Crime Prevention & Outline

Question

You will write a research paper about a selected topic in justice administration and how it relates to a specific administrative, leadership, or management issue involving the operations of police, courts, corrections or other criminal justice organizations.

Sample paper

CRIME PREVENTION OUTLINE

Definition (a) Crime (b)Crime prevention
Causes of crime.
Parties involved in crime prevention.
Basic principles for crime prevention.
The local government’s administrative role in policing and crime prevention.
Strategies used by the local government in crime prevention.
Police task.

Issues involving the operations of police.

The role of courts in reducing crime.
Other criminal justice organizations.
Religion and crime and crime prevention.

Crime Prevention

Crime is an action or omission of an activity that is wrong, shameful and evil. It is an offence against the law. Its classification falls under either felony or a misdemeanor. A felony is a severe offense that is punishable by a prison sentence of more than a year. Misconduct is an offense that is usually punished by a minimum jail term of a fine. A misconduct repeated several times is considered a felony. Examples of crimes are kidnapping, murder and bribery.

The main causes of crime are economic recession, low levels of education, lack of employment opportunities, idleness, drug and substance abuse and exploitation by drug associates, violence, racism, alcoholism and activities that induce fear. Crime prevention is the expectation, assessment and recognition of a crime risk and instigation of some action to do away with or reduce crime. It involves the use of instinct, rational and action to trim down a criminal’s opportunity (Arrington, 2007). A dynamic approach makes use of public awareness, preventive measures and strategies to reduce the risk of crimes taking place and their possible harmful effects on individuals and the society in general.

Crime prevention is a multi-disciplinary, multi- sectored and incorporated venture for an elimination fear in the future. Crime prevention strategies that are well organized promote safety in the community and play a major role in a countries’ development in addition to reducing crime and victimization (Arrington, 2007). Successful and responsible crime prevention improves the quality of life of all citizens. Their benefits are long-standing and reduce the costs linked to the formal system of criminal justice, on top of other societal costs incurred from crime.

The parties involved in crime prevention are the local and regional government, ministries and non-governmental organizations. The police and the criminal justice system are the most actively involved (Clark, 1994). The general society is also takes part in crime prevention giving the police relevant information concerning crime.

The strategies and action plans that are used in crime prevention according to ECOSOC Resolution 2002/13 are that; it is necessary for Government leadership to initiate and sustain an institutional framework for successful crime prevention. They have to incorporate crime prevention with economic and social policies, along with focusing on the social integration of children, marginalized communities, the youth and families. The government ministries must work together with authorities, business sector, civil society groups, and its nationals. This is due to the extensive nature of the causes of crime, skillfulness and responsibilities necessary to combat crime.

Sufficient resources are to be provided, a comprehensive accountability of funding, assessment, execution and attainment of the desired outcome for sustainability and accountability. The approaches, guidelines and programs used need to be founded on a wide multi-disciplinary underpinning of knowledge along with non-nuanced evidence on the subject of crime issues, their cause and confirmed practices. The rule of law and human rights need to be upheld. Interdependency is also an important factor in considering links between home criminal tribulations and global organized crime. Finally , the rule of differentiation which calls for the strategies used in crime prevention to observe the diverse needs of men and women ,and the special needs of susceptible members of the society.

The local government plays key roles in crime prevention .some of the roles include code enforcement and inspection of buildings to check whether the owners are following the required rules and regulations concerning building and construction. They influence the economic development of a place since the level of an economy has the power to determine the rate of crime in an area. In most cases areas that are poverty stricken or people have low standards of living there is a high rate of crime and vice versa. When people are employed and are economically empowered, they have no time to indulge in criminal activities.

The government attorney foresees the implementation of civil laws which is essential in making certain proper management of properties thus reducing crime and misconducts. Mass transit id responsible for regulation the conduct and security of transportation vehicles and passengers, and the stations designs. They control the increase of communicable diseases such as sexually transmitted diseases usually spread by drug addicts and prostitutes.

