Crime Prevention Plan for Melville City; Theories of Crime

Running Head: Crime Prevention Plan 1
A Crime Prevention Plan for Melville City; Theories of Crime
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Crime Prevention Plan 2
Introduction
Various factors leave one predisposed to committing offenses. These factors range from
the environment to the individual himself. To fight crime, it is important that one understands the
reason why crimes are committed by individuals and why the crime patterns vary from time to
time and region to region. Various theories describe how individuals become offenders. Classical
school theorists believe that an individual has the liberty of choosing how best they want to act in
search of pleasure or personal contentment (Beccaria & di Beccaria, 2009; Bentham, 2017). This
implies that to commit or not to commit a crime relies entirely on the individual's desires.
Similarly, positivists believe that crimes are committed as a result of the sociological, biological,
and biological factors. According to Lochner and Moretti (2004) found that social factors such
as the age of the offender, gender, poverty, education and drug usage such as alcohol
consumption.
Crime Patterns in Melville City
Crimes do not just happen impulsively or randomly. Crimes are often planned and
executed. This pattern can be studied through crime mapping (Hill & Paynich, 2013). The main
objectives of crime mapping are to understand why certain areas experience high crime rate
compared to other areas. These are referred to as crime nodes. Such social setting comprises of
institutions of learning, shopping centres, public transport areas, and entertainment hubs. These
nodes may also be referred to as activity places where the offender spends most of his time. It is
important to note that the routes used by the likely offenders to these nodes are considered as
paths (Hill & Paynich, 2013). Therefore it is along these paths and nodes that the likely offenders
usually cross paths with their victims. In Melville City Council the crimes are prone in areas like
public transport areas. Such a spot is densely populated, and at least it has new people who are
coming to Melville City for the first time. This place is an easy target for offenders. The regions
surrounding these places are referred to as peripherals. In fighting crimes, it is essential that one
understands the crime pattern of a particular area. Crimes not only take place in activity places
but also in awareness places, that is, places that one has visited just a couple of times but not
frequently. According to Hill and Paynich (2013), offenders use maps to scout for victims. Also,
Smith and Patterson (1980) acknowledge that in the execution of crimes, maps are created, then
targets selected and the crime committed. Public transport areas like bus stops or train stations

Crime Prevention Plan 3
are 'crime attractors.' For the City Council of Melville to stop crimes in the city the officers need
to study these patterns to predict the next hit. For instance, if the offender is one who has a full-
time blue collar job, then it will be hard for such a person to commit an offence during the
normal working days and hours. However, such people may still use their free time off work to
commit these felonies or misdemeanours. In sexual offences (The Criminal Code Compilation
Act 1913), the offender enters the activity or awareness space, scouts for victims then isolate
them into the peripheral area to commit the heinous act (Mogavero & Hsu, 2018).
Theft from Cars Pattern
This type of offence is prone to public transport areas and venues like hospitals when
most people tend to park their cars during visits for their loved ones or a check-up. What makes
this crime rampant is the fact that it is hard to tell whose car door is left unlocked nor which car
belongs to who (Santos, 2012). It is important for the law enforcement officers should not only
focus on arresting the offenders but focus more on protecting the victims from such loss.
According to Northcliff Melville Magazine (2019), the theft of cars in Melville city
continues to be on the rise. This has led to posters being put up to warn the residents always to
lock their cars as car jammers are always on the look-out and ready to steal valuable from these
cars that are often unlocked.
Crime Prevention Theory
Welsh and Farrington (2014) define crime prevention as the activities and measures put
in place to help reduce the occurrences of the activities that are declared criminal by the state.
Crime prevention is better than making arrests after the crime has already been committed.
Arrest only increase the population in prisons, a place where the offenders are not guaranteed
100% reformation as some of them come out hardened than before. Also, the criminal justice
system seems not to take care of the victims of these crimes and prevention does this as no
crimes against persons equals no victims to be taken care of (Schneider, 2014). According to
Schneider, crime prevention till lacks a better framework that should help in its effectiveness.
The major crime prevention that could be applicable in fighting comprise the following:
 Situational Crime prevention