Dominant Approaches to Crime Prevention

Richard Henderson

Unit 4 Assignment

CJ212: Crime Prevention

Kaplan University

Dominant Approaches to Crime Prevention

Crime prevention is approached through various avenues. In the following, I will compare and contrast the current dominant approaches to crime prevention. I will examine approaches used by the three components of the criminal justice system — law enforcement, courts, and corrections — for the prevention of crime. Lastly, I will analyze which approaches are most effective.

The first method of crime prevention that I will be discussing is a concept known as proactive policing. As noted in the text “Crime Control in America”, proactive arrest is defined as targeting certain individuals and/or crime types for arrest rather than waiting for a call for service prior to the arrest. It is important not to confuse a proactive arrest approach with arresting people on the basis of the possibility that they might be a suspect in a crime. When the police arrest someone without probable cause, they violate the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This is not what is, or should be, meant by a proactive arrest strategy. Rather, proactive policing involves increased police attention to particular types of criminals and crimes. There are two general types of proactive arrests. The first proactive arrest approach involves keeping tabs on high-risk repeat offenders in hopes of catching them in the act. The second proactive arrest strategy consists of prioritizing arrests for certain types of offenders, such as drug dealers and drunk drivers.

In many areas of the United States, the proactive policing approach in use is “Broken Windows.” The broken window theory provides an explanation for crime based on the concept that physical decay in a community (such as abandoned buildings and graffiti) can breed chaos and lead to more serious crime by signaling that laws are not being enforced. Many prominent law enforcement officials support broken...