Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
previous experience of crime to produce some
complex patterns of fear differentiated by gender
and age. Women and older people are generally
more fearful but have lower actual risks of
becoming a victim—paradoxes that have been
explored in some detail (Pain 1993;Valentine 1989;
Fattah and Sacco 1989).
Environmental factors are influential in
personal fears through their role in vulnerability.
Being out alone after dark will increase fear, as will
an environment that sensitises vulnerability
through visual or auditory cues. The way that
people perceive danger and learn to cope with it
is the key to understanding how individuals
negotiate the consequences of their fear.
potential for reducing crime directly by catching
criminals. The key to crime reduction is
preventing crime in the first place.
Crime prevention has a long and honourable
history. With public safety, it was one of the twin
pillars of the 'Peel Act' that introduced the police
as a public service in Britain in 1830. From the
latter part of the nineteenth century, its role waned
under the pressure of the increasing
professionalisation of the police so that by the
1960s it had become reduced to offering advice
on the security of premises. The last two decades
have brought crime prevention back to the
forefront, much reinforced and with clear
geographical orientations, which are summarised
in Table 32.1. Hough and Tilley (1998) suggest a
division of prevention into two basic categories.
Crime prevention
includes enforcement activities
designed to deter or incapacitate offenders and
situational measures aimed at foreclosing
opportunities for the commission of offences.
Criminality prevention
covers social or community
measures that inhibit the development of criminal
motivation and the rehabilitation of offenders to
reduce the risk of re-offending.
The range of activities covered illustrates the
strength of the geographical basis of crime
prevention. Closed-circuit television (CCTV)
appears twice to distinguish its complementary
REDUCING CRIME AND FEAR OF CRIME
The rise in crime over the last four decades has
led to increasing demands for effective solutions.
In the public eye, this means more often than not
more punishment or at least the threat of
punishment. Yet a reading of the data in Figure
32.2 will question whether raising the 'ante' on
crime (more jail sentences) is likely to have a
significant effect on victimisation when so few
crimes result in imprisonment for the offender.
Similarly, increased policing has strictly limited
Figure 31.3
Location map of the Bronx, New York City.
