Integrating Behavior Managemen - Research Paper Example

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Preventing crime through designing the environment differs from other methods in both theory and application. CPTED is a natural approach to crime prevention. This method is different as it focuses primarily on the human activities and how they are shaped and tainted by crime, whereas, the conventional methods focus only on the offender, offender’s background and the victim, and the mere objective is to identify and apprehend the offender. The most conventional method for crime prevention is to deny the offender access to the victim by physical means. These conventional methods have serious limitations. They have not been as effective as they should have been. According to Lawrence Fennelly and Timothy Crowe (2013), arguably, for the past 180 years criminology has failed to deal effectively with crimes because of its limitedness. The main focus of conventional criminology is on the criminal event, the criminal and the victim, it doesn’t incorporate other factors. All other factors like psychological, legal, social, biological and political theories revolve around the criminal/offender. The other myth surrounding the whole crime investigation is that human beings by nature are criminals, it is something inherent, only an opportunity is required (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). CPTED stands out from conventional crime prevention measures because it emphasizes more on human activity than on actions. Law enforcement agencies, security and crime prevention organizations find CPTED to be more helpful than other processes as they help more in preventing crimes as well as improve the quality of life and achieve the objectives of human activity (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). Oscar Newman and Jeffery C. Ray are considered somewhat of an authority when it comes to discussing crime prevention. Newman published his first book, Defensible Space, in 1966 and gave unorthodox methods for crime prevention by making the environment safer. He focused mainly on residential areas. Ray published his book in 1971, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, and agreed with Newman’s work in its core theory. There is a unison found in both the works of Oscar Newman and Jeffery C. Ray. Ray’s (1971) published work on Crime Prevention through Environmental Design introduced to the world a new way of looking at the world of crime. Jeffery took a step further than Newman as he shifted the focus and spread it on nonresidential areas too such as schools. By incorporating behavioral learning theory, Jeffery argued that removing crime reinforcements from schools would reduce crimes. To elaborate the same point, let’s consider the example of a park. It should be ‘designed’ with a high degree of safety. Strong metal gates should be put, with rust resistant paint on it. Grounds are kept safe and easy to walk and play in, fences and gates are kept locked at times when entry is not allowed. Exit routes are well marked and the security staff is well trained and available in case they are needed (Paynich & Hill, 2011). As Jeffery wrote in his book; “…in order to change criminal behavior we must change the environment (not rehabilitate the criminal)” (Jeffery, 1971, p. 178) C. Ray Jeffery coined the term CPTED and elaborated it in his next book by the same name; “Any activity taken before a crime is committed that will reduce or eliminate the occurrence of crime.” (Jeffery, 1977, p. 45) Crime prevention designs are based in (Jeffery, 1977); 1) A shift from treatment or punishing the criminal to more preventive measures 2) Interdisciplinary theory of behavior based on psychology rather than physical means 3) Appreciating the physical environment in the context of criminal behavior Jeffery’s theories also shed light on the criminal justice system. He says that in order to be effective the punishment and treatment of the criminal must be implicit in the criminal justice system procedures in order for it to be effective (Jeffery, 1977). Rebecca Lynn Wenzel (2007) summarizes Jeffery’s core concepts in five steps; 1) The program is set in motion before the crime is committed and not as post-action or as a reaction 2) It revolves around direct control over behavior and not on indirect controls 3) Focus is on the environment in which the crime is committed and not on the offender’s interaction with the environment 4) Human behavior on the whole is involved and governs the whole program 5) It proves less costly and more effective in crime prevention The thing that makes CPTED different from other procedures is that it relies on natural strategies. These strategies are targeted towards integrating behavior management with human and physical resources for carrying out the necessary human functions (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). Conventional procedures have a flaw in their execution; even if they get effective in preventing crime, they don’t necessarily help people to get on with their normal human functions; in other words canceling an Olympic event would be the best solution to deal with a bomb threat at an Olympic opening ceremony but it is hardly feasible. A misconception about CPTED is that it might conflict with the building code requirements for life safety. CPTED is more like a cohesive bond that integrates many processes that have compatibility among other programs. When in fact each program is usually considered in solitude and thus doesn’t live up to its full potential. Another aspect that makes CPTED better than conventional methods is that it works both at events, unorthodox gatherings as well as built facilities. It is one thing to put guards at entrance and exits of such events but it is another thing to design the environment and surroundings to make the purpose of the facility more comfortable for human interaction as well as to keep miscreants away from the facility. CPTED is not a very complex concept in fact the most common example of it would be the traffic lights on roads and highways. They are there to control the traffic so that everyone remains safe and also reach their destination in minimum time possible thus achieving both human functionality and safety. This same