Outline and critically assess the key assumptions underpinning approaches to crime prevention.Outline and critically assess the key assumptions underpinning approaches to crime prevention.
If we look at the definition of crime, we can learn that crime is “an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law”.Crime could be labelled as one of the most disturbing facts in human`s life. Even if we can see the decrease in overall crime in 2012, we cannot be absolutely sure that it will completely disappear. Many criminologists are interested in crime prevention topic but when people are actually trying to do something with the aim to reduce crime itself, they could struggle with some issues. For example, do we actually know the cause of crime? Are we able to prevent it without a cause? How can we measure it, if it was prevented? The crucial point criminologists are making is that we have got not just crime itself but the fear of crime among society. The fear of crime was introduced to English society by the Conservative party in order to win the election. They use it as a tool, with a purpose to manipulate people. That time could be named as a starting point to massive development of programmes in order to prevent crime and if we talk about citizens - to protect themselves. For example, Farell and Pease discovered that not just the area is important as a victimisation element but that people, who have been victimised once, are more likely to experience it again. Another example could be a ‘Broken windows’ thesis made by Wilson and Kelling in 1982 in which they suggested to remove from the streets people who are begging, sleeping or drinking alcohol in public places. It is possible to name lots of theories which have been written in order to improve the situation of crime prevention. What is really important is that all these suggestions have