ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a general discussion of approaches to crime prevention. It examines an important distinction between social, community, and situational approaches to crime prevention and how one can go about effectively evaluating to what extent these different approaches work in reducing offending. The chapter then looks at each of these approaches in turn, focusing on the relevant theoretical background, specific approaches, and their relative efficacy in reducing crime. Two main typologies are widely employed in the crime prevention literature. The first makes a distinction, adapted from public health initiatives, between primary, secondary, and tertiary crime prevention approaches. Another widely employed typology of crime prevention approaches makes the distinction between four different types of approach to crime prevention: developmental prevention, community prevention, situational (or environmental) crime prevention, and criminal justice prevention. Situational crime prevention draws from a range of theoretical perspectives that emphasise how criminal behaviour is powerfully shaped by a variety of situational and environmental factors.
