name: Wan Mohd Farid Bin Wan Saris
ID no: 16336
What steps need to be taken in order to reduce crime.
Crime is a serious issue that affects everyone in society. It affects the victims, perpetrators and their families. Crime has increased drastically within the last decade. More prisons are being built around the world because there is not enough room to hold criminals. The government has made an attempt to reduce crime by funding programs such as prevention and intervention for youth at risk , as well as rehabilitation for prisoners that will be released. Some argue that criminal behavior is due to environment, others believe that it is genetic, and yet others think that it has to do with personality. If there were certain personality traits that could be identified with potential criminal behavior, steps could be taken to try to reduce or diminish the "criminal personality". Although personality is not the only factor in criminal behavior, there does seem to be a strong association between the both.
Personality develops early in life. That is why early childhood aggression and antisocial behavior should be taken seriously. Being able to identify potential criminal behavior is vital for prevention and intervention. Childhood factors shown to relate to the development of antisocial behaviors include a difficult early temperament, low IQ, academic deficiencies and learning problems, lack of empathy, underdeveloped social skills, and negative peer relations. Environmental factors such as family structure and poverty are also associated with potential criminal behavior. The age at which these young kids are committing crimes is getting younger. The crimes they are committing are getting more serious. They are not only involved in vandalism and shop lifting like many people might assume, but they are involved in life threatening crimes such as assault and murder.
Many individuals have taken steps to protect themselves and their property by attending self-defense courses, acquiring dogs, or engraving their property with some form of identification. Businesses have initiated crime prevention measures in the workplace, ranging from hiring security officers to installing security alarms, as well as training staff to recognize potential problem situations. Many large businesses have instituted employee assistance programs to not only educate employees about crime prevention measures, but also to provide assistance to victimized employees. Perhaps the most significant area of growth has been the involvement of communities in crime prevention programs.
By addressing the factors that may lead to crime, neighborhood crime prevention affects the fear and perception of crime as well as the actual prevalence of crime. If members of the community are participating in crime prevention, their perception and fear of crime may reduce. There are many different approaches to neighborhood crime prevention. The attempt is to establish a cohesive and socially aware community where crime cannot flourish. Some examples of neighborhood crime prevention are neighborhood watch programs, citizen patrols, organized community clean up days, social events such as picnics, festivals and etcetera. The steps can we take to organize neighborhood crime prevention are talk to your neighbors, assess what the community wants accomplished through neighborhood crime prevention, talk to local police about organizing community activities, and lastly identify one or two programs that is suitable and adequate for your neighborhood. It may be unrealistic and ultimately unsuccessful to implement a program that does not address the issues in your community.
In a nutshell, evaluations of these crime prevention programs are mixed to overcome the increasing of crime issues. Crime prevention is not limited to any one program or any one group of programs. There are several approaches in crime prevention that have reduced crime and victimization. However, all people are responsible in ensuring the reduction of crime in a society. Everyone can take an active role in preventing crime, preventing victimization, and reducing the fear of crime in society.
