Crime Prevention
Introduction
Crime continues to be a big challenge to different societies in the world over. Governments and people of good will are doing any thing they can in the eradication of crime and all its dynamics. Every time there is a debate about crime, what is at stake is human conduct. This is the reason why the approach to crime prevention mechanisms requires a lot of prudence, fairness and education.
This study seeks to give a deep reflection on the theme of crime prevention. The study will consider those measures that are human friendly. As such, the fundamental approaches to crime prevention, for instance, situational, social, and developmental will also be considered. It will also be important to reflect on the emergence of crime prevention illustrations of crime preventions programs, and finally look at the pros and cons in the whole process of crime prevention.
Crime Prevention
There are attempts to reduce crime through reduction of opportunities by physical or environmental means. Here, the agents make certain situations less attractive and rewarding to criminals. In situational crime prevention, there are minimal opportunities for criminals to engage in crime. The criminals do not think that they can get away scot free after committing crime it makes it even more difficult, riskier, and less gratifying to commit a crime. It also involves making alterations to buildings and streets so as to make them safer zones, normally by use of police help. Again, the government can engage the public through common sense by showing them that crime is of no benefit to them. Here, the members of the public are entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring safety in their communities plus working with individuals from different agencies. In fact, it sensitizes the public with the notion that prevention of crime is a collective responsibility. This shall be expounded more on the section of community-based policing later in this study.
It is not worthwhile to focus on the circumstances that give rise to particular kinds of crime it is better to establish discrete managerial and environmental changes to cub the vice. It is advisable to focus on the settings for the crime, and pay less attention to those committing criminal acts. Remember, it had been mentioned earlier that human beings are the principal actors of crime. For the situational theory, what is of importance is the circumstance that makes it favorable for a person to commit a crime. Consider the following fictitious example which is just to drive a point home Young men in the streets of Kansas are becoming troublesome by attacking residents at night. It is becoming too much such that the police together with the residents think it is better to light the whole estate with stronger lights operating twenty four hours. The government orders that all pubs close at nine so that the young men can go home early. See the point Now, darkness and pubs are seen as the cause of the problem of crime.
This is the position of situational crime prevention. It can be seen that they are tackling the problem not from the principal actors point of view but merely on the occasional aspect of the problem. It aims at forestalling the occurrence of crime, rather than detecting and sanctioning offenders. It does not seek to do away with criminal or delinquent inclinations or tendencies by improving and transforming the society or its institutions. It seems that it only labors to make criminal action less attractive to offenders.
Child bring up plays a role on how people perceive the society and particularly, how they get involved in it. It is indisputable that parents and teachers have the pre-assignment to shape the values of the growing children right in their childhood. Indeed, a child who grows up stealing, smoking or rude is likely to become a thief, a smoker and a defiant person. Family units are the first schools of moral learning before the state. It is pointless to dream to have a safe society and yet parents or guardians or teachers fail to disseminate good manners and values to the young ones. In general, a society with good and responsible young generation is an ideal of a responsible and crime-free society.
Emergence of Crime Prevention
Community-based policing is one of the most celebrated ways in cubing crime in the community. It is simply making the entire public involved in the fight against crime. The fight against crime becomes a collective responsibility. By so doing, the police team up with the entire public in dealing with the criminals. It is true that criminals hide in the public as they plan their malicious criminal acts.
As mentioned above community policing involves shifting the policing initiative to the public by making them involved in ensuring public security. It is a widely held view that the greatest enemies or threats to the police are the youths. Theoretically, restorative policing plays a major role in dissuading the general public to be involved in the promotion and maintenance of public safety. It is incumbent upon the community to promote reconciliation and co-existence among themselves while police agencies encourage and make it possible for them in this endeavor. By supporting the community in this role, police organizations devote maximum attention and resources to community building that aim at mobilizing and enhance the communitys skills and confidence in informal responses to crime. Restorative policing seems to be the next obvious step in community policing and police reform, it seems.
Recommendations
It can be argued and justifiably so that crime is a political activity. As had been illustrated earlier, the situational prevention of crime considers the material object of crime. In this regard, there is a big likelihood of creating inequalities across the board. The rich (politicians) will settle for those mechanisms that safeguard them more importantly, what shields their wealth from being stolen. The rich fear that the poor will walk into their precious premises and burglarize the houses or whatever the property. Therefore, genuine policy makers must ensure that the war against crime in the society is not a war against the poor or illiterate. It should be seen as a major need for the community at large. Crime must always be addressed as a social calamity, and not as a partial weakness attributed to a group of people.
Social prevention and collective responsibility is indeed a sign of public maturity and community development. Projects involving the youth in community building, education and initiative entrepreneurship programs among others are actually indirect but valuable ways of building a responsible human family.
The members of the public should make it their initiative in ensuring that they live in a safe environment. Local people understand their problems better not even foreign policies can bring solution to their problems. Therefore, the government must empower citizens at all levels and devolve some authorities to them. They will own up their community and defend it to the fullest. Therefore, oversees models should never be imposed on the local citizens as it will not help them at all.
Conclusion
It is very important to understand crime from its root causes as this is the only way to root it out from the society. However, remember what we mentioned earlier that crime is an attitude of a people. So, its eradication involves a complete transformation of the self as such. Let all people agree and be convinced that crime is wrong and inhuman. It has to be a resolution just as how somebody resolves not to ever smoke or drink beer again. It is a habit which can be overcome through help and guidance.
People should learn to be self-policed. They should coordinate with the police in crime eradication. I am convinced that criminals will find it very hard to survive if the public turns against them, just as how a fish will die in the case when water is withdrawn from a pond. But, the bad news is that crime will always be there. I appreciate this study because emphasis was much on crime prevention and not cure of crime. What we should aim at in the days to come, is lowering its rate from may be, 9 to 2.
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