concept is applied to store fronts, park entrance and exit, exterior design of local buildings and schools. Designing these places better will contribute to safety and human functionality. Oscar Newman’s concepts of Defensible Space have been used as an integral part of the security courses in schools and colleges. The concepts have been expanded in areas like transportation, residential and commercial. They have become popular among these institutes as well as places where they are applied such as industries as they add to better productivity. City districts and security agencies find it more effective as well as less costly to invest in environmental design than to hire extra police and security guards to protect the citizens. Additional problem with extra security personnel is that it makes the city (environment) look like a fortress – not a very hospitable place to live in. For thousands of years it has been known to man that the environment affects human behavior. And architects are well aware of this fact. They shape buildings and arenas to invoke desired behavior in the residents. Greek temples in large Sicilian colonies were built to invoke fear by casting ominous shadows (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). The most popular studies under CPTED are; Crimes against small business; neighborhood design for prevention of crime, burglary prevention studies, crime prevention through design in urban areas, private police, robbery and burglary prevention (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). And the programs under the same (CPTED) are “The Federal Crime Insurance Program, development of Model Security Codes and Guidelines, equipment standards program, vertical policing programs in public housing, architectural design, public housing and residential areas and training in crime prevention” (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013, p. 25). The core concepts of CPTED lie in the fact that the environment should be designed in such a way that it produces certain behaviors that contributes to productivity through limiting the fear of crime as well as enhancing the overall quality of life. The main CPTED strategies comprise of (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013); 1) Natural access control 2) Natural surveillance 3) Territorial reinforcement Controlling access and surveillance have been the primary tools for physical (conventional) crime prevention measures. But in CPTED access control and surveillance faintly exist and are tagged as “conspicuous concepts” (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). Oscar Newman’s CPTED rests on the fact that the physical layout of communities should be restructured so that the residents control the areas in their neighborhood, a perfect execution of defensible space (Newman, 1966). The idea behind defensible space is to be less dependent on governments. This puts the residents in charge of their own security so even if the government takes away privileges like security guards from a certain premise, they don’t fall back to absolute vulnerability, and the environment design protects them. Social factors and how they interact with the physical According to Newman, an understanding of how social factors and how they interact with the physical helps in preventing crimes and developing strategies for stabilizing neighboring communities (Newman, 1966). In Newman’s (1972) published work, Defensible Space, the height of the building and its number of units per entry, have been proven to effective measures of predicting crime rate. Regardless of the social interaction of a house’s residents, the design of the house had been proven to be an effective tool for the house residents in controlling crime. A comparison of both Newman and Jeffery’s work reveals that Jeffery’s theories are much broader. Newman focused more on empowering the residents and turning toward an ‘automated’ system, the designing of building and neighborhood that would help better communication among people as well as prevention of crimes. The less dependent they will be on government and additional factors the more they can make the design suited to their own needs. Jeffery on the other hand says the same but with the additional governing factor of human behavior and human psychology. He introduced b rad social policies and micro-level psychological interventions. Cross-situational consistency of the situational side, a long debated factor in crime prevention, serves as a crucial factor in Jeffery’s CPTED. Jeffery’s theories are based on the factor that the key to crime control was through environmental design and not by controlling the consequences of the crime. The environment design is enhanced through implementing social policies that can gradually decrease the rewards that a person gets by committing a crime. These policies should be designed so as to make the reward diminishing strategy more systematic. The risk reward strategy in any gamble is always measured through ‘less risk and more reward’ or more probability of the reward. CPTED is to put the risk-reward equation in such a way that the criminal gets less reward at the cost of more risk. Crime cannot occur without an opportunity, the design of the environment needs to be so that the criminal gets less and less opportunities for committing the crime. Which all leads to one conclusion; there are no criminals in nature, the environment creates criminals. Circumstances are the real causes that create the criminal effects. When proper environment is created anyone can become a criminal or innocent depending on the environment. References Fennelly, L. & Crowe T. (2013). Crime prevention through environmental design. Waltham: Elsevier. Newman, O. (1966). Creating defensible space. Rutgers University: DIANE Publishing. Jeffery, C. R. (1971). Crime prevention through environmental design. Beverly Hills CA: SAGE Publications. Jeffery, C. R. (1977). Crime prevention through environmental design. Beverly Hills CA: SAGE Publications. Paynich, R. & Hill, B. (2011) Fundamentals of crime mapping: Principles and practice. Ontario: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Wenzel, R. L. (2007). CPTED: Interpreting contemporary security practices in the era of homeland security. Ann Arbor: PropQuest. Read More