The Oxford Handbook of Crime Prevention

David P. Farrington is Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology in the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, England.

Brandon C. Welsh is a Professor of Criminology at Northeastern University, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Visiting Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement in Amsterdam and a Steering Committee member of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group.

Cite

Farrington, David P., and Brandon C. Welsh (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Crime Prevention , Oxford Handbooks ( 2012; online edn, Oxford Academic , 18 Sept. 2012 ), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195398823.001.0001, accessed 5 Sept. 2024.

Abstract

How can a society prevent—not deter, not punish—but prevent crime? Criminal justice prevention, commonly called crime control, aims to prevent crime after an initial offence has been committed through anything from an arrest to a death penalty sentence. These traditional means have been frequently examined and their efficacy just as frequently questioned. Promising new forms of crime prevention have emerged and expanded as important components of an overall strategy to reduce crime. Crime prevention today has developed along three lines: interventions to improve the life chances of children and prevent them from embarking on a life of crime; programs and policies designed to ameliorate the social conditions and institutions that influence offending; and the modification or manipulation of the physical environment, products, or systems to reduce everyday opportunities for crime. Each strategy aims at preventing crime or criminal offending in the first instance—before the act has been committed. Each, importantly, takes place outside of the formal criminal justice system, representing an alternative, perhaps even socially progressive way to reduce crime. This comprehensive publication reviews up-to-date research on crime prevention. Bringing together top scholars in criminology, public policy, psychology, and sociology, the volume includes critical reviews of the main theories that form the basis of crime prevention, evidence-based assessments of the effectiveness of the most important interventions, and cross-cutting essays that examine implementation, evaluation methodology, and public policy.

Sign in

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code
• Add your ORCID iD

Institutional access

Institutional account management

Get help with access

Institutional access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Sign in through your institution

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

1. Click Sign in through your institution.
2. Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
3. When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
4. Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Sign in with a library card

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

1. Click Sign in through society site.
2. When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
3. Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

Personal account

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

Institutional account management

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Purchase

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

Citations

Views

Altmetric