TENTH UNITED NATIONS CONGRESS ON THE PREVENTION OF CRIME AND THE TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS
Press Kit
Backgrounder No2
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Preventing Crime ... and Cutting its Costs |
Over the past few decades, crime has skyrocketed, and so have its costs. Nations are spending increasing amounts on health and property as well as on the police, prosecution, court and prisons. Crime control uses up about 5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in developed countries and up to 14 per cent in developing countries, according to a recent study.
But this spending has done little to reverse crime rates or reform offenders. The number of repeat offenders among former prisoners -over 50 per cent in many countries- remains discouragingly high.
With crime stubbornly resisting so-called "punitive" efforts to fight it, interest among legal experts has gradually shifted to innovative methods of preventing criminality, rather than punishing it. Several studies have shown that crime prevention can significantly cut down on offences as well as costs.
For example, delinquency in public places can be reduced using civilian
guards -recruited from the unemployed- and closed circuit television.
And young disadvantaged persons are less likely to be arrested if they
are given job skills training or incentives to complete school.
"There is a growing body of literature showing
that crime prevention is successful and may be more cost effective than
traditional, punitive approaches", says Pino Arlacchi, Executive
Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
(ODCCP). "Not only are these strategies important in reducing conventional
crime, but they can protect young people from the recruiters of organized
crime", he noted.
Crime prevention strategies will rank high on the agenda of the United Nations Tenth Crime Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Vienna in April 2000. Special attention will be devoted to the current status of crime prevention, new challenges in the field and in particular to preventing organized crime.
A workshop jointly organized by the UN Centre for International Crime Prevention and the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC), a non-governmental organization based in Montreal, Canada, and affiliated with the United Nations, will also focus on the topic. The ICPC was set up by several nations to collect information and best practices on crime prevention worldwide.
Delegates to the Congress will zero in on two major avenues of preventing crime that have been explored over the past two decades -social prevention and situational prevention.
Curbing Criminal Desire
Social prevention works at eliminating problems that may lead a young person to crime, such as inadequate parenting, poor early education or bad physical and mental health. The community lends a hand by teaching young people about the rule of law, building up local police/community relations and setting up reception centres for unemployed youngsters or voluntary treatment programmes for drug addicts.
The strategy has yielded astonishing results. A four-year programme
from 1989 to 1993 in five American cities -the Quantum Opportunities
Programme- paid disadvantaged youths for after school activities, including
peer tutoring, homework assistance and community services. The result
was a 71 per cent drop in arrests, according to the ICPC. Each dollar
invested in the programme yielded a return of about $3.68 in savings
on social welfare and other government-funded programmes, such as youth
counselling or unemployment insurance.
A two-year programme from 1980 to 1982 in Ottawa,
Canada, offered disadvantaged children (aged 5-15 years) from a low-income
housing complex free activities, including swimming, judo, ballet, scouting
and competitive games. The project reduced delinquency by 56 per cent
and yielded economic benefits of about $2.14 to every $0.17 invested
in the programme.
"Partnerships" with local authorities, police or business interests have also been highly successful in reducing crime. In Sydney, Australia, police joined forces with the key stakeholders in car theft, including motorists, car manufacturers, insurance companies, repair shops and local government, to carry out a wide array of public education and opportunity-based preventive measures, such as more secure parking facilities. The scheme cut car theft by 25 per cent in one year.
Reducing Temptation
Situational crime prevention uses up-to-date technology, surveillance and building design to ward off potential criminals. The result has been a sharp rise in the private policing and security industries, increased surveillance by local residents or non-police professionals and the widespread use of technical aids, such as closed-circuit television and speed cameras.
Some government-sponsored situational projects have sought to influence city planning and architectural design in an effort to thwart break-ins and burglaries, including bank robberies. Others have focused on identifying "hot spots" of crime in urban areas or helping crime victims -especially of domestic violence or household burglary -- avoid repeat attempts.
The strategy has been highly successful in preventing a wide variety of offenses and is now part of official crime control policy in several European countries, including Britain, the Netherlands and France.
