Community-based Crime Prevention Research Articles

Community-Based Crime Prevention Programs and Central American Migration: A Difference in Differences Analysis

Community-based crime prevention programs are emerging as a crucial alternative for addressing violence in Central America, a significant driver of migration from the region to the United States. Comprehensive analyses of the impact of the adoption of programs on migration intentions, especially among individuals who have been victims of crime, are lacking. Using a distinctive survey dataset derived from randomized-controlled experiments conducted in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, this study shows that community-based crime prevention programs are associated with an increase in migration intentions in Guatemala but are not linked to migration intentions in El Salvador and Honduras. This finding holds even when considering whether these programs address neighborhood factors and perceived risk of future victimization. Further examination of these programs is warranted.

Local policing and its implication for security in Anambra State, Nigeria

Situating security closer to the people, demanding accountability of security operatives and their agencies, and promotion of community-based crime prevention are all nuances of local policing. Anambra State in the eastern region did not allow operatives of Eastern Security Networks and Ebube Agu except Anambra Vigilantes Services alongside formal law enforcement agencies. It was against this background that this study engage gap theory to investigate local policing and its implications on Anambra State, Nigeria. This study decomposed implications of local policing into policing accountability and community-based crime prevention in Anambra. This study engaged qualitative research design with reliance on secondary data, by reviewing publicly available archive documents concerning local policing, accountability of policing, community-based crime prevention and community policing. The literature was obtained through searches in publicly available material. Literature from non-serial publications, official reports, and conferences has been included particularly if they have been cited by other references in connection with local policing. Findings from the study showed that local policing as provided by Anambra Vigilante Service, devoid of the presence of Ebube Agu and Eastern Security Network shows accountability to the community. The study also established that local policing in Anambra has semblance of community-based crime prevention as the Vigilante and Formal security operatives collaborate in the line of duty. This study therefore recommends that the Federal Government should look beyond militarisation of South East and address genuine concerns raised by regional agitators as this will allow both formal and local policing to share common ground in accountability to host communities. This study also recommends that the total overhauling of the nation’s security architecture will go a long way to allow local policing to be heard in security provision which will fast track community-based crime prevention as against the overcentralised commands of all formal security agencies.

Victimization and Mobility Intentions: Accounting for Neighborhood Perceptions in Central American Contexts

ABSTRACT Although the topics of victimization, neighborhood perceptions and mobility intentions are researched in Western contexts, the extant work linking these topics is noticeably absent in the Central American contexts of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras even though past victimization has been found to be a salient predictor of migration to the United States from these countries. This study uses United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Vanderbilt University’s data from an impact evaluation of USAID’s Community-Based Crime and Violence Prevention Approach in Central America and mixed effect multi-level logistic regression models to examine whether perceptions of neighborhoods are associated with a greater mobility risk, and whether this is also heightened among individuals who had previously been a victim. Results show that victimization predicts mobility intentions, followed by the traditional “push factors” of migration more than neighborhood perceptions in all three country contexts. However, social cohesion seems to be the most relevant predictor of mobility compared to other neighborhood factors. More research should focus on the indirect effects of neighborhood perceptions, victimization, and demographic characteristics on mobility and consider how perceptions are impacted by cultural differences across country contexts.

Social cohesion, mutual efficacy and informal social control: Collective efficacy and community-based crime prevention

Collective efficacy, which examines how social cohesion is activated in communities as informal social control, is a commonly used framework for community-based crime prevention. Previous research suggests that mutual efficacy, defined as group members’ perceptions that collective action can be successful, mediates the relationship between social cohesion and informal social control. However, previous research was limited in its measurement of mutual efficacy. The present study examines how mutual efficacy can facilitate participation in community-based crime prevention using a newly developed mutual efficacy scale. Findings suggest that social cohesion, mutual efficacy, and informal social control are distinct, though positively correlated constructs. Mutual efficacy partially mediates the relationship between social cohesion and informal social control. Findings suggest that building social cohesion and raising mutual efficacy are key goals for community-based crime prevention. Thus, practitioners should blend community practice principles with criminal justice goals to increase the effectiveness of interventions.

