Crime Prevention in the 21st Century

Society cannot rely on apprehending and incarcerating offenders to address crime problems. Human rights, economic and social costs of incarceration are becoming exponential when benefits in terms of deterrence are diminishing. In such a context, how to inform crime prevention initiatives is clearly a priority. To best achieve this task, different approaches have been designed and used by academics dedicated to reducing opportunities of crime and preventing crime events from occurring in the first place.

This volume brings together a series of original contributions made by international experts dedicated to guiding efforts in preventing crime. The collection is divided into seven sections that cover cutting edge approaches to crime prevention: 

1) the offenders’ perspective on crime prevention
2) crime script analysis 
3) crime mapping and spatial analysis
4) social network analysis
5) agent-based modelling
6) crime-proofing legislations 
7) technologies of crime prevention

Each section includes one theoretical chapter to introduce the research approach followed by a series of empirical/applied contributions. The theoretical chapter aims to introduce and explain the approach of interest and discusses under which circumstances this strategy could best assist crime prevention. The objective of empirical/applied contributions is simply to showcase how these approaches can be apply.

This collection can be seen as the end result of the convergence of novel ideas and analytical skills in the area of crime and crime prevention worldwide. It is meant to be a rich and informative tool for academics, practitioners and university students interested in crime and its prevention. Importantly, this collection is also innovative as it cuts across other disciplines (e.g., sciences, health, business). Indeed, it can benefit anyone from any field fascinated by discovering new knowledge, informing best practices and overcoming contemporary challenges.