This blog identifies sources that provide evidence that prevention reduces crime. Three sources are identified for each of the following topics:
1. The many programs that have been proven to reduce crime and prevention victimization
Canada, National Crime Prevention Centre. 2011. Promising and Model Crime Prevention Programs; Promising Prevention Programs 2008 and Public Health Agency of Canada. Preventing Violence Best Practice Portal.
United States, U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Website on Solutions to Crime: what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services.
Sherman, Lawrence, 2011 “Less Prison, More Police, Less Crime: How Criminology Can Save the States from Bankruptcy”, US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.
2. The evidence that targeting investments to tackle risk factors in early childhood and youth prevent violence
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Safe Youth. Safe Schools. (Saving lives, protecting people, saving money through prevention)
Farrington, David P. and Welsh, B. C. (2007) Saving Children from a Life of Crime: Early Risk Factors and Effective Interventions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Loeber, Rolf. and Farrington, D. P. (2011) Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood. New York: Springer.
3. Confirm that we can prevent violence against women
Vice President Joe Biden leads the 1 is 2 many campaign.
Crooks, Claire, D. Wolfe, et al. Development, Evaluation and National Implementation of a School Based Program to Reduce Violence and Related Risk Behaviours: Lessons from the 4th R, IPC Review, Ottawa, Institute for the Prevention of Crime, Volume 2, 109-136 see also http://www.youthrelationships.org/ See also Johnson, Holly and Myrna Dawson in their book on Violence Against Women in Canada: Research and Policy Perspectives. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press, 2010.
World Health Organization. Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women: taking action and generating evidence. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2010
4. Show local programs which sustainably combine policing, rehabilitation and prevention to reduce harm to victims
Chicago Cease Fire, (Gang Suppression Strategy)
Linden, Rick, and Trefor Munn-Venn, Making Communities Safer: Lessons Learned Combating Auto Theft in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Conference Board of Canada, 2008.
Waterloo Region, 40 Year Violence Prevention Plan,
5. Illustrate that jurisdictions have shifted their action to combine and braid policing, rehabilitation and prevention to reduce crime
Alberta, Justice and Attorney General, Safe Communities and Sound Solutions, Crime Prevention Framework See alsoSaskatchewan framework
Scotland Violence Reduction Unit,
Youth Justice Board, London
6. Overview the case for investing in prevention and how governments can shift their actions
Institute for the Prevention of Crime, Making Cities Safer: Action Briefs for Municipal Stakeholders, Number 3, March 2009, University of Ottawa – See Making Cities Safer
Waller, Irvin. Less Law, More Order: The Truth about Reducing Crime. Ancaster, Manor House, 2008. See update ¨Stopping Crime: Victimization Prevention as Return on Investment¨, chap. 7 in Waller, Irvin, Rights for Victims of Crime, Rowman, 2010.
World Health Organization, 2009. Violence Prevention: The Evidence. Geneva and Implementing the World Report on Violence and Health.
7. Provide understanding of the costs to victims and governments together with analysis of benefits
Aos, Steve, Stephanie Lee, Elizabeth Drake et al: Return on Investment: Evidence-Based Options to Improve Statewide Outcomes - July 2011 Update Washington Institute for Public Policy, 2011
Lockhart, Gavin (ed.), Max Chambers, Ben Ullmann & Irvin Waller, Less Crime, Less Costs, Policy Exchange, 2009. See UK at
Waller, Irvin, 2010, Rights for Victims of Crime: Rebalancing Justice, Rowman and Littlefield. For Canada also see Zhang, Ting. Costs of Crime in Canada, 2008. Department of Justice Canada.
Other
I had to make some difficult selections but I am always interested in reliable sources that can help achieve significant reductions in harm to victims. The current list includes many reliable sources that have overviewed many original sources. The crime solutions website retains over 150 programs for instance.
A good way to build on these sources and keep up to date with developments in knowledge and praxis is to follow me on Twitter @IrvinWaller, where I follow a number of hashtags including #prevention and follow many of the leading sources of knowledge on crime prevention, including the Prevention Institute, CDC, WHO Violence Prevention, NCVLI, CRCVC, MADD and so on.
2 Comments
Irvin:
thanks for the terrific information you’ve been circulating, and including the fourth R in your resources.
Hope we have a chance to meet again soon,
Cheers
David
Cost of crime in our circumstance has escalated to excess of $500000.00 in out of pocket expenses and loss of wages since my Daughter was murdered in 2000 and we took our traumatized Grandson into our home to care for him. My career path was at an all time high just before my Daughter’s death. I was 48 at the time and am now approaching 60. I am wondering how this will affect my Pension benefits. They should be indexed from my 1999 wages. Something I’ll have to check into in the next little while. Inevitably I will have to file a civil suite against the province of Manitoba, to attempt to recover some of these out of pocket expenses. The Fed’s transfer payments to the Provinces to support crime victims, but that money gets put into general revenues and there is zero accountability. We have a completely broken system. We need to take action to try and fix it. The Conservatives were elected on a victim friendly platform and they better start showing their cards. If nothing is done prior to the next election, they won’t get my vote and I’ve always voted Conservative.