Crime Prevention Program - Essay Example

Crime Prevention ProgramIntroductionCrime Prevention Programs are required to be developed on the basis of citizen involvement and the preventive measures which are necessary for reducing crime rate. In this regard community plays a very important role since it has the most significant influence over the personality of an individual and also because it is responsible for generating crime opportunities. Crime Prevention can be done through awareness programs, mass media, etc (Dennis P. Rosenbaum, 1998).

Delinquency is highly influenced by the rate of poverty as they both maintain very close association and the decrease in one leads to reduction in the subsequent variable. Considering this fact the researchers have concluded that in order to reduce crime and delinquency it is essential to provide some recreational and work opportunities to the people especially those with poor financial conditions. For this purpose a Crime Prevention Program was established in Australia; The Social Options for Teenagers Like You (S.O.F.T.L.Y.) by the crime controlling authorities.

The program was primarily aimed at providing healthy and recreational activities to the offending adolescents. Additionally, it was formulated in such a way that it could enhance the social skills of young population through developing and projecting different work option towards them. The participants were given awareness about skill building, decision making, planning the future and also lessons on organizational skills (McCord, 2003). DescriptionInitially 40 teenagers were selected for the crime prevention program but 39 participants followed until final evaluations.

The participants were divided into several groups; each with a group leader who was well trained by the program supervisors. Leaders were given training about the teenager’s interest and how to guide them about different activities. All the groups used to have a meeting twice in seven days in which active participation of parents was encouraged. The meetings were held at the homes of different participants; every time a new participant’s home was chosen for the meeting purpose. The first meeting of the week had the objective of the activities to be carried out until the next meeting.

Every group had four to seven members who remained together for ten to twelve weeks. The experimental group had ten sub-groups and the control group was made according to the sex, age, criminal history before the initial selection, race, parents’ nationality, parents’ work background and the intellectual level of the individuals. The program went on for six months after which the experimental group was evaluated in order to compare the results with the initial evaluation. The evaluation was based on the variables including school performance, work involvement and criminal activities.

However, in the final evaluation of experimental group results did not show up significant difference in the criminal activity whereas the participants of control group had decreased their rates of crimes. ConclusionFor a successful crime prevention program it is necessary to generate significant difference in the delinquency of participants especially the experimental group, however, in the case of S.O.F.T.L.Y. the difference between the initial and final evaluations was not sufficient enough as the participants of the experimental group were still inclined to commit crimes.

Therefore S.O.F.T.L.Y. was later disbanded. ReferenceDennis P. Rosenbaum, A. J. (1998). The Prevention of Crime: Social and Situational Strategies. West/Wadsworth Pub.McCord, J. (2003). Cures That Harm: Unanticipated Outcomes of Crime Prevention Programs. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 16.