Course Resources Archive

Building on the principles of community engagement and partnership working, this module debates and evaluates a range of policies and practices for crime prevention and reduction. The context to community engagement with crime prevention issues is explored though a critical review of notions of social control and situational crime prevention, the relationship between environment and crime, and the principles of 'policing' the community. Students will develop policy evaluation and appraisal skills by examining key initiatives, and their assessment will require engagement with a chosen stakeholder group to generate proposals which could be implemented in partnership with the community and other agencies.

1. Social control and situational crime prevention: the relationship between environment and crime.
2. The legislative and policy framework, and its relevance to community engagement and crime reduction in the 21st century.
3. The politics and practice of community engagement and partnership working.
4. 'Policing' the community: Exploring and evaluating the principles of 'policing' in communities through partnership working and community engagement.
5. The surveillance debate.
6. Crime prevention through environmental design.
7. Approaches to and tools for policy evaluation.

A student passing this module should be able to:

1. Critically assess theories and models of the relationship between the environment and crime, and their significance to crime reduction initiatives;
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the legal and policy framework shaping approaches to community engagement and crime reduction in the 21st century;
3. Engage robustly with current debates on initiatives for crime reduction, using an evidence-based approach to examine popular and political accounts of the causes of crime;
4. Use tools of policy evaluation to assess the efficacy of crime reduction initiatives;
5. Work effectively with communities and other stakeholders to analyse a crime reduction challenge and develop solutions within professional and policy guidelines.

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.