THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN CRIME PREVENTION AND VICTIMIZATION PREVENTION IS A MATTER OF COMPREHENSIVENESS AND SCALE
Provides examples to illustrate the difference between these two difference approaches, as examined on pages 193-195 in Chapter Five of the Tenth Edition.
Crime prevention strategies require the collective efforts of an entire society, using the instrument of government, to achieve ambitious goals like the reduction of poverty, homelessness, and unemployment; the strengthening of key institutions such as families, schools, and neighborhoods; and adequately funding effective treatment and rehabilitation programs.
Victimization prevention strategies are not intended to tackle the social roots of crime or to solve social problems like urban decay and drug abuse. Victimization prevention strategies are undertaken by formal organizations (such as colleges or airports), small groups (like gated communities or tenant patrols), and fearful individuals. Victimization prevention involves risk assessments, security audits to locate points of vulnerability, target hardening to make the criminal’s tasks more difficult, and other tactics to reduce a target’s attractiveness to attackers.
WILL DOUSING ROBBERS AND SAFEGUARDING VALUABLES WITH A SPRAY DETER VICTIMIZATION AND AID RECOVERY OF STOLEN GOODS?
A jewelry store is going all-in for a high-tech solution to robbery and burglary: an invisible dye that is spayed on offenders and on valuables that can’t be washed off for a long time. This innovative approach (which victimologists need to study to see if it “really works”) is described here.
REPORT SUGGESTS HOW TO IMPROVE AIRPORT SECURITY TO PREVENT THE VICTIMIZATION OF WORKERS AND PASSENGERS
After a TSA officer was gunned down at LAX, a study dissected what went wrong that day which caused the wounded and other passengers to endure needless suffering, as described here. A report recommended a number of measures to strengthen airport security and reduce the risks of such acts of workplace violence in the future, as outlined here.
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE IS EMERGING AS A MAJOR PROBLEM IN MILITARY BASES; EFFECTIVE VICTIMIZATION STRATEGIES ARE NEEDED
The mass shootings in 2009 and again in 2014 at the army base in Fort Hood in Texas underscore how serious threats to the well-being of members of the U.S. can come not only from outside the country but also from disgruntled or disturbed individuals within the ranks. But keeping guns out of the hands of disturbed individuals in a gun-saturated environment poses quite a challenge, as analyzed here. The latest victims of the workplace violence at this troubled military installation are identified here and commemorated here.
A mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard claimed twelve innocent lives. A report claims that if certain warning signs were recognized, the tragedy could have been averted, as described here.
