Situational Prevention

Abstract

Theories of criminality focus their explanation of crime at the level of the individual, considering factors that predispose an individual to commit crime, or social influences that might encourage them to do so. In contrast, influenced by the finding that the timing and location of crime events are far from random, opportunity theories of crime focus on the crime event and how the immediate environment within which offenders may find themselves affects the probability of crime occurrence. In this chapter, we focus on the impact on crime of situational crime prevention (SCP) interventions for which the rationale can be found in theories of opportunity. In what follows, we begin with a brief discussion of the theories concerned and a definition of SCP. This is followed by individual summaries of the findings of seven systematic reviews assessing the effectiveness of SCP measures, our own analysis of trends that can be identified by pooling the evidence, and finally, a discussion of what else could usefully be done to improve the current body of evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)