Crime Prevention Strategies & Community

This assignment delves into the realm of crime prevention by examining different strategies employed to mitigate criminal activity. It emphasizes the significance of situational crime prevention, drawing on theories like Routine Activities Theory and Rational Choice Theory. The importance of community engagement in curbing crime is also highlighted, suggesting that a collaborative approach involving residents and law enforcement is crucial for creating a secure environment. The assignment encourages analysis of real-world examples and effective methods to enhance public safety.

Running head: CRIME PREVENTION SECURITY
Crime prevention strategies
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................2
A. Nature of the current problem:..........................................................................................2
B. Recommended course of action or techniques:.................................................................3
(a) Routine activity theory:................................................................................................4
(b) Rational choice theory:.................................................................................................5
(c) Problem solving methodologies:..................................................................................6
(i) SARA:...........................................................................................................................7
(ii) 5I’s model:....................................................................................................................7
Environmental prevention:.....................................................................................................7
C. Recommendation for Implementation process:.................................................................8
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................8
Reference:..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
Crime is an illegal and unethical act and is universal in nature. Such acts not only
harm the individual but the society also. Crime prevention is an attempt to reduce the illegal
acts for maintaining justice in the society (Horyniak et al. 2016). In Victoria, the rate of crime
is growing and the youth society of Australia are very much get involved in such illegal acts.
Most of the crimes are committed in intoxicated situation or from the grievance of
unemployment and poverty and it is important to identify other criminal factors for
establishing a pleasant society. This report is based on certain advice on the effective strategy
on crime prevention and effective methods to implement the strategies.
Discussion:
A. Nature of the current problem:
Most of the crimes committed in the state of Victoria are organised in nature as the
symptoms of the crimes are followed the elements of organised crime. The elements of the
organised crime are as follows:
 The criminal acts should be committed for any gain;
 The outcome of the offence must be serious;
 Most the crimes are committed by small group of people;
 The crimes are committed plan wise;
 The criminal groups are frequently disbursed after the commission of the offence.
However, Major Crime (Investigative Powers) Act 2004 (Vic) defines the term
organised crime as an indictable offence and the terms of the punishment imposed for the
offence are up to ten years.

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The most common offences that have been committed in Victoria are burglary and
theft. According to a criminal figure published in 2016, up to 24.4% crimes were committed
in the form of robbery and 15.9% crimes were committed in the form of theft
(Crimestatistics.vic.gov.au 2018). Except these, the rate of crime in case of burglary was
10.1% and 6.9% crimes were committed under Narcotic Substances Act. A report is revealing
that rate of crime in case of theft and burglary has been increased almost 27% in 2016
compare to 2015. Another offence that has been increasing now days is sexual assault in the
state of Victoria.
Most of the cases on burglary and robbery are committed by gangs and various
criminal organisations are established in Victoria. In general, the organisation that controls
the illegal acts or supplying illegal substances are known as criminal organisation. In
Victoria, there is no specific definition on criminal organisation. A report published by the
Victoria Law Reform reveals that the criminal groups are active in the drugs market.
It has also been observed that the juvenile assault has been grown in Australia
since 2000 and the rate of molestation on women is at high condition. Most of the women are
victimised by their relatives. The crime related to graffiti has also become a serious problem
in Australia. All these offences are indictable in nature (Von Lampe 2015).
B. Recommended course of action or techniques:
Criminal conducts are belonging to the human activities and therefore, the main
objective of the criminal prevention theories is to understand the key factors of the criminal
conduct. Crime prevention theory is based on certain moral principles (Crawford and Evans
2017). It defines the nature of suitable society. There are certain crime prevention techniques
and theories for the implementation of relevant rules to reduce the criminal mentalities and
activities as well. The term ‘crime prevention’ can be classified as social prevention and

