideal victims” means that a disproportionate number of crime reduction initiatives have targeted them. This article describes a national evaluation of one such initiative in England and Wales, Locks for Pensioners, whereby poorer older people in high risk areas of the country were provided with enhanced security. The article begins by describing the scheme and the population “target hardened”, and then focuses on evaluating it on two levels: process and outcomes. Evaluation involved two principal approaches: a national postal survey of those “target hardened” and more detailed analysis of policy implementation in five areas of the country. Although not initially a central element of the evaluation, we decided to address issues surrounding the processes through which Locks for Pensioners was implemented, primarily because it was almost unique in the criminal justice field in England and Wales. Whereas in recent years there has been a shift towards implementing crime reduction policies through local partnership networks, specifically Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs), which bring together practitioners and policy-makers from a range of agencies tackling local crime and disorder issues, Locks for Pensioners differed in being centrally co-ordinated and bolted onto a noncrime related initiative. Assessing how far this aided or hindered the initiative was therefore considered fundamental to the evaluation. Second, the extent to which the initiative produced positive outcomes – both in reducing fear and improving quality of life and in reducing risk – was assessed. The evaluation concluded that Locks for Pensioners was indeed successful in improving quality of life among older people, but that it had little affect on burglary risk. This can be explained in terms of the nature of deterrence and its failure to apply in the case of the Locks for Pensioners initiative. This relates to the inherent problems of focusing on a virtual community; the difficulties involved in “target hardening” older people; and the nature of the implementation process.