How can a society prevent-not deter, not punish-but prevent crime? Criminal justice prevention, commonly called crime control, aims to prevent crime after an initial offence has been commited through anything from an arrest to a death penalty sentence. These traditional means have been frequently examined and their efficacy just as frequently questioned. Promising new forms of crime prevention have emerged and expanded as important components of an overall strategy to reduce crime.
Crime prevention today has developed along three lines: interventions to improve the life chances of children and prevent them from embarking on a life of crime; programs and policies designed to ameliorate the social conditions and institutions that influence offending; and the modification or manipulation of the physical environment, products, or systems to reduce everyday opportunities for crime. Each strategy aims at preventing crime or criminal offending in the first instance - before the act has been committed. Each, importantly, takes place outside of the formal criminal justice system, representing an alternative, perhaps even socially progressive way to reduce crime. The Oxford Handbook of Crime Prevention is a comprehensive, up-to-date, and authoritative review of research on crime prevention. Bringing together top scholars in criminology, public policy, psychology, and sociology, this Handbook includes critical reviews of the main theories that form the basis of crime prevention, evidence-based assessments of the effectiveness of the most important interventions, and cross-cutting essays that examine implementation, evaluation methodology, and public policy.
Covering the three major crime prevention strategies active today-developmental, community, and situational-this definitive volume addresses seriously and critically the ways in which the United States and the Western world have attempted, and should continue to strive for the prevention of crime.
Preface ; Contributors ; 1. Crime Prevention and Public Policy ; Brandon C. Welsh and David P. Farrington ; PART I: Developmental Crime Prevention ; 2. Developmental and Life-Course Theories of Offending ; Francis T. Cullen, Michael L. Benson, and Matthew D. Makarios ; 3. Risk and Protective Factors for Offending ; David P. Farrington, Rolf Loeber, and Maria M. Ttofi ; 4. Preventing Crime through Intervention in the Preschool Years ; Holly S. Schindler and Hirokazu Yoshikawa ; 5. Parent Training and the Prevention of Crime ; Alex R. Piquero and Wesley G. Jennings ; 6. Child Skills Training in the Prevention of Antisocial Development and Crime ; Friedrich Losel and Doris Bender ; 7. Developmental Approaches in the Prevention of Female Offending ; Deborah Gorman-Smith and Alana M. Vivolo ; PART II: Community Crime Prevention ; 8. Community-Level Influences on Crime and Offending ; Steven F. Messner and Gregory M. Zimmerman ; 9. Disorder and Crime ; Wesley G. Skogan ; 10. Poverty Deconcentration and the Prevention of Crime ; Jens Ludwig and Julia Burdick-Will ; 11. Peer Influence, Mentoring, and the Prevention of Crime ; Christopher J. Sullivan and Darrick Jolliffe ; 12. Comprehensive Community Partnerships for Preventing Crime ; Dennis P. Rosenbaum and Amie M. Schuck ; 13. Community-Based Substance Use Prevention ; Abigail A. Fagan and J. David Hawkins ; 14. School-Based Crime Prevention ; Denise C. Gottfredson, Philip J. Cook, and Chongmin Na ; PART III: Situational Crime Prevention ; 15. Situational Crime Prevention: Classifying Techniques Using 'Good Enough' Theory ; Martha J. Smith and Ronald V. Clarke ; 16. High Crime Places, Times, and Offenders ; Anthony A. Braga ; 17. Crime Displacement and Diffusion of Benefits ; Shane D. Johnson, Rob T. Guerette, and Kate J. Bowers ; 18. Place-Based Crime Prevention: Theory, Evidence, and Policy ; John E. Eck and Rob T. Guerette ; 19. The Private Sector and Designing Products against Crime ; Paul Ekblom ; 20. Once Bitten, Twice Shy? Repeat Victimization and its Prevention ; Louise Grove and Graham Farrell ; PART IV: Advancing Knowledge and Building a Safer Society ; 21. Implementing Crime Prevention: Good Governance and a Science of Implementation ; Ross Homel and Peter Homel ; 22. The Importance of Randomized Experiments in Evaluating Crime Prevention ; David Weisburd and Joshua C. Hinkle ; 23. Preventing Future Criminal Activities of Delinquents and Offenders ; Doris Layton MacKenzie ; 24. Public Opinion and Crime Prevention: A Review of International Trends ; Julian V. Roberts and Ross Hastings ; 25. The Science and Politics of Crime Prevention: Toward a New Crime Policy ; Brandon C. Welsh and David P. Farrington ; Index
