Chapter 14

1. Chapter 14 Reducing Criminal Opportunities Through Environmental Manipulation

2. Some Perspective • This chapter is concerned with environmental criminology • What is environmental criminology? • Assumes there is little that can be done to change criminals • Focus is on what can be done about crime • Includes situational crime prevention • Concerned with how settings translate criminal inclinations into action • Includes Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)

3. Rational Offenders • What is the rational offender perspective? • It is basically deterrence theory • Assumes offenders weigh costs/benefits of violating the law • What is the link to environmental criminology? • Environmental features may affect the cost/benefit decision process • Routine activities theory • Motivated offenders • Handlers and place managers may discourage offenders from crime • Suitable targets • Target for environmental manipulation • Absence of guardians • Need more cops, security guards, etc.

4. Crime Pattern Theory • Crime pattern theory is concerned with the places frequented by criminals • Key concepts • Behavior space • Locations offenders frequent • Awareness space • Areas with which offenders are familiar • The interaction between behavior space and awareness space

5. Territorial Functioning and Defensible Space • Territorial functioning/defensible space perspective is concerned with the attachment people have to the areas around them • Territorial cognition • Defensible space • How physical characteristics of spaces affect behavior, criminal and noncriminal

6. Incivilities • Incivilities thesis • Low-level offenses/breaches of community standards that • Increase fear • Send a signal that an area is out of control • Lead to an increase in serious crime • What is the link to environmental manipulation? • Minimize potential for incivilities and crime may decline

7. How Environmental Manipulation Occurs • Four methods of reducing criminal opportunity through environmental manipulation have been identified • Access control • Surveillance • Activity support • Motivation reinforcement

8. Residences • Most common method of discouraging crime at residences is target hardening • Does it work? • Research from the U.K. suggests it does, but little research has been conducted in U.S. • Another approach is property marking, but there is little research suggesting this approach works

9. Areas Surrounding Residences • Much more researchers’ attention has been drawn to areas surrounding residences • Methods • Restrict pedestrian access • Closed-circuit television (CCTV) • Which method works best? • Several studies show restriction of pedestrian access is effective, but there is little research on CCTV

10. Comprehensive Approaches • Several environmental manipulations have been combined • Examples • Combine apartment watch, target hardening, property marking, lighting improvements, etc. • Removal of coin-operated meters with cocoon neighborhood watch • Graduated surveillance • Civil nuisance abatement combined with other approaches • Do comprehensive approaches work? • The evidence is more supportive of this method than isolated approaches

11. Gated Communities • Types of gated communities • Fee-based • No fee • Reasons for living in gated communities • Safety • Strong HOA • Family • Recreation • Real Benefits? • Understudied (people feel safer; not clear about crime differences) • Downside? • Siege mentality

12. Stores • With respect to convenience stores, researchers have looked at • Two clerks instead of one • Security cameras • Silent alarms • Security systems (for after hours) • Barricades (for after hours) • What works? • Very little research in this area • Other crime concerns • Shoplifting • EAS and ink tags—effective • Employee theft • Increased inventorying—effective

13. Banks • Several environmental manipulations have been implemented at banks, including • CCTV • Security guards inside/outside the bank • Protective screens/bulletproof glass • Time-lock safes • Much research shows these approaches are effective, but the research designs were weak

14. Bars and Taverns • What works at bars? • Better management • How is it accomplished? • Training for bouncers • Crowd control • Improved relationships with the police • Code of practice • Don’t serve alcohol to visibly intoxicated people

15. Public Transit • Types of crimes of concern on public transit include • Vandalism • Robberies and assaults of passengers/drivers • Fare evasion • Varieties of environmental manipulations • Graffiti cleanup • Added law enforcement • CCTV • Publicity • Exact fare systems on buses • Redesigned ticket machines to prevent fare evasion • Redesigned toll gates • Does it work? • Evidence is encouraging

16. Airports • Pre 9/11 interventions • Air marshals • Improvements to doors on planes • Baggage screening • Extradition treaties • Metal detectors • Do these methods work? • Some evaluations say yes • 9/11 says no

17. Parking Garages • Methods of dealing with crime at parking garages include • Addition of guards • Addition of security attendants • CCTV • Access and exit control • Various combinations of each • Which method works best? • It appears that guards and security attendants work better than CCTV • Access/exit control underresearched • Question? • Do the benefits of environmental manipulation outweigh the costs?

18. Open Spaces • Environmental manipulations in open spaces include • Lighting • Street closures/traffic restrictions • CCTV • What works? • Lighting in open spaces appears effective, but it is not clear whether this extends to private areas • Street closures with added law enforcement appear effective • Red light cameras (a twist on CCTV) certainly work!

19. Parking Meters and Public Phones • Criminals sometimes target parking meters and public phones • For profit • To avoid paying • Effective methods of targeting public phones include • Design improvements • Electronic monitoring of phone booths • Hardened coin boxes • Rapid repair of broken phones • Efforts to prevent fraud • Effective methods of targeting parking meters include • Installing slug-proof meters

20. Does it Work? • Finally, some good news! • Environmental manipulations appear much more effective, on the whole, at reducing crime compared to criminal justice system expansion

21. Conclusions • Reducing criminal opportunities through environmental manipulation.