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Approach |
Reasoning / mechanism |
Summary of research findings |
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Early home visits & pre-school education programmes |
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High/Scope Perry Pre-School Programme targeted both children & their parents. A total of 58children from low socio-economic families received a 2 year high quality pre-school education programme, whilst their mothers received home visits. The subsequent fortunes of the children were contrasted with a matched control group. Those who attended the programme had a 40% lower arrest rate at age 19.They performed better in school and adult education, were more likely to graduate and get employment and were half as likely to be pregnant in their teens. In the control group 35% had been arrested five or more times, compared with 7% of those who attended the programme. A second study with different children has specifically linked effects like reduced involvement in crime.Schweinhart,L.J. et al (1997) ‘Lasting Differences. The High Scope Pre-school Curriculum Comparison Study Through Age 23’. Ypsilanti, Michigan. High Scope Educational Research Foundation. Positive results also reveal that such programmes are associated with reductions in anti-social behaviour, improvements in children’s cognitive skills, parental attachment and parenting skills. Sherman, L.W., (1997) ‘Family-Based Crime Prevention’. In Sherman, L.W., et al. "Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising". US Department of Justice: Washington. Home-Start (180 schemes operating in the UK) Works alongside the statutory health & social services helping families whose problems include post-natal stress, parental conflict, domestic violence & suspected child abuse, as well as money problems, children’s behaviour problems and more general difficulties of coping with the demands of young family. Referrals come from Health Visitors, doctors, social workers, teachers, & other professionals, as well as themselves. A survey of 90 user families found that 50% had been referred by health visitors & most had been visited for between 6 months and a year. 6 out of 10 mothers were very satisfied with the service and 50% specified beneficial changes in their lives; such as a greater understanding of their children; help in sorting out their problems and a sense of regaining control and the ability to cope. |
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Family Parenting & Parent Training Parenting Video "Teenagers in Trouble: Skills for Parents." The Youth Justice Board , together with the Trust for the Study of Adolescence have produced this video. It is aimed at being a valuable aid, stimulating thought and discussion in order to address key issues around anti-social and offending behaviour by children and young people. The video was commissioned to be used primarily as an aid in parenting groups for parents receiving statutory and voluntary referrals by a Youth Offending Team or another organisation. Crime & Disorder reduction Partnerships will find it informative. Parents at home may use the materials independently as well. To obtain a copy of the video please contact Tim Geldard: timothy.geldard@yjb.gsi.gov.uk |
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These are aimed at helping parents respond constructively, use discipline less harshly and more consistently to avoid situations which precipitate conflict. Seventeen programmes were reviewed to measure their impact on delinquency. With one qualified exception, all evaluations showed reductions in anti-social behaviour, conduct disorders and/or improvements in parenting.