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environmental prevention. Social prevention concentrates on the process where crime can be
prevented by the common people and give emphasis on the behaviour of the people.
Environmental prevention points out the environment where a crime can take place. Social
crime prevention process can be based on three theories such as:
 Routine activity theory;
 Rational choice theory;
 Problem solving methodologies.
(a) Routine activity theory:
This theory is based on Felson’s crime triangle model. According to Marcus
Felson, there are three factors that jointly caused the commission of crime. Those three
factors are an offender, a target and absence of capable guardianship.
Source: (Criminal Justice, 2018)
Felson had propounded the theory from social ground and according to him, where
in a society there is high rate of poverty and unemployment, commission of crime is also high
in number. The society of Australia is very much affected by poverty and unemployment. It
has been reported by Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) that 17.4% children in

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Australia are suffering from poverty and the rate is growing subsequently (Acoss.org.au
2018). On the other hand, a hidden grievance has been observed among the youth of Victoria
due to lack of proper job. Concurrently, the high rate of corporate crimes has instigated the
youth to commit crime. The reasons behind corporate crime are well established by the
routine activity theory. The motivated offenders as described in the crime triangle model are
playing a vital role as according to Felson, they have a tendency to commit crime (Wikström
et al. 2015). The vulnerable objects are defined as a suitable target and situation makes the
target more attractive to the offender. According Felson and Cohen, risk regarding the
personality and property is increased due to low self control tendency that arise due to
poverty and lack of job in Victoria and Australia as well.
This theory has made an attempt to define the chances of crime at different level.
In the beginning, this theory was used to recognize the changes made in the pattern of crime.
Later, the theory was developed to predict the allocation of crime across time. There are
certain places in every country where the rate of crime is higher compare to the other places.
This theory made an attempt to delve into the reason of this comparison. This theory creates
emphasis on the routine activities of human being. Besides, this theory has made an attempt
to describe the differences in the process of victimization. This theory analyses the scale of
risk applied on potential victim and as viewed in case of Victoria, this model will help to
analyse the behavioural changes among the youth and will assist to resolve the dispute from
the root.
(b) Rational choice theory:
The social and economic behaviour of a crime is described by the rational choice
theory. This theory is based on cost and benefit theory of Economics. It is stated that people
are always making rational choices to gain certain profits. Commission of crime is also
depending on the same principle (Newman and Clarke 2016). It is observed that a person can

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commit crime to meet his desire such as sex or entertainment or to gain profit in the form of
money or status. Eminent criminologist Gul had explained certain elements of this theory
which can be classified into following:
 Every individual is a rational actor;
 People choose their behaviour on the basis of rational calculation;
 Various cost benefit theories are the central pivot of this theory;
However, he had imposed certain responsibilities on the government to maintain
good law and order system in the country with an intention to control this tendency of human
beings. Government has failed to provide sufficient job to the youth of Victoria and this
forced them to get addicted to drugs and commits crimes like burglary and robbery.
This theory focuses on the nature and characteristics of crime. Many theorists have
classified the theory as a meta-theory of criminology as it deals with different components of
crime. According to this theory, crime is a calculated offence and the criminals are making
decision with conscious mind. The main objective of the decision was to gain certain benefits
by committing the crime.
(c) Problem solving methodologies:
There are certain problem solving methods that are also helpful to prevent the
commission of crime by way of identifying the main facts of a criminal case (Clarke and Eck
2014). The processes are known as problem solving methodologies. SARA and 5Is are such
techniques.

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(i) SARA:
The method of SARA is based on the four aspects such as Scanning, Analysis,
Responding and Assessing results. This problem solving method is used by most of the
policing agencies. It gives a systematic approach to identify and analyse the criminal acts.
(ii) 5I’s model:
5Is model is also a crime prevention model that consists of processes like Intelligence,
Intervention, Implementation, Involvement and Impact. This criminal approach is made to
improve the level of performance by supplying an integrated map (Weisburd and McEwen
2015). The main objective of this model is to capture the main facts and share the knowledge
for the maintenance of good practice to prevent a crime.
Environmental prevention:
The most effective prevention therapy under this process is situational crime
prevention. According to this model, it is required to stop the commission of crime before it
is executed (Wortley and Townsley 2016). This theory prioritises the role of bystanders and
pedestrian to stop the commission of crime. The risk of street crime can be reduced if the
common public participates in the prevention of crime. Additionally, CCTV footage will also
help to reduce the chances of commission of crime in the deserted places. Situational crime
prevention suggests that if the deserted premises can be maintained properly, occurrence of
crime can be controlled (Clarke and Bowers 2017). This method is helpful to identify the
criminals and helps the police in the investigation process. Additionally, the criminals will
get restricted if the common people will take active part in the prohibition of criminal acts.
The same principle can be applied in case of graffiti.

