Situational Crime Prevention Community Safety - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Situational Crime Prevention Community Safety. Answer: Introduction: Crime is an illegal and unethical act and is universal in nature. Such acts not only harm the individual but the society also. Crime prevention is an attempt to reduce the illegal acts for maintaining justice in the society (Horyniak et al. 2016). In Victoria, the rate of crime is growing and the youth society of Australia are very much get involved in such illegal acts. Most of the crimes are committed in intoxicated situation or from the grievance of unemployment and poverty and it is important to identify other criminal factors for establishing a pleasant society. This report is based on certain advice on the effective strategy on crime prevention and effective methods to implement the strategies. Discussion: Nature of the current problem: Most of the crimes committed in the state of Victoria are organised in nature as the symptoms of the crimes are followed the elements of organised crime. The elements of the organised crime are as follows: The criminal acts should be committed for any gain; The outcome of the offence must be serious; Most the crimes are committed by small group of people; The crimes are committed plan wise; The criminal groups are frequently disbursed after the commission of the offence. However, Major Crime (Investigative Powers) Act 2004 (Vic) defines the term organised crime as an indictable offence and the terms of the punishment imposed for the offence are up to ten years. The most common offences that have been committed in Victoria are burglary and theft. According to a criminal figure published in 2016, up to 24.4% crimes were committed in the form of robbery and 15.9% crimes were committed in the form of theft (Crimestatistics.vic.gov.au 2018). Except these, the rate of crime in case of burglary was 10.1% and 6.9% crimes were committed under Narcotic Substances Act. A report is revealing that rate of crime in case of theft and burglary has been increased almost 27% in 2016 compare to 2015. Another offence that has been increasing now days is sexual assault in the state of Victoria. Most of the cases on burglary and robbery are committed by gangs and various criminal organisations are established in Victoria. In general, the organisation that controls the illegal acts or supplying illegal substances are known as criminal organisation. In Victoria, there is no specific definition on criminal organisation. A report published by the Victoria Law Reform reveals that the criminal groups are active in the drugs market. It has also been observed that the juvenile assault has been grown in Australia since 2000 and the rate of molestation on women is at high condition. Most of the women are victimised by their relatives. The crime related to graffiti has also become a serious problem in Australia. All these offences are indictable in nature (Von Lampe 2015). Recommended course of action or techniques: Criminal conducts are belonging to the human activities and therefore, the main objective of the criminal prevention theories is to understand the key factors of the criminal conduct. Crime prevention theory is based on certain moral principles (Crawford and Evans 2017). It defines the nature of suitable society. There are certain crime prevention techniques and theories for the implementation of relevant rules to reduce the criminal mentalities and activities as well. The term crime prevention can be classified as social prevention and environmental prevention. Social prevention concentrates on the process where crime can be prevented by the common people and give emphasis on the behaviour of the people. Environmental prevention points out the environment where a crime can take place. Social crime prevention process can be based on three theories such as: Routine activity theory; Rational choice theory; Problem solving methodologies. Routine activity theory: This theory is based on Felsons crime triangle model. According to Marcus Felson, there are three factors that jointly caused the commission of crime. Those three factors are an offender, a target and absence of capable guardianship. Felson had propounded the theory from social ground and according to him, where in a society there is high rate of poverty and unemployment, commission of crime is also high in number. The society of Australia is very much affected by poverty and unemployment. It has been reported by Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) that 17.4% children in Australia are suffering from poverty and the rate is growing subsequently (Acoss.org.au 2018). On the other hand, a hidden grievance has been observed among the youth of Victoria due to lack of proper job. Concurrently, the high rate of corporate crimes has instigated the youth to commit crime. The reasons behind corporate crime are well established by the routine activity theory. The motivated offenders as described in the crime triangle model are playing a vital role as according to Felson, they have a tendency to commit crime (Wikstrm et al. 2015). The vulnerable objects are defined as a suitable target and situation makes the target more attractive to the offender. According Felson and Cohen, risk regarding the personality and property is increased due to low self control tendency that arise due to poverty and lack of job in Victoria and Australia as well. This theory has made an attempt to define the chances of crime at different level. In the beginning, this theory was used to recognize the changes made in the pattern of crime. Later, the theory was developed to predict the allocation of crime across time. There are certain places in every country where the rate of crime is higher compare to the other places. This theory made an attempt to delve into the reason of this comparison. This theory creates emphasis on the routine activities of human being. Besides, this theory has made an attempt to describe the differences in the process of victimization. This theory analyses the scale of risk applied on potential victim and as viewed in case of Victoria, this model will help to analyse the behavioural changes among