In the field of public housing, they establish and put into force values of good conduct among residents. They are in charge of public works such as street lighting, which contribute to may night crime problems such as sexual assault, robbery and burglary among others (Kemp, 1998). Community policing is the commonly used method in modern law enforcement. It’s founded on the idea that police should work together with the citizens to nurture faith in the police and to deal with the concern of citizen’s public safety. It engages use of corporation and skills in problem solving in conditions that bring about social disorder and crime.

Problem-oriented policy is a comprehensive strategy where the varied and finer details of public safety are handled. It makes it possible for the administrative leadership to have an affirmative and sustainable impact solving crime problems (Herman, 1979). Situational crime prevention method looks into scientific approach in averting crime. It centers on coming up with safe consumer products and designing safer environments .it seeks to convince the law breakers that committing a crime is not useful other than just punishment and rehabilitation of the criminals. It does so by raising the risks of lawbreakers being caught, trimming down aggravation to offend, reducing the benefits of crime, and doing away with excuses for felony.

A different strategy is the policing based on intelligence. It helps the criminal justice department to use crime and intelligence information to lead the police investigation and resources that are intended to cut short organized crime networks and actions (Marcus, 2002). It has put more emphasis on data collection and analysis. The broken-window approach affirms that signs of negligible disorder that is not attended to can lead to a more serious felony. Some academicians believe that when the police pay attention to minor disorder details they can minimizes the chances of people committing crime. Zero-tolerance policy stresses on strict implementation of laws by the criminal justice department. The comp stat approach, stresses on recognition of crime patterns and use of police resources based on statistics. Traditional policing focuses proposes to reduce crime by increasing the chances of the criminals getting caught.

In crime prevention, the police have a task to become problem solvers and provide total service to the society. They have a role of integrating with the justice system such as courts and other correctional facilities by providing evidence and necessary information required to prosecute the offenders. Moreover, they connect wider organization of associations, agencies and entities in collective efforts to combat crime. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are incorporated in evaluation police operations. The purpose of evaluation is the changes recommend and their implementation, factors fasten the progress or slow down the implementation, and the outcomes of the operations such as recorded crime and arrests made.

The law enforcement leaders are also faced with the issue of anti-terrorism.the current killings in San-Bernardino, Istanbul and Paris awakened the urban terrorism. The local law enforcement has to play an important role in gathering intelligence and getting ready in case of a possible attack (“Royal Rangers,” 2003). Improved specialized training will be requiring matching the urbane terrorists who use powerful weapons, explosives and guerilla warfare techniques. Furthermore, police are torn in between the use of sophisticated military equipment and the public fierce watch about the police militarization.

When it comes to use body worn camera there is a diminutive consistency between departments. The frequent questions asked are whether the officers body worn camera was set in motion and at what time the public, attorneys ,and family can view the recordings. The choice on whether to release or retain the BDC footage depends on the individual departments. Occurrences and verdicts leading to protests and demonstration is another challenge. Most go on for a long time while others emerge from a single incident. Hence there is need to maintain a good rapport the local civic leaders and associations based on faith.

Other challenges met by the police department is the problem of funding .Many projects are either unfunded or are given less funding. This is a limitation to travelling and a constraint to purchasing of equipments used by the police department. It makes transcribing impossible thus wasting a lot of time. Communication is a significant factor in police operations.face to face communication is limited by the geographical distance between the police and various departments. He email is sometimes ignored that some emails have to be ignored only to pick relevant ones. Telephone communication is also held back since the police are on the move most of the time.

Courts and the judiciary play a significant role in crime prevention. Countless number cases are filed in the local, tribal, state and federal courts annually. The criminal justice systems include trial courts, which determine civil and criminal cases, appellate courts which evaluate cases determined by the trial court and lastly the Supreme Court which is the final resort in the judiciary (Schabas, 2016). They have formulated with various programs to assist in handling criminals as well as reducing crime. Such programs are adolescent diversion project , which is strength founded , advocacy based approach that diverts the youths that are arrested from official processing at the juvenile courts and instead give them community based services.

