In the last decade, crime prevention has achieved a prominent position in crime reduction thinking and practice around the world. Designing out crime, promoting social control and responsibility, investing in youth and family, breaking the cycle of violence, city action and innovative policing and justice approaches have become synonymous with best practice in crime reduction. In many crime-ridden communities where these forms of prevention have been implemented, substantial and lasting reductions in crime have been achieved, a greater quality of life has been realized, and community and economic growth has flourished. There is indeed much to celebrate.
However, crime prevention remains more rhetoric than action. Government investment in crime prevention is extremely low - less than one percent of criminal justice spending in most industrialized countries, and nonexistent in most developing countries and countries in transition. The traditional, reactive approach to dealing with crime - police, courts and corrections - continues to dominate national crime policies. Little attention has been paid to the scientific conclusions and the international consensus on what works to reduce crime.
This rhetoric has meant that citizens must continue to put up with unacceptable levels of crime. It is time to move beyond rhetoric and invest in a comprehensive plan that will pay dividends in both the short and long-term.
The proposed plan is grounded in the various declarations and resolutions of the UN, the Council of Europe, the ICP and international and regional meetings of community leaders and crime and justice experts which identify the causes of crime and point to specific steps that must be taken to implement effective crime prevention strategies. It calls for immediate action to:
(1) support national crime prevention structures which promote collaboration between agencies which influence the factors that generate crime;
(2) provide financial and technical support to local authorities to form and promote multi-disciplinary coalitions and partnerships;
(3) be rigorous in implementing prevention using (i) experience gained with projects that have been proven effective in reducing crime, (ii) long-term action that is responsive to short-term needs, and (iii) sustainable measures that take advantage of scientific knowledge in a systematic manner;
(4) seek the support of policing and justice agencies for prevention by introducing guidelines and legislation that clarify that the goal of policing and justice is safety and security of persons and property, particularly through collaboration with citizens, local authorities and social agencies able to tackle the causes of crime;
(5) reallocate resources to meet socio-economic and urban needs, particularly the needs of vulnerable groups such as children, women and minorities, with priority to the prevention of violence and neglect in early childhood;
(6) encourage individual citizens to participate in comprehensive crime prevention and to understand the importance to community development of implementing effective ways of making communities safer from crime; and,
(7) promote global cooperation to limit access to facilitators of violence, such as firearms, trafficking of illicit drugs, or media programmes that encourage violence and the sexual abuse of women and children.