Empowerment and collective efficacy: Insights for community-based crime prevention

ABSTRACT The current climate surrounding policing in the United States indicates a need to develop more community-based solutions to crime in order to create a more just society. Collective efficacy theory is a widely studied framework that explores how communities mobilize to address crime through informal social control. Though collective efficacy is associated with lower levels of crime, research suggests that developing effective interventions based on the theory is difficult. The present study examines collective efficacy through the lens of empowerment and tests mutual efficacy and self-efficacy as predictors of informal social control among community members, and within respondents’ households. Findings from the study increase our understanding of how and why empowered individuals and communities mobilize to prevent crime, and identify practice behaviors that make collective efficacy theory more actionable for social work practice.

Finding a Suitable Object for Intervention: On Community-Based Violence Prevention in Sweden

In Sweden, local municipalities, working in collaboration with the police, are assigned an important role in community-based crime prevention and the promotion of safer neighbourhoods/cities. The strategies adopted are supposed to be informed by the policies of national advisory bodies, which emphasize surveying the current situation, problem analyses, systematic planning of interventions and evaluation of efforts. This paper reports on a three-year research project that studied local crime prevention/safer community practices in four so-called ‘particularly vulnerable areas’ (PVAs) using meeting observations and stakeholder interviews. The analysis shows that when constructing intervention strategies, the actors involved had to navigate between different organizational logics and found it difficult to demarcate a suitable object for joint efforts. When they were able to find an object to be targeted, such as youth at risk of drug abuse or low-level criminality, they could rely on a collective mindset, but they struggled in situations where a joint effort was not possible, such as when dealing with the risk of aggravated violence or when the operations got close to more organized crime—both elements that form part of the definition of PVAs. This failure may partly be explained by competing logics dominated by idiosyncratic action in line with bureaucratic rules and routines. This finding raises questions about a putative but non-articulated limit to crime prevention and whether a predetermined approach aligns with the prescribed sequence of survey, analysis, intervention planning and evaluation when faced with more brutish violence.

Over-policing Black bodies: the need for multidimensional and transformative reforms

This special issue of JECJ presents empirical evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, that despite several decades of attempted police reform, Blacks continue to experience policing as a repressive social institution, whether they are engaged in crime or not. The research reveals continued patterns of racially disparate treatment during traffic stops, in police response to protestors, and in mainstream media representations of protest events. Consistent with this special issue’s theme, the over-policing of Black bodies is shown to extend beyond mere “perception” to a lived experience that is documented via social media and the narratives of individuals, including former police officers, directly affected by repeat and aggressive police encounters. The researchers make several recommendations to change the current empirical reality. Their reform recommendations include: altering current police training to center the needs of the community as identified by a broad spectrum of residents, especially those who have experienced multiple forms of trauma; the reallocation of police funding to community-based crime prevention efforts; banning officers from requesting consent to search during vehicle stops;encouraging greater participation of highly policed populations in local governance and political processes; and, eliminating racial categories in government-sponsored crime statistic reports. By recognizing existing racialized patterns and working to deliberately uncouple Black racial identity from criminal identity, the U.S. can begin to reverse a long-standing culture of violence within policing that disproportionately targets Blacks.

Tren Baru Kosmetik "Share in Jar" Ilegal di Media Daring

The Effect of Cosmetic formula on the skin is one of the main reasons for the new consumer to buy cosmetics. Before buy, new consumers feel confused about whether the cosmetic product is suitable for their skin or not. They need product tester. Unfortunately, not every cosmetic product sold in the market has a tester size. This condition led to the emergence of new illegal cosmetics trends in online media, namely share in jar. The concept of "share in a jar" is to divide (share) the content of the cosmetic product in (in) several small packaging (jar), with the aim that someone can buy and try the cosmetic product without buying the product in its original size. The study was conducted by online mapping and Google Trends analysis to review the phenomenon of cosmetics share in jar in online media, and also literature study of crime prevention strategies to provide intervention options that can be used. The results show that share in jar cosmetics are sold through various e-commerce and social media, and based on Google Trends analysis, the level of share in jar search has increased in the last 3,5 years. Most of them are import cosmetics in relatively high prices, and the most category is skincare cosmetics. Crime prevention strategies that can be done are through social crime prevention, situational crime prevention, and community-based crime prevention approaches, by intervening factors that influence cosmetics share in the jar distribution.