Sherman, L.W., (1997) ‘Family-Based Crime Prevention’. In Sherman, L.W., et al. "Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising". US Department of Justice: Washington. |
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Family preservation strategies "Focused Family Work with Antisocial or Offending Youth." This guide discusses the importance of focused family involvement with offending youth in intervention schemes. The guide looks at numerous approaches aimed at targeting and dealing with parental risk factors associated with youth antisocial or offending behaviour. These include techniques drawn from both ‘historical’ and ‘here and now’ approaches. Included in the guide is a ‘Youth Antisocial Behaviour Family Check List’ which aims at identifying the strengths and risk factors in families of young offenders. For a full copy of the guidance notes contact Lisa Hansen at the Trust for the Study of Adolescence. Tel: 01273 693 311 lhansen@tsa.uk.com |
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These are aimed at providing intensive support to families where parent-child relationships are under stress of breaking down and the child is at risk of being taken into care. Given the potential savings of avoiding out-of-home placements, these programmes are likely to be cost-effective if they also reduce later crime and delinquency. Projects which report success in working with such families tend to be those which emphasise the need to raise parental esteem. Utting , D., (1993) et al (1993) ‘Crime and the family’. Family Policy Studies Centre. Occasional Paper16. London Home visiting schemes in the UK have been successful in strengthening the bonds of affection between parents and children that are important protective factors where families are exposed to risk. Barker, W. (1988) The Child Development programme: an Evaluation of Process & Outcomes Bristol: Early Childhood Development Centre. Cooper, PJ. & Murray, L. (1997) ‘ The Impact of Psychological Treatments Of Postpartum Depression on Maternal Mood & Infant development’ in L. Cooper (eds.) Postpartum Depression & Child Development. Guildford. The Maudsley Hospital’s Family Assessment Unit has developed a programme called the Parent-Child Game. Parents taking part in the trials of group discussion and videotape modelling have children aged 3-8 and have been referred to child psychiatric units. The children who participated in a pilot programme displayed sever behavioural difficulties. Their parents were also found to be under serious stress – including high levels of unemployment, clinical depression and personality disorders. An unpublished pilot study of cases treated at the Maudsley Hospital using the Parent-Child Game suggest that improvements in children’s behaviour are maintained for up to 2 years after treatment. The technique is considered effective in ‘high risk’ cases where the parent-child relationship is especially poor and where children’s anti-social behaviour has reached an extreme. |
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Well-managed schools |
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Research on school effectiveness shows that schools which are characterised by high quality classroom management, good leadership and organisation and where children feel emotionally as well as educationally supported, are those which are best placed to protect their pupils from engaging in criminal behaviour. Gottfredson, D.C., (1987) ‘An Evaluation of an Organisational Development Approach to Reducing School Disorder’. Evaluation Review 11, pp739-763
Gottfredson, D.C., (1997) School-Based Crime Prevention’ In: Sherman, L.W., et al. "Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising" US Department of Justice: Washington Gottfredson, D.C., & Gottfredson, G.D., (1986) ‘The School Action Effectiveness Study: final report’. Baltimore: John Hopkins University |
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Anti-bullying initiatives |
School bullies are particularly at risk of becoming serious
violent offenders & are more likely to raise children who
become bullies themselves.
(Farrington, D.P., ‘The Development of Offending & Anti-Social Behaviour ‘ from Children: Key findings from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development: Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, Vol. 36.) |
Research reveals that where a ‘whole school’ approach to tackling bullying is adopted, (incorporating procedures for preventing and responding to bullying, improving playground supervision, encouraging victims to report incidents) levels of bullying, victimisation and anti-social behaviour is reduced. Olweus, D., (1990). ‘Bullying Among Schoolchildren’. In: Hurrelmann, K. &Losel, F. (eds) ‘Health Hazards in Adolescence’ Berlin: De Gruyter. Olweus, D., (1991). ‘Bully/victim Problems Among Schoolchildren: Basic Facts and Effects of a School-Based Intervention Programme’. In: Pepler, D.J.& Rubin, K.H. (eds) ‘The Development & Treatment of Childhood Aggression’. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. See also the Sheffield Anti-Bullying Initiative. This was evaluated in 23 Sheffield primary & secondary schools. Schools were encouraged to take an approach to aggressive behaviour & bullying which are known risk factors for violent and criminal behaviour adolescence and adulthood. It was also recognised that action would need to extend beyond interventions with individual bullies and their victims and that the overall ethos and organisation of the school (even its design) might need to change. Increasingly, this ‘whole school’ approach is recognised as an effective means of tackling not just bullying but other education-related risks e.g. lack of commitment to school, truancy and exclusion and school disorganisation. The project schools saw an increase in the number of pupils saying that they had not been bullied and a significant decrease in the frequency of bullying, which was most evident in primary schools. An increase in pupils’ willingness to take bullying problems to their teachers was most evident in secondary schools. Farrington, D.P. (1993) ‘Understanding & Preventing Bullying’ in M. Tonry (ed) Crime & Justice Vol. 17. University of Chicago Press. |