Outpatient commitment is a civil authorized course of action where the judge instructs a criminal with a mental illness or disorder to follow a treatment plan as ordered by the court at the same time living in the community (Schabas, 2016). This strategy is effective in that there was reduction in arrest for violence arrests and in general violent behavior. Bronx treatment court, which is a substitute of incarceration and probation for those who have engaged in non-violent crime and drug abusers, has significantly reduced post arrest recidivism which was so rampant during imprisonment program.

The Brooklyn treatment court, recommend substance abuse treatment misconduct drug delinquents and non-violent criminals. It is effective in that it reduced the likelihood of reconviction and post-arrest recidivism. The DNA field experiment assessed evidence collected and oversaw the investigation of capacity property felonies. More suspects were identified and arrested, and prosecution of more cases as measuring up to the previous traditional methods. (National institute of justice, crime solutions .gov)

There exists other criminal justice organization which provides support programs that put a stop to violent crimes among residents, enhance safety in the neighborhood, and offer intercession services to youths or adults facing various challenges. Besides that they partner with other public organizations to help out in reducing crime.

An example is the Central Indiana community Foundation that seeks to prevent crime through programs such as violence reduction which centers on reducing crime in Marion County. Their efforts involve trimming down the number of violence, gang aggression and homicides among Marion County residents, and steering up youth-led efforts that involve the community to facilitate reduction of violence among the youths.

They also have intervention programs that offer supportive services to people who interact with the criminal justice system. They advocate for economic empowerment, prolific citizenship and reduction of recidivism. In addition they provide prevention programs that offer supportive services such as mentoring, education, employment and family support.

Other services are public safety partnerships that work together with current law enforcement bodies, correctional facilities and courts to improve their service to local resident s by plummeting systems costs and bettering system outcomes (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 2002). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is another example of a crime prevention unit and criminal justice that assists governments in the execution of convention’s editorials and instituting organized crime as criminal offences, in their national legislations. It has embraced mutual legal support so as to facilitate extradition proceedings, technical assistance, police and cooperation (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2016).

Religion as well is clear regarding crime, criminal justice and crime prevention. For instance, in the book of Exodus 20:13 it states ‘you shall not murder’. Exodus 20:15 ‘you shall not steal’. It has laid out ways that a true Christian is to follow to guide them in their day to day lives to foster good relationship among men and between men and God. There are consequences for not doing the correct thing or acting contrary to God’s laws as stipulated in the book of Romans 13:4 ‘ For he is God’s servant for your good .But if you do wrong , be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Crime prevention is everybody’s business. It requires collective affirmative action from the citizens, the police, faith-based organizations, the police, and community based organizations, the criminal justice system, the local and national government and the nation as a whole. It is a key component of mobilizing the community, and that a powerful community partnership is an indispensable element in the process of crime reduction (Mackey & Levan, 2013). It involves a broad multifaceted approach, urban design m and neighborhood watches for the safety and peaceful living of a county’s residents.

References

Arrington, R. (2007). Crime prevention: The law enforcement officer’s practical guide. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Clark, R. S. (1994). The United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program: Formulation of standards and efforts at their implementation. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). (2002). Academy handbook. Washington, DC: International Business Publications, USA.

Herman, G., (1979). Improving Policing: A Problem-Oriented Approach. Crime & Delinquency, 25(2):236–58. www.popcenter.org/library/reading.

Kemp, R. L. (1998). Managing America’s cities: A handbook for local government productivity.

Mackey, D. A., & Levan, K. (2013). Crime prevention. Burlington, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Marcus. F., (2002). Crime and Everyday Life, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks (California): SAGE Publications

Royal Rangers (U.S.). (2003). Adventure Rangers handbook. Springfield, Mo: Gospel Pub. House.

Schabas, W. A. (2016). International criminal court: A commentary on the rome statute. Place of publication not identified: Oxford University Press.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). (2016). Crime prevention and criminal justice. Retrieved from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison- reform/index.html?ref=menuside

Letter to the Editor on Juvenile transfer to adult prisons