Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice System

Compare and Contrast the Current Dominant Approaches to Crime Prevention
Introduction
Given the diverse definitions of crime prevention, Schneider looks at it from the consequences approach. He defines it as a program or strategy that serves the purpose of preventing the occurrence of criminal acts or behaviors from emerging (2014). The outcome of such a definition has seen crime prevention defined as a “reduction in or prevention of specific criminal events” (Schneider, 2014, p. 6). Moreover, it is defined regarding reduction in the number of criminal offenders showing that the harm has been either reduced or prevented. Furthermore, the definition looks at the strategy as having reduced the number of harmed victims. Moreover, prevention is the fourth pillar and other institutions like courts, police, and corrections fall in that category. Crime prevention has dominant approaches used by law enforcement, courts, corrections, family, or community, which are all components of the criminal justice system. The following study identifies crime prevention appropriates whilst classifying their efficiency and the one that is appropriate in tackling the growing crime levels in eth united States.
Dominant Approaches to Crime Prevention
Law Enforcement
Law enforcement considers its dominant approaches to crime prevention to be a community, social development, situational and policing. In situational prevention, interventions are designed to deter the occurrence of crime by reducing offender’s opportunities thereby increasing their difficulty and risk. The techniques used for situational prevention include increasing efforts required to committing a crime, controlling the access to the target, and target hardening. Others include having control over the tools used to commit a crime and increasing the levels of guardianship or even formal surveillance (Shaw & United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010).
In contrast, community prevention looks at those interventions designed to bring change to social institutions and conditions like clubs, families, social norms, and peers among others that may influence offending activities in residential communities. The risk factors that force individuals to commit a crime include drug addiction, poverty, having a weak self-esteem, bad acquaintances, and dropping out of school. The diverse approaches used in community prevention are community policing, neighborhood watch, multi-disciplinary efforts, and the physical or urban design (Shaw & United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010).
Policing is where police and researchers have developed different policing philosophies, strategies, and methods with the aim of dealing with increasing crime rates. Hot spot policing is one such strategy that has been able to identify areas with high crime rates. Furthermore, the policing approach has managed to formulate effective strategies to respond to these hot spots (Braga & Weisburd, 2010). Police departments have been able to use a systemic four-stage approach to solving their problems called SARA (scanning, analysis, response, and assessment) Model. As such, the police will be addressing causes and not mere symptoms, which consequently has greater impact when it comes to crime prevention. The advent of new technologies has also come in handy for police departments because it means that communication between agencies has now been increased. Moreover, handling of large sources of data is no longer a problem because it has helped them in identifying crime patterns and police have managed to prevent crime through it.
Crime prevention through social development (CPSD) is a proactive approach that seeks guidance from the social and economic factors associated with criminal behavior. The major concern of CPSD is to keep crime from happening in the first instance and has a goal of improving the quality of life for those who are at risk. Therefore, it is seen as a preventive approach and the interventions applied will need to meet the changing needs present in the life of a given individual over some years. The risk factors addressed by CPSD have been made possible through the efforts of various social development programs, services, and policies such as social services, social housing, health, education, and income security (Schneider, 2014).
Courts and Corrections
Courts and corrections look at deterrence, incapacitation, community restraints, rehabilitation, discipline and challenge, structure, and the combining of rehabilitation and restraint. Incapacitation is the punishment given to the offender is aimed at preventing future occurrence or reoccurrence of crime through permanently removing the offender from the society or applying temporary measures. Temporary infers to restricting the offender physically using incarceration method or capital punishment. Incapacitation strategy aims at preventing the most prolific or a dangerous offender from reoffending. The reductivist approach justifies punishment. Capital punishment is viewed as the most severe form of incapacitation, and it is through deterrence that it is justified, but the cause of disagreement is whether the death sentence deters potential criminals (Shaw & United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010).
Rehabilitation and treatment are where an offender engaging in criminal activities goes through rehabilitation with the aim of changing his behavior by attending counseling sessions and therapy. Therefore, the treatment looks at changing the mindset of the offender and understands that the risk factors that prompted him or her to engage in criminal activities can be overcome. Community restraint ensures that alternative punishments are introduced with the aim of increasing surveillance and control over offenders present in the community. Such programs as intensive supervision, electronic monitoring, and house arrest are known to reduce the rates of offenses committed in the community and viewed as semi-incapacitation techniques (Shaw & United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010).
Juveniles and even adults go for boot camps among other wilderness programs that bring about the aspects of structure, discipline, and challenge because they mainly give focus to physical or mental challenges and structure plus other disciplinary measures. Through the whole program, offenders are given a chance to reflect on their past behaviors and later make a resolution as to the direction they would want to take because repeating the crime would mean jail or prison for some of them. The technique that combines rehabilitation and restraint will look at combining the boot camp programs and rehabilitation where drug testing is conducted for those engaging in substance abuse and counseling classes (Shaw & United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010).
Community
This approach is widely embraced in many societies globally because it involves the participation of community members who collaborate with law enforcers in achieving their combined goals, which is oriented in improving their life quality. According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), several factors attribute to community crime preventions such as program rational, program focus, community financial composition, and community race (2014). The techniques used in community crime prevention include community policing, comprehensive programs (i.e., Weed and Seed), neighborhood watches, and the Ad hoc law enforcement activities (BJA, 2014).
Neighborhood watches are the commonly used techniques of community crime prevention around the globe. In this program, members of the community are always on the lookout for any suspicious activity and they see one they report to the police. Such reporting always creates deterrence for offenders who are looking for people to victimize in the community. In such a situation, the thought at play is raising risk versus reward for offenders. It is through such watches that community members become active and well maintained.
Ad Hoc law enforcement activities are performed by the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission who engages community members in an open and transparent process geared towards change recommendation. Through this commission, the community will be able to achieve their goal of maintaining safety, cultivating a culture of public trust and ensuring that county policies provide their citizens with fair and timely resolutions for incidents where police are involved (Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission, 2015).
Compare and Contrast
While comparing the dominant approaches to crime prevention, it is evident that law enforcement concentrates on programs that stop or prevent crime from occurring. Courts and corrections will find ways of preventing the reoccurrence of crime by working with the offender(s). Community prevention links the members of the community with law enforcers to minimize and prevent crime in their community.
However, law enforcement and community prevention methods are geared towards early prevention measures whereas courts and corrections focus on total elimination or reoccurrences in future. Therefore, the most effective approach would be community prevention because it incorporates members of the public in crime prevention. By working with community members, law enforcers stand a better chance of reducing crime rates because they have first-hand information of the happenings taking place on the ground.


References
Ad Hoc police practices review commission. (2015). Final report. Retrieved from https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/chairman/pdf/adhoc-final-10.8.15.pdf
Barga, A. A., & Weisburd, D. (2010). Policing problem places: Crime hot spots and effective prevention. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Bureau of Justice Assistance. (2014). Crime prevention. Office of Justice Programs.
Shaw, M. & United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2010). Handbook on the crime prevention guidelines: Making them work. New York, NY: United Nations.
Schneider, S. (2014). Crime prevention: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.