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Family/School Partnerships |
Reduce anti-social behaviour in the home/school by improving parent/child and family/school relationships and the child’s academic and social and development (Graham, J., & Utting, D., (1996) ‘Families , Schools & Criminality Prevention’. In: Bennett, T. (ed) "Preventing Crime & Disorder: Targeting Strategies and Responsibilities." Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge: Cambridge) |
Initial findings from the US suggest a positive impact in reducing aggressive and anti-social behaviour. Reid, J.B., et al (1994) ‘A Universal Prevention Strategy for Conduct Disorder: Some Preliminary Findings’. Paper presented to SRCAP Conference, June 1994, London. Dodge, K.A., (1993). ‘The Future of Research on the Treatment of Conduct Disorder’. Development and Psychopathology, vol.5, pp 311-319 |
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Peer group-based initiatives |
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There are very few examples of successful interventions. However, see: Baker, K., et al. (1995). ‘Violence Prevention Through Informal Socialisation: An Evaluation of the South Baltimore Youth Centre’. Studies on Crime & Prevention, vol. 4, no.1. National Council for Crime Prevention: Stockholm, Sweden. |
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Mentoring Programmes Mentoring for Young People at Risk and Young Offenders These notes may be used productively by Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships that wish to establish a mentoring scheme with socially excluded young people, particularly those whoare: · Involved in anti-social or offending behaviour.· Truanting or excluded from school.· Showing significant signs of educational failure.The guidance notes include a section offering specific advice about establishing mentoring schemes, a section that discusses the resources and time needed and a section on monitoring and evaluation. Details of useful contacts in the mentoring field are also provided. For a full copy of the guidance notes contact Tracy White at Crime Concern: Tracy.White@crimeconcern.org.uk
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Evidence includes a large-scale study of the Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America Programme where more than 900 young people aged 10-16 from lone parent – mostly low-income families – were assigned to mentoring or to a ‘waiting list’ control group. After 18 months, the study found that those who have been mentored were 46% less likely to have started using drugs during the study period, 27% were less likely to have begun using alcohol and 52% less likely to have truanted Tierney, J.P. et al (1995) Making A Difference. An Impact Study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures In Britain, there are also encouraging results from the Dalston Youth Project, set up with Crime Concern to work with young people aged 15-18 in Hackney who are at risk of involvement in crime. Monitoring shows that 2 out of 3 participants have previously been arrested at least once and that 4 out of 10 have been excluded from school. Self-reported offending and arrest rates among the most active participants have been substantially lower during involvement with the project than in the previous year. Amongst participants in the first course, the numbers arrested in the following year was 40% than in the year preceding involvement and the total number of arrests was halved Janice Webb Research (1997) Dalston Youth Project Programmes 1,2, & 3 for Young People Aged 15-18 Years: Summary of the Evaluations. Report Prepared for Crime Concern & the Dalston Youth Project |
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Cognitive-behavioural approaches A Practical Guide to Establishing Cognitive Behavioural Programmes The purpose of the Guide is to provide a framework in which the means for developing successful cognitive behavioural programmes are illustrated. The first section of the Guide introduces cognitive behavioural therapy and how principles of cognitive behavioural interventions can be applied in working with children and young people who are offenders or at risk of offending. It identifies programme options and considers the issues of referrals and anti-discriminatory practice before discussing issues around assessment. The second section looks at setting up cognitive behavioural programmes identifying models and programme delivery. It then outlines the approach, learning methods and programme types before highlighting issues around programme completion, flexibility and success indicators. The third section of the guide examines the project in which the programme is conducted summarising issues around management, partnership and staff roles. This section concludes with relevant points to bear in mind on monitoring and evaluation. The final section identifies trainers and training programmes as well as literature available on cognitive behavioural programmes and young offenders. For a full copy of the guidance notes please e-mail your request to info@nacroycs.demon.co.uk |
