A Neighborhood Approach to Crime Prevention in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Drawing on the expertise of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO) in crime prevention, the author describes a typical NACRO project on a housing estate in the Midlands and highlights five key issues. First, resources are needed to establish neighborhood infrastructure to support leadership at the local level. Second, the approach needed is one of a consultation and planning partnership between a neighborhood and the agencies that deliver services in that neighborhood. Third, services are needed that are responsive to customers' needs and that put people first. Fourth, crime prevention must be on the agenda of people at all levels in the public, private, and voluntary sectors. Government funds in particular are needed to pump-prime new initiatives. Fifth, the skills of the millions of unemployed must be harnessed in order to reduce not only the amount of crime but also the fear of crime and the number of entrants into the criminal justice system.

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References

1. NACRO supports the care and resettlement of offenders in the community, helping the victims of crime, involving the community in the prevention of crime, and providing a variety of services for offenders and agencies concerned with crime. Since its first crime prevention initiative in 1976, NACRO has worked in over forty local authority areas. Currently it is involved in neighborhood and crime prevention work on more than seventy housing estates in England and Wales.