ABSTRACT
Crimes may be prevented by improving environmental design, by improving security precautions or by reducing vulnerability. The values and assumptions of criminologists who attempt to provide understanding may differ from the police and others who are invested with control. Conservatism is the dominant ideology of the administrators and servants of the criminal justice system. Conservative arguments for the irrelevance or at least coincidence of environmental factors in crime are extremely difficult to counter given their initial assumptions which are usually realistic. Environmental factors are an essential prerequisite of most liberal explanations of criminal behaviour and indeed there is widespread recognition of environmental prescriptions in solving some of the problems of crime. If coping with crime is decidedly less attractive a proposition than controlling it, there are nevertheless real benefits to be gained. The issue needs to be tackled on two fronts: coping with prospective fears of victimisation and coping with the consequences.