Using crime script analysis to understand wildlife poaching in Vietnam

Poaching can contribute to the failure of biodiversity conservation efforts and inflict diverse harms on human livelihoods. We applied crime script analysis to the case of snare poaching—an illegal hunting activity—in three Vietnamese protected areas. Our goal was to enhance the understanding about the opportunity structure underlying snare poaching to advance the suite of community-based crime prevention activities. We analyzed crime scripts for three types of poachers across nine stages of the poaching process using expert-based elicitation with 13 workshop participants in Vinh, Vietnam, 2018. Five stages were similar, clustered toward the early stages, and two were different, clustered around middle crime stages. Analysis produced systematic crime-specific insight about the procedural aspects and requirements for poaching from preparation to hunt to selling one’s catch. Stages identify multiple entry points to apply prevention techniques and match techniques with different types of snare poaching or poachers. Although this research focused on protected areas, the interdisciplinary approach applied herein may be adapted to other conservation contexts.

The lasting effects of natural disasters on property crime: Evidence from the 2010 Chilean earthquake

Natural disasters cause human losses, destroy economic assets and are often followed by widespread looting and altruistic behaviours of many individuals; affecting ambiguously the long-term benefits and costs of committing crime and the demand for crime prevention. Using household data from victimisation surveys and a difference in difference strategy, this paper shows that municipalities exposed to the 8.8 Richter magnitude earthquake that struck Chile in February 2010 experienced lasting reductions in the prevalence of property crime. The results of the analysis of mechanisms are consistent with a positive effect of the earthquake on the strength of community life and the subsequent adoption of community-based crime prevention measures.

Crime Prevention Strategies of Bangladesh: An Analysis

The need to address crime is as old as civilization itself, and while we have always struggled with whether to punish or rehabilitate criminal activity, there has never been any question that the best alternative to ‘crime’ is prevention. The main objective of this study was to identify an alternative analysis of possible effective crime prevention strategies suitable for the socio-economic premises of Bangladesh. Moreover, the study also tried to find out the necessary action for implementation of crime prevention strategies. The comprehensive discussion based on secondary sources as well as documents like journal articles, authentic books. This study finds out the fields of crime prevention include a range of responses developed over many years, includes developmental, environmental, situational, social and community-based crime prevention, and interventions. Although theoretically there are very few crime prevention strategies in Bangladesh in practice, there are various strategies for crime prevention used here institutionally or un-institutionally which includes community-oriented policing and various security measures. Investing in crime prevention could reduce the drawbacks of the conventional criminal justice system. If the crime prevention strategies could ensure properly, crime and criminal victimization could prevent which will reduce the need for formal criminal justice system in Bangladesh.

Crime prevention through community empowerment: An empirical study of social capital in Kyoto, Japan

Crime prevention activities led by neighborhood associations are common throughout Japan and exemplify the idea in environmental criminology that communities can be kept safe by residents themselves. In this study, we surveyed neighborhood associations in Kyoto to test a theoretical model for social capital and community based crime prevention that we developed as part of our earlier work in Kobe. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on survey data and police records for street crimes and residential burglary suggest that specific efforts by community residents can enrich social capital and lead to community safety and security both subjectively and objectively. Social capital had a significant effect on the reduction of street crime, although not for burglary, and our findings suggest that social capital reduces the fear of crime and increases a sense well-being for families and seniors. Although these well-being measures are subjective, emotional change is important in a context where there is no association between actual crime rates and fear of crime. Our research may offer practical insights for the development of universal methodologies that can contribute to the prevention of crime and sense of security through community empowerment.

