ABSTRACT
Defi ning crime prevention There are, arguably, two main ways of classifying crime prevention initiatives or approaches. The fi rst distinguishes primary, secondary and tertiary activities. Primary prevention generally refers to action that is targeted at a general population and which aims to prevent (crime) before it occurs. Secondary prevention is action targeted at a more specifi c ‘atrisk’ population. Finally, tertiary prevention tends to be targeted at known offenders in order to reduce offending and/or the harms associated with offending (Brantingham and Faust, 1976). The second, bestknown and most widely used of all the means of distinguishing models of crime prevention is that between ‘situational’ and ‘social’ approaches. ‘Situational’ crime prevention has been described as:
a pre-emptive approach that relies, not on improving society or its institutions, but simply on reducing opportunities for crime . . . Situational prevention comprises opportunityreducing measures that are (1) directed at highly specifi c forms of crime, (2) that involve the management, design or manipulation of the immediate environment in as specifi c and permanent a way as possible (3) so as to increase the effort and risks of crime and reduce the rewards as perceived by a wide range of offenders.
