Situational Crime

Environmental criminology looks at the relationship between crime and its geographical or spatial environment: the extent to which crime is concentrated in particular places and what factors lead to higher crime rates. Situational crime prevention has developed out of research on crime hot spots, to see how situations can be altered to eliminate or reduce the opportunity for offenders to commit crime—on the principle that, even if there is a motivated offender and a relevant target, reducing the opportunity to offend will make crime less likely. Situational crime prevention has scored notable successes, particularly in relation to short-term prevention of property offenses, but to produce longlasting effects, it may well need to be supplemented by measures aimed at reducing the propensity to offend and enhancing ...