Community-based crime prevention: prospect and threats

Community-based prevention is one of the approaches to crime prevention that incorporates situational and social elements and it has theoretical background in several theories of crime. It arises due to the fact that the state can not cope and prevent crime alone without help, support and active participation of the community. In addition, because crime occurs in a community, it became local problem, whose social causes are also rooted in the community. That means that community has responsibility to prevent crime and to secure safety of its citizens. However, until this approach touches the real concerns of citizens and tries to explain and understand crime in a wider social context, we can not expect some positive results. Otherwise, certain situational prevention measures which are often criticized that are inconsistent with certain human rights (eg the right to free movement or the right to privacy) initiate the debate for the effectiveness and treats of that approach That means that despite the idea to create social order through the mechanisms of situational control, (which can be effective), we cannot ignore the important ethical questions about the methods used for crime prevention as the ultimate goal. Taking into account the previous, this article open up questions related to the prospects and threats of community-based crime prevention, emphasizes its roots, theoretical backgrounds and current models and interventions.

Punishment, violence, and grassroots democracy in South Africa—The politics of populist punitiveness

This article discusses the apparent contradictions, and consequences, of the state’s embracing of democratic ‘community’ based criminal justice initiatives, in tandem with long-term imprisonment, in the context of vigilantism in Khayelitsha, a black township on the outskirts of Cape Town. I argue that vigilante practices are part of a continuum of community-based crime prevention and punishment practices, where the legal and illegal are blurred, and with which the state is complicit. Looking back, from the vantage point of 2014 to the time when South Africa emerged from apartheid rule and held its first democratic elections, in April 1994, it is clear that mass democracy has had an uneasy relationship with the liberal values enshrined in the Constitution. I argue that punitive punishment is one of the consequences of the state’s turn toward democratic localism and its embracing of a discourse that encourages communities to take responsibility for crime prevention. The danger of rallying ‘communities’ around combating crime is that it has the potential to unleash violent technologies in the quest for ‘ethics’ and ‘morality.’ As George Herbert Mead pointed out many years ago, when community members unite against an outsider, they are bonded for an intense moment in a way that masks the very real problems that tear the community apart. The ironic twist is that ‘mob justice’ in Khayelitsha is also a mass technology to protect private property in the context of the endemic inequality that characterizes South Africa

Problematising internal security: Crime, community and social exclusion

AbstractThis article examines the problematisation of crime, crime prevention and security in contemporary security policy programmes using three Finnish internal security programmes and theory-based content analysis. The study is based on the theory (the perspective) of an analytics of government. The findings highlight the central meaning of social exclusion and community as security practices wherein social exclusion is seen as a threat to security and a risk for crime. Indeed, community-based crime prevention plays a central role in the programmes along with the worry about serious crimes and the high level of homicides. A fluid governing policy without crime and accidents is the implicit goal of these programmes.

Multi-sector cooperation in preventing crime: the case of a South African Neighbourhood Watch as an effective crime prevention model

This case study describes the experience of effective and sustainable multi-sector co-operation in the prevention of crime between the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch (RNW) in Roodepoort, South Africa, the South African Police Service, private security businesses and the local business sector. This case study is illustrated in the context of empowering communities to take ownership of community safety by facilitating a multi-sector approach. Many studies have highlighted the role of the police in driving crime prevention, however, this paper focuses on the role and contribution of communities themselves as an effective vehicle of crime prevention drawing on multi-sector co-operation. Knowledge regarding best practices in this field of crime prevention remains a work in progress, therefore this paper aims to contribute to the general framework for the growth of successful multi-sector community-based crime prevention initiatives.

‘I make use of my precious experience, and help others. It's a kind of blessing.’ Does public sharing of past experiences help in the rehabilitation of former offenders or drug abusers?

