Prevention of crime and violence: evidence-based crime prevention—a public health imperative: a review paper

Abstract

BackgroundIn November, 2012, a John Moore's University publication Protecting People Promoting Health presented a public health approach to the crime prevention agenda. Sandwell Public Health Department and the Sandwell Crime and Disorder Partnership has sought to implement evidence-based interventions in its partnership work on community safety and crime prevention over many years. MethodsThe West Midlands Crimegrip project hosted by Sandwell held implementation seminars for systematic reviews of effective interventions, including methadone maintenance and harm reduction for drug problems; early-years interventions including Highscope and interactive schools drug programmes; youth mentoring programmes; street lighting; neighbourhood policing; and situational crime prevention. Three examples of strongly evidence-based programmes will be presented: a methadone maintenance programme for persistent offenders; creation of safe environments; and early years programmes for improvement of long-term health and safety. These examples show how the translation of evidence into practice is delivering improved outcomes locally. FindingsAmong these programmes are methadone maintenance and harm reduction, which produced a 30% fall in domestic burglary when clients in treatment doubled in 2004, and acquisitive crime continued to decrease. This programme has been accompanied by target hardening and repeats victim programmes, design of crime supplementary planning guidance applied to new housing developments, and other measures to reduce burglary. The effect of closed-circuit television (CCTV) continues to be challenged, but although evidence for the primary prevention of crime remains questionable, the effect in crime detection and the routine use of CCTV as a method for crime detection is unquestioned. The Greets Green New Deal for Community area reported substantial community satisfaction with improved street lighting and a reduced fear of crime, consistent with research evidence. Early years and other educational interventions have a substantial long-term effect on child protection, preventing a cycle of deprivation and abuse and preventing crime as the young people reach adulthood. Schemes implemented in Sandwell as part of a portfolio were required to include the family nurse partnership, Highscope training for nursery and primary school teachers, universal nursery school provision since 1984, teaching parenting skills through evidence-based regimens such as Triple P, use of Bookstart, and Time to talk and speech therapy interventions to improve learning outcomes. All these schemes have contributed to an increase in school readiness of 5-year-olds, and to improved GSCE outcomes and reduced teenage pregnancy rates over 15 years. Each of these measures can be taken as proxies for improved outcomes for young people and reductions in social stress and likelihood of engagement in criminal activity. InterpretationThe evidence that these interventions produced beneficial outcomes might be judged circumstantial. However, the fact that improved outcomes have been noted after implementation of evidence from good research studies should be what the research community would like to see happen and should be what the service community wants to implement. The context of this paper is therefore not one of showing what works through pure research; it seeks to show how the evidence for what works can be implemented and how improved outcomes can be delivered through knowledge of what works. This paper is therefore a discussion of how research results can be translated into service outcomes and how we can develop both knowledge transfer and public health audit. The present austerity and welfare reform policies set the conditions for extreme poverty and for exacerbation of social stress, violence, abuse, and neglect. Collective responses by the health and local authorities to protect individuals and families through welfare support mitigate but do not prevent adverse crime and social consequences. Formal research evidence for these programmes is limited in the published work but is necessary. Public health services in local authorities need to embrace a greater partnership with the public health research establishment. There remains a gap in applied health research. FundingIndividual service interventions were funded through Sandwell Primary Care Trust, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, and the Safer Sandwell Partnership. Research reviews were supported by The Home Office West Midlands and the National Institute of Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Birmingham and Black Country (CLARHC-BBC) programme.