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Key components are:
The Intensive Probation Unit for 16-21 year olds , developed by NCH Action for Children and the social work service in Inverclyde worked with persistent & young offenders. Young offenders at serious risk of custody were offered the opportunity to deal with the problems contributing to their offending behaviour. Different models enabled packages to be assembled that were tailored to the individual offender’s risk profile needs which is systematically assessed. A study of reconviction 18 months after the programme found that 33% who completed the course had not been reconvicted , but that this was significantly lower that the reconviction rate for similar high tariff offenders who were referred for assessment but received a custodial sentence or other disposal. Those who took part in the programme believe it had helped them stop offending
Jamieson, J. (1988) Evaluation of the NCH Inverclyde Intensive Probation Unit. Social Work Research Centre, University of Stirling. |
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Restorative Justice Guidance on Developing Restorative Practice Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships may find this publication useful as its purpose is to provide information for those developing restorative justice projects . The guidance notes offer detailed information on the two most established forms of practice. These are victim-offender mediation and family group conferencing. Advice is given concerning the establishment of restorative projects, information on practice issues and key performance indicators against which these projects can expect to be measured. For a full copy of the guidance notes contact Tracy White at Crime Concern: Tracy.White@crimeconcern.org.uk |
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Canadian research provides indications of a preventative effect on reoffending Bonta, J. et al. (1998) ‘Restorative Justice: An Evaluation of the Restorative Resolution Project’. Ottawa: Solicitor General, Canada Evaluation of the Northamptonshire Diversion Unit Project revealed that many victims derive benefit from the reparation element and that reoffending levels may be relatively low. Hughes et al (1996) An Independent Evaluation of the Northampton Diversion Unit. Open University |
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Situational Crime Prevention Measures |
Aims to influence an offender’s decision or ability to commit crimes at particular places or times. It seeks to make criminal actions less attractive to offenders.
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Situational crime prevention measures have been successfully applied to a tackling a range of offences. Clarke, R., (1997). Situational Crime Prevention: Successful Case Studies (2nd Edn). Albany, N.Y.: Harrow & Heston. Welsh, B., & Farrington, D.P., (1998). Value for money? A review of the costs and benefits of Situational Crime Prevention. British Journal of Criminology, vol.38 |
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Increase CCTV coverage |
Cameras can:
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Can be effective where it is clear what impact the scheme is meant to have, and where the right conditions are in place for the cameras to have the intended effect. Works best as part of an integrated and evolving package of measures. (Tilley, 1993) |
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Improved lighting |
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Small-scale studies suggest that better lighting may reduce crime and incivilities in localised areas, at least in the short term.
An evaluation of area-wide lighting improvements found these were popular and reassuring for the public but did not reduce crime to any great extent. (Atkins et al, 1991)
See also Painter,K. & Farrington, D., (1997). The crime reducing effect of improved street lighting: The Dudley Project. In R. Clarke (Ed), Situational Crime Prevention: Successful Case Studies (2nd Edn), pp209-229. Albany, New York: Harrow & Heston. |
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Targeted policing/Directed patrolling of hotspots |
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US evidence is that this is an effective strategy for dealing with local problems. Certain categories of crime are susceptible to the visible presence of police officers, and patrols directed at places and times where those crimes are known to occur (hotspots) will prevent the occurrence of crime. The increase3d level of police presence in some of these studies were quite large. Figures quoted ranged from 40%-400% more police presence at the hot-spots. This increased police presence cut crime by up to 50% in some cases.
Buerger, M. E., et al (1995). In: J. Eck & D. Weisburd, eds. Crime & Place. Monsey, N.Y. : Criminal Justice Press and Police Executive Research Forum.
Koper, C., (1995). Just Enough Police Presence: Reducing Crime and Disorderly Behaviour By Optimising Patrol Time in Crime Hot Spots.
