The major failing of Situational Crime Prevention is that it does not Essay

The major failing of Situational Crime Prevention is that it does not address the root causes of crime. Discuss - Essay Example Therefore, SCP was developed based on the notion that crime is expected reduce considerably if focus shifts to minimizing offense opportunities, improving chances of criminals being caught, reducing rewards for perpetration while justifications for offending are also made less plausible. These perceptions of the ability of SCP to minimize the overall level of crime in the community is what informs a number of visible initiatives such as residential or commercial lighting to reduce dark areas around buildings, increasing the number of bus terminals to increase pedestrian traffic, and development of high density housing which promote interaction therefore reducing anonymity in the neighbourhood (Wortley, 2001). SCP approach takes crime prevention away from being the sole responsibility of law enforcement departments which in most cases focuses on criminals to focusing crime prevention on setting and context of crime. The control in SCP initiatives is not taken by the criminal justice agencies since the implementation can be undertaken through a partnership of all relevant community institutions that might include schools, municipality authorities, health centres, transport stakeholders, private enterprises, communication departments and entertainment facilities. SCP m ethods make criminal conduct difficult since the targets become inaccessible to criminals through the application of various techniques that are based on the manipulation of different settings. Application of technology is also a strong contributor to the success of SCP since initiatives such as installation of street lighting and alarm systems in and around business and residential areas have greatly lowered crime rates in different areas (Clarke, 2009). What makes SCP approach to crime distinct from other approaches is its theoretical framework is based on a practical focus to handling crime. Since the introduction of SCP, the