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C. Recommendation for Implementation process:
Certain steps can be recommended for the implementation of the above discussed
processes. The first thing is to search the problem behind local crime. It is required to
conduct a survey on the crimes and the criminal acts should be sort out accordingly. Criminal
map is helpful to predict the most criminal places in Victoria. Second important step is to
identify a particular problem related to crime. Effectiveness of the entire necessary crime
prevention model should be analysed as per the problems. For example, in Victoria, most
common problems are burglary, robbery and drug addiction. Therefore, the process that could
help to reduce these crimes should be adopted. Thirdly, all the possible crime prevention
measures should have to be considered and the most effective measures should be applied to
prevent the criminal activities (Gibson and Johnson 2016). Next stage should identify the
agency who will implement the plan. The significant changes should have to be recorded by
the agents and proper documentation is required in this case with an intention to provide a
systematic approach to the crime prevention.
Conclusion:
There is no easy solution for the prevention of crime. Certain theories have been
prescribed by the criminologists to get a concept over the prevention. There are certain
advantages and disadvantages of these theories. It is required to analyse the stages of criminal
activities and proper implementation method should have to be adopted to prevent the
possibility of crime. This report has prescribed certain advises regarding the prevention of
crime and implementation processes have also been discussed. The youths of Victoria are
likely to be involved in illegal acts and reasons behind the acts have been identified.
However, it can be stated that crime can only be curbed by the help of the community. Proper
methods should have to be adopted to provide a secured life to the citizen.

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Reference:
Acoss.org.au. (2018). Poverty – ACOSS. [online] Available at:
http://www.acoss.org.au/poverty/ [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018].
Clarke, R. and Eck, J.E., 2014. Become a problem-solving crime analyst. Routledge.
Clarke, R.V. and Bowers, K., 2017. Seven misconceptions of situational crime
prevention. Handbook of crime prevention and community safety, pp.109-142.
Crawford, A. and Evans, K., 2017. Crime prevention and community safety (pp. 797-824).
Oxford University Press.
Crimestatistics.vic.gov.au. (2018). Homepage - Crime Statistics Agency Victoria. [online]
Available at: http://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018].
Criminal Justice. (2018). Routine Activities Theory (Criminology Theories) IResearchNet.
[online] Available at: http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/criminology/theories/routine-
activities-theory/2/ [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018].
Gibson, V. and Johnson, D., 2016. CPTED, but not as we know it: Investigating the conflict
of frameworks and terminology in crime prevention through environmental design. Security
Journal, 29(2), pp.256-275.
Horyniak, D., Dietze, P., Degenhardt, L., Agius, P., Higgs, P., Bruno, R., Alati, R. and Burns,
L., 2016. Age-related differences in patterns of criminal activity among a large sample of
polydrug injectors in Australia. Journal of Substance Use, 21(1), pp.48-56.
Kurland, J., Pires, S.F., McFann, S.C. and Moreto, W.D., 2017. Wildlife crime: a conceptual
integration, literature review, and methodological critique. Crime Science, 6(1), p.4.

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Newman, G. and Clarke, R.V., 2016. Rational choice and situational crime prevention:
Theoretical foundations. Routledge.
Tilley, N. and Sidebottom, A. eds., 2017. Handbook of crime prevention and community
safety. Taylor & Francis.
Von Lampe, K., 2015. Organized crime: analyzing illegal activities, criminal structures, and
extra-legal governance. SAGE Publications.
Weisburd, D.L. and McEwen, T., 2015. Introduction: Crime mapping and crime prevention.
Wikström, P.O.H., Treiber, K., Hardie, B. and Oberwittler, D., 2015. Felson’s Review of
“Breaking Rules”: Smoke and Mirrors. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 26(1), pp.115-
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Wortley, R.K. and Townsley, M. eds., 2016. Environmental criminology and crime
analysis (Vol. 18). Taylor & Francis.

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