A project in Britain, beginning in 1986, joined city officials, police, social workers and the university in tackling repeat victimization on the Kirkholt housing estate in Rochdale. Project workers organized a neighbourhood watch programme to surround victimized homes and encouraged residents to upgrade locks and bolts as well as remove coin-operated electric and gas metres (to reduce readily available cash).
By the end of the third year, the Kirkhold programme was showing a 75 per cent drop in burglaries. Lower gas/electricity metre losses and the reduced amount of property/cash stolen covered the programme's costs. And it saved about $3.84 for every dollar invested in police time, detection, sentencing, probation and detention costs.
The Kirkhold and other successful crime prevention programmes convinced the British government in 1998 to adopt the Crime and Disorder Act, which joined local authorities and police with other agencies -including social services, education, probation, child protection and the courts ? in setting up community safety strategies. The government allotted about $450 million to a three-year programme targetting domestic burglary and violence, youth and family issues and policing, among others.
"The developed countries are investing slowly in what works",
said ICPC Director Irwin Waller. But he noted that limited budgets had
prohibited similar spending in developing nations, where crime prevention
was "urgently" needed. "If the UK is investing $450 million,
think how crucial it is for the international community to invest in
crime prevention in the violence-ridden cities of Africa or Latin America,"
he said.
Thwarting Organized Crime
Crime prevention has become increasingly popular to combat organized crime. Key strategies include counteracting the appeal of criminal groups through social and cultural programmes in schools or the media, boosting efforts to discourage juvenile delinquency and reducing opportunities for organized crime by limiting illegal markets. For example, health-care projects or information campaigns may squeeze criminal markets by reducing the demand for illicit drugs or sexual services.
The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has pioneered several projects aimed at raising the awareness of both governments and the public to the hazards of trafficking in women and girls for sexual purposes. "We need to break the silences and taboos surrounding this problem, so that awareness can be raised and trafficking in women and girls prevented", said UNIFEM Executive Director Noleen Heyzer.
One project has sought to educate the girls and staff of remote Russian orphanages about the risks of trafficking in women. The orphanages encourage employers to seek new workers among their girls, who must leave the institution by the age of 17. But many of these "employers" are linked to transnational traffickers, according to Ms. Heyzer.
The project has already yielded positive results. "Orphanages are now screening recruiters and the girls themselves are alert to the possibilities of trafficking," she said.
Another UNIFEM project, using case studies of Nepalese women and girls who had been tricked into prostitution, produced a fictional film tracing the entire network of traffickers from Nepal to the brothels of Bombay. The film, which was recently screened for the first time in New Delhi, India, will be shown in Nepalese villages as well as major cinemas throughout South Asia.
Other strategies could prevent organized crime from entering the legitimate economy. Smuggling, for example, could be combated through international marking systems and criminal profits reduced with tighter money-laundering laws. Increasing the transparency of public offices would help thwart corruption.
The proposed Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (see Fact Sheet No. 1) and its three protocols targetting trafficking in women and children, migrants and illegal firearms encourages governments to use such prevention strategies. The new treaty, which will give legal support to crime prevention, will also be discussed at the Tenth Crime Congress. It should be ready for adoption by the UN Millennium General Assembly this year.
Preventing Crime in the Future
Although numerous projects have shown that crime prevention works, roadblocks still remain. Ethical disputes have arisen. Critics suggest, for example, that situational prevention could be harmful, leading to a "fortress society" of distrustful people barricading themselves in their homes.
Businesses have objected to the cost of certain measures. Retail stores often resist advice about ways to reduce shoplifting, because these may also discourage impulse buying. Insurance companies may drag their heels about checking questionable claims because it costs them less to pay all the claims with a minimum of controls.
Another key obstacle is the lack of government funding, which has traditionally
been directed at building up criminal justice systems rather than preventing
crime. Although spending on community and situational crime prevention
has risen over the past two decades and such issues as child development
are beginning to attract more interest, money is still desperately needed
for future research.
Funding will be needed to apply crime prevention
techniques to more contemporary crimes, such as organized and transnational
crime, crimes against migrants and tourists and computer-related crimes.
The current levels for these offenses could rise sharply as commerce
and trade become more global, business and leisure travel expand and
traditional borders open up.
Published
by the United Nations Department of Public Information
DPI/2088/CC February 2000
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