the youth and will assist to resolve the dispute from the root. Rational choice theory: The social and economic behaviour of a crime is described by the rational choice theory. This theory is based on cost and benefit theory of Economics. It is stated that people are always making rational choices to gain certain profits. Commission of crime is also depending on the same principle (Newman and Clarke 2016). It is observed that a person can commit crime to meet his desire such as sex or entertainment or to gain profit in the form of money or status. Eminent criminologist Gul had explained certain elements of this theory which can be classified into following: Every individual is a rational actor; People choose their behaviour on the basis of rational calculation; Various cost benefit theories are the central pivot of this theory; However, he had imposed certain responsibilities on the government to maintain good law and order system in the country with an intention to control this tendency of human beings. Government has failed to provide sufficient job to the youth of Victoria and this forced them to get addicted to drugs and commits crimes like burglary and robbery. This theory focuses on the nature and characteristics of crime. Many theorists have classified the theory as a meta-theory of criminology as it deals with different components of crime. According to this theory, crime is a calculated offence and the criminals are making decision with conscious mind. The main objective of the decision was to gain certain benefits by committing the crime. Problem solving methodologies: There are certain problem solving methods that are also helpful to prevent the commission of crime by way of identifying the main facts of a criminal case (Clarke and Eck 2014). The processes are known as problem solving methodologies. SARA and 5Is are such techniques. SARA: The method of SARA is based on the four aspects such as Scanning, Analysis, Responding and Assessing results. This problem solving method is used by most of the policing agencies. It gives a systematic approach to identify and analyse the criminal acts. 5Is model: 5Is model is also a crime prevention model that consists of processes like Intelligence, Intervention, Implementation, Involvement and Impact. This criminal approach is made to improve the level of performance by supplying an integrated map (Weisburd and McEwen 2015). The main objective of this model is to capture the main facts and share the knowledge for the maintenance of good practice to prevent a crime. Environmental prevention: The most effective prevention therapy under this process is situational crime prevention. According to this model, it is required to stop the commission of crime before it is executed (Wortley and Townsley 2016). This theory prioritises the role of bystanders and pedestrian to stop the commission of crime. The risk of street crime can be reduced if the common public participates in the prevention of crime. Additionally, CCTV footage will also help to reduce the chances of commission of crime in the deserted places. Situational crime prevention suggests that if the deserted premises can be maintained properly, occurrence of crime can be controlled (Clarke and Bowers 2017). This method is helpful to identify the criminals and helps the police in the investigation process. Additionally, the criminals will get restricted if the common people will take active part in the prohibition of criminal acts. The same principle can be applied in case of graffiti. Recommendation for Implementation process: Certain steps can be recommended for the implementation of the above discussed processes. The first thing is to search the problem behind local crime. It is required to conduct a survey on the crimes and the criminal acts should be sort out accordingly. Criminal map is helpful to predict the most criminal places in Victoria. Second important step is to identify a particular problem related to crime. Effectiveness of the entire necessary crime prevention model should be analysed as per the problems. For example, in Victoria, most common problems are burglary, robbery and drug addiction. Therefore, the process that could help to reduce these crimes should be adopted. Thirdly, all the possible crime prevention measures should have to be considered and the most effective measures should be applied to prevent the criminal activities (Gibson and Johnson 2016). Next stage should identify the agency who will implement the plan. The significant changes should have to be recorded by the agents and proper documentation is required in this case with an intention to provide a systematic approach to the crime prevention. Conclusion: There is no easy solution for the prevention of crime. Certain theories have been prescribed by the criminologists to get a concept over the prevention. There are certain advantages and disadvantages of these theories. It is required to analyse the stages of criminal activities and proper implementation method should have to be adopted to prevent the possibility of crime. This report has prescribed certain advises regarding the prevention of crime and implementation processes have also been discussed. The youths of Victoria are likely to be involved in illegal acts and reasons behind the acts have been identified. However, it can be stated that crime can only be curbed by the help of the community. Proper methods should have to be adopted to provide a secured life to the citizen. Reference: Acoss.org.au. (2018).Poverty ACOSS. [online] Available at: https://www.acoss.org.au/poverty/ [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018]. Clarke, R. and Eck, J.E., 2014.Become a problem-solving crime analyst. Routledge. Clarke, R.V. and Bowers, K., 2017. Seven misconceptions of situational crime prevention.Handbook of crime prevention and community safety, pp.109-142. Crawford, A. and Evans, K., 2017.Crime prevention and community safety(pp. 797-824). Oxford University Press. Crimestatistics.vic.gov.au. (2018).Homepage - Crime Statistics Agency Victoria. [online] Available at: https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Criminal Justice. 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