The Community Education Service (CES) of The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention (SRACP) has pioneered the adoption of life education in crime prevention education in Hong Kong since 1977. Under this programme, former offenders and drug abusers are recruited to share their experiences with community audiences. Through such sharing, it is hoped that the former offenders and drug abusers will gain a deeper insight into the consequences of committing crime or abusing drugs, have the courage to admit their failings and find the way to lead a more fulfilling and law-abiding life.In the past, different organizations have employed former offenders and drug abusers in educational programmes, particularly in relation to the prevention of juvenile delinquency. A number of studies demonstrate the educational effectiveness of sharing past deviant behaviours with audiences. Moreover, the mission of SRACP is to help the reintegration into society of former offenders and drug abusers. Consequently, employing former offenders and drug abusers to share their experiences serves another important function; to facilitate the transformation of their past histories into valuable assets and help with their own rehabilitation during the process of serving others, as suggested by ‘helper therapy’ and ‘professional ex-s’ (Brown 1991). A successful rehabilitation means success in reducing recidivism.This paper examines whether sharing one's real-life experiences with others can influence the rehabilitation process, and provides recommendations for improving service delivery to benefit both audience and the speakers themselves. Fifteen individuals who were formerly either offenders or drug abusers, aged between 18 and 45 years, and who had led a ‘clean’ life for the previous six months, took part in in-depth interviews in order to investigate their perceptions of the function of real-life experience sharing in their own rehabilitation. Concepts of labelling theory (Becker 1963) and self-fulfilling prophecy (Wilkins 1976) provided the framework for these interviews.The study concludes that respondents are normally able to help themselves to resist crime and drugs, given that the internal and external factors affecting sharing are well addressed. The results identify practical implications and directions for future involvement of former offenders and drug abusers in community-based crime prevention education programmes.

Neighborhood as Therapy

In recent years, numerous German cities have implemented community-based crime prevention policies on the level of neighborhoods. By focusing on these developments, the paper analyses a fundamental change in contemporary urban problem solving. Empirically, it retraces debates on the potential of new strategies of urban governance, which have taken place in the context of conferences on crime prevention over the last 15 years. Following a foucauldian discourse analysis, this article discusses the ambivalence of references to urban space and illustrates how community-based interventions reaffirm space as a governmental instrument of deterrence, social order, and differentiation.

An Historical Overview of Crime Prevention Initiatives in Canada: A Federal Perspective

The author provides an historical overview of crime prevention activities in Canada that have led to the federal government’s current direction in crime prevention policy. Drawing on more than 30 years experience as a federal public servant with the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Justice Canada, the author traces more than 100 years of Canadian federal crime prevention efforts, with an emphasis on both internal and external government documents and historic material from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This brief history of crime prevention efforts in Canada shows a clear trajectory from the mid-1980s onward, towards support for more comprehensive and integrated community-based crime prevention activities. The interventions are increasingly aimed at community safety, health, and well-being while involving the police, other service providers, as well as community members in the process.

Community Variations in Violence: The Role of Social Ties and Collective Efficacy in Comparative Context

This article explores the relative roles of social ties and collective efficacy in explaining community variations in violent victimization in Australia. Using data from a survey of 2,859 residents across 82 communities in the city of Brisbane, coupled with official reported crime data provided by the Queensland Police Service and Australian Bureau of Statistics census data for 2001, the authors employ multilevel statistical models to depict the relative importance of social ties and collective efficacy in predicting between-neighborhood violent victimization in an Australian context. The models include measures of social relationships and community-based crime prevention programs, and the authors compare and contrast their findings with studies of collective efficacy in Chicago and Stockholm, finding similar results. These findings suggest that despite structural and cultural differences between the United States and Australia in particular, collective efficacy is a significant mechanism in explaining the spatial distribution of self-reported violent victimization in the Australian context. This research underscores the importance of cross-cultural theory testing and the need to further develop the measurement of ecological constructs such as social ties and organizational behavior.