Crime prevention programs - Research Paper Example

This is conventionally achieved by studying the factors that fundamentally contribute to the spread of crime. Effective implementation of such crime prevention programs requires full collaboration and cooperation of parents, siblings, friends, tutors, mentors and other people who are strongly related to the child indulged in crime in one way or another. It is a well consented opinion that if adequate measures are taken to discourage the crime committing tendency of a juvenile when he/she is only in the initial stages, the juvenile can be prevented from becoming a dreadful criminal in the future and can be made to become a potential responsible citizen.

A vast majority of the crime prevention programs are directed at targeting the basic risk factors that are thought to be related to offense. The programs may tend to induce changes in the culture, nature and infrastructure of a community in an attempt to reduce the crime rate. Some of the most frequently employed crime prevention programs are community policing, Weed and Seed, and neighborhood watch (Office of Justice Programs, n.d.). Some crime prevention programs are place oriented because of the functionality of different places in serving the purpose.

“Hot spot” and “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design” (CPTED) are two examples of place oriented programs of crime prevention (Office of Justice Prevention, n.d.). This paper discusses some of the programs that are commonly used to control crime among juveniles that have been proposed by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) in particular, and various other programs in general. Founded in 1982, NCPC administers the “Crime Prevention Coalition of America” and also monitors “McGruff the Crime Dog” and the “National Citizens’ Crime Prevention Campaign” (National Crime Prevention Council, 2011).

Programs mentioned in this paper prevent crime both in individuals as well as groups of juveniles. Neighborhood crime: People can take a number of steps to safeguard their homes as well as those of their neighbors against such forms of crime as vandalism, theft, robbery and violence. Neighborhood Watch is one such crime prevention program that was originally introduced by the National Sheriff's Association, and now, the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) publicizes it (Link, 2010). This nationwide crime prevention program provides the citizens as well as the local law enforcement bodies with tools using which, they can jointly work in mutual collaboration to ensure the safety of their neighborhood.

Such tools include but are not limited to window signs, and phone trees. The window signs alert those who pass by about the activity of the resident. Neighbors can get in touch with each other through phone trees when they are on vacations. People may take participation in their area’s local Neighborhood Watch by due consultation with the neighborhood association in their locality, or simply by consulting the NCPC website. School bullying: Parents and mentors today are much more concerned about the potential ways in which childhood bullying can negatively impact the children, while in the past, childhood bullying was considered a normal aspect of school life.

Not only does the bullying cast negative impacts on the personality of the victims, but also, the bullies feel encouraged to become potential criminals in the future if time