(Goldblatt & Lewis, 1998) |
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Targeting persistent & high rate offenders through enforcement YOUTH JUSTICE REFORMS: WHAT, WHY AND HOW This paper is useful to Crime & Disorder reduction Partnerships because it looks in summary at more than 20 separate orders and other tools that are used in work with young offenders and those thought likely to offend. Each is described under the key headings of What? (... is the order trying to achieve), Why? (... does the order have a place in the youth justice system) and How? (... does it work in practice). Many of the individual orders and tools are exemplified with a case study taken from the experiences of workers in the field For reference purposes, all orders are given their relevant Section number in law. For a full copy of the guidance notes please e-mail your request to info@nacroycs.demon.co.uk |
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There is clear evidence that targeting high rate offenders can be successful. Exercises, which targeted individuals, were aimed at securing sound evidence, convictions and long sentences and they were successful. Any impact on crime prevention would have been through incapacitation of the offenders and, possibly, through deterring other criminals. These effects need to be evaluated.
Abrahamse, A.F., et al (1991). An Experimental Evaluation of the Phoenix Repeat Offender Program. Justice Quarterly 8:141-168.
(Goldblatt & Lewis, 1998) |
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Repeat victimisation
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UK research indicates that repeat victimisation initiatives can reduce the incidence of repeat victimisation and have an effect on overall crime levels. (Chenery, S., et al (1997) Biting Back II Reducing Repeat Victimisation in Huddersfield. Crime Detection & Prevention Series Paper 82. London: Home Office Farrell, G., and Pease, K. (2001) (eds) Repeat Victimisation Monsey NY: Criminal Justice Press Pease, K. (1998) Repeat Victimisation: Taking Stock. Police Research Series Paper No.90. London : Home Office Shaw, M. & Pease, K. (2000) Research on Repeat Victimisation in Scotland. Scottish Executive Crime reduction Unit |
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Neighbourhood Warden Schemes |
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Emerging evidence, based on Home Office findings of research visits, and the limited monitoring & evaluation exercises that have been carried out – suggests that Neighbourhood Warden Schemes (NWS) can help to address many of the problems faced by deprived neighbourhoods. It appears that NWS, often in conjunction with other local crime prevention initiatives, can contribute to bringing down crime and anti-social behaviour levels and fear of crime. Warden Schemes which encompass environmental and community-based aims, perhaps together with crime prevention elements, can help to reverse the social & physical decline of poor areas. (see Jacobson, J & Saville, E. ‘Neighbourhood Warden Schemes: An Overview’ Home Office Policing & Crime Reduction Unit, Crime Reduction Research Series Paper 2, Nov. 1999. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prgpdfs/crrs2.pdf) The Home Office Policing & Crime Reduction Unit are commissioning research evaluating a small sample of NWS. The research will analyse the impact of NWS on levels of crime & disorder & the quality of life in local areas; assess cost-effectiveness & identify good practice elements. The findings are due in November 2000. |
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Courts |
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The report ‘Evaluation of the Youth Court Demonstration Project’ analyses the results of two pilot projects conducted in the youth courts in Rotherham, Leicestershire and Rutland. The pilots successfully introduced changes to the court’s practice, procedure and physical layout at minimal cost in order to make them more accessible & open. The projects were evaluated by researchers from Sheffield University. The report found that: Greater engagement between magistrates, defendants & parents helped draw defendants into the court process and encouraged them to take responsibility for their offending behaviour & plans for change; A more open court layout encouraged defendants to participate more fully in the court process; Greater provision to accommodate victims received considerable support; while most victims preferred to be engaged in the process through receiving information rather than attending court, the report highlights ways in which practical concerns can be overcome & enhance the support for victims who would choose to attend; The development of effective feedback to sentencers was welcomed by magistrates and other court users –particularly interested in reconviction rates breaches and completion of sentences; Considering the lifting of reporting restrictions, which normally forbid the naming of under-age defendants, where appropriate |