Reflection Paper
CJUS 323
While growing up I have always had an interest in criminal justice issues from watching
the mystery shows to watching the investigative shows. It was just something about it that I
knew I would love doing. As I got older I start to realize I could actually study this subject in
school so when I went to college I knew I would study criminal justice. Crime prevention is the
focal point of the Criminal Justice system and as a student majoring in this subject it is much
more important to understand one of the most important portions of this system.
I was intrigued at the amount of information this course provided about Crime Prevention
and Delinquency. The topic of Crime Prevention was emphasized in chapter 2, where it is
defined and classified. The question that is posed is what is crime prevention? Crime Prevention
is defined as the intervention of the causes of criminal and disorderly events to reduce the risks
of their occurrence and/or potential on individuals and society. Crime Prevention anticipates,
recognizes, and appraises crime risk, and the initiation of action to remove or reduce it, an active
approach utilizing public awareness and preventive measures to reduce crime. It reflects a
philosophy of self-defense where the police and the community take action before crimes are
committed. Crime Preventions programs will reduce crime, stimulate public awareness
concerning crime prevention and enhance our communities. Crime prevention has been proven
to be cheaper, safer, and healthier for communities to prevent crime than to have to treat its
victims and deal with its perpetrators (New York State Police, 2018).
Effective crime prevention is any action that causes a reduction in the level of criminal
activity and the resulting harm, or in the number of criminal offenders and their victims he
focuses is on the causes of crime rather than its effects; the goal is to significantly reduce or
eliminate the factors that can to lead crime. Throughout this course I have learned about the
widest coverage regarding the different possible approaches to crime prevention. Crime
prevention can be classified in various different ways, Primary crime prevention, Secondary
crime prevention, and Tertiary crime prevention.
Primary crime prevention identifies conditions of the physical and social environment
that provide opportunities for or precipitate criminal acts. Primary prevention focuses on social
and situational factors. Social crime prevention addresses factors that influence an individual's
likelihood of committing a crime, such as poverty and unemployment, poor health and low
educational performance (What is Neighborhood Watch?, 2018). One of the most well- known
types of primary crime preventions are Neighborhood Watch. Neighborhood Watch programs is a
crime-prevention program that brings community members together and teaches them how to
make their neighborhoods safer by using basic crime prevention techniques and identifying and
reporting suspicious activity.
Neighborhood Watch programs vary in size of the area covered: Some cover just a few
households, others cover thousands of homes. Volunteers who donate time and resources are
typically at the center of programs because many do not have formal budgets or funding sources.
Primary crime prevention can also focus on environmental design which is aimed at making
crime more difficult for the offender to commit crimes and also general deterrence such as arrest,
convictions and sentencing methods (What is Neighborhood Watch?, 2018).
According to the text Secondary Crime Prevention is defined as engaging in early
identification of potential offenders and seeks to intervene. It also seeks to change people,
typically those at high risk of embarking on a criminal career. The focus can be on rapid and
effective early interventions and high-risk neighborhoods. The most recognizable form of
secondary prevention is situational crime prevention, this type of crime prevention seeks to
identify existing problems at the micro level and institute interventions that are developed for the
specific problem. The fact that a place such as a school can participate in crime prevention is
fascinating as well. School play its role in crime prevention by identifying problem youth and
providing interventions. This further let me know that the prevention of crime does not only lay
at the feet of crime officials but also parents, educators and neighborhood leaders. 1 Peter 3:15
(ESV) – “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a
defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness
and respect.”
The third but certainly not the least is the Tertiary approach to crime prevention, this is
the most known to all people for the prevention of crime. Tertiary crime prevention focuses on
the operation of the criminal justice system and deals with offending after it has happened. The
primary focus is on intervention in the lives of known offenders in an attempt to prevent them re-
offending. Examples include community youth conferencing schemes, incapacitation and
individual deterrence through community-based sanctions, and treatment interventions. This
approach to prevention rests within the works of the criminal justice system. Activities of arrest,
prosecution, incarceration, treatment and rehabilitation all fall within the realm of tertiary crime
prevention (Lab, 2016). It is in my best opinion that this approach to crime prevention is the
most effective simply because it is what instills fear within people through the system.
Deterrence through arrest, incarceration and prosecution is the most effective way that crime has
been prevented since the infrastructure of the Criminal Justice system.
In conclusion, this course has educated me a lot on crime prevention and the different
ways to prevent crime. I do believe this is a very insightful course to take for individuals that are
majoring in Criminal Justice and also for citizens that are interested in fighting crime within their
communities. This course has taught me that there are many refinements and variations of crime
prevention. The three levels of prevention are sometimes divided into four sub-categories;
situational, developmental and early intervention strategies, community development initiatives;
and criminal justice. Overall, I enjoyed taking this course. This course allowed me to add more
tools to my mental tool box and apply it to my current criminal justice career.
Reference:
Approaches to understanding crime prevention. (2017, November 03). Retrieved March 16,
2018, from https://aic.gov.au/publications/crm/crm001
Bible (ESV)
Lab, S. P. (2016). Crime prevention: Approaches, practices, and evaluations (9th ed.). New York,
NY: Routledge. ISBN: 9780323357722.
New York State Police. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2018, from
https://troopers.ny.gov/Crime_Prevention/
What is Neighborhood Watch? (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2018, from
https://www.nij.gov/journals/263/pages/neighborhood-watch.aspx
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