The Role of Vigilante Groups

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5.0 CONCLUSION
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Crime as a concept suggests a decline of public security and steady
descent into the abyss of social chaos. Crime is a universal social problem,
which goes beyond the general notion of theft, murder, assault, rape fraud,
arson and other unwholesome behaviours. It has been suggested that in order
to reverse the wave of the increase in crime, there is urgent need for modern
method of crime prevention and control to be put in place.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to explain crime prevention.
Discuss the types of crime prevention.
List advantages of crime prevention
Explain the Opportunities Theory of Crime Prevention
State the measure of crime prevention
3.0 MAIN CONTEXTS
3.1 CRIME PREVENTION
Crime prevention is any initiative policy, which reduces or eliminates
the aggregate level of victimization or the risk of individual criminal
participation. It is the attempt to reduce victimization and to deter crime and
criminals. It includes government and community based programmes to
reduce the incident of risk factors correlated with criminal participation and
rate of victimization.
In its purest form crime prevention looks at people (usually babies,
children and young teens) who are not involved in criminal activity and asks,
what can we do to make sure they never come into conflict with the law.
Crime prevention also looks at places and situations which are not yet
troubled by much criminal activity and asks” How can we make sure crime
never becomes a significant problem here”
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Criminologists’ such as Gotfredson, Mckenzie, Eck, Sherma, Wallet

and others have been at the forefront of analyzing what works to prevent
crime. They agree that government must go beyond law enforcement and
criminal justice to tackle the risk factors that cause crime because it is more
cost effective and leads to greater social benefits than the standard ways of
responding to crime.
Saville (1995) has warned about the growing crime in our cities,
admitting that crime preventing has taken many different forms over the past
few years causing security experts to ask such questions as: Do we put bigger
locks on our valuables? Do we lock up more of our criminals? Should we trim
all the edges and floor our street with bright lights? These suggestions about
crime prevention are mere cosmetic measures which have limited impacts on
the remote causes of criminal behaviour in the developing societies.
Primary prevention addresses individual and family level factors which
correlates with later criminal participation. Individual level factors such as
attachment to school and involvement in pro-social activities decree the
probability of criminal involvement.
Family level factors such as consistent parenting skills similarly reduce
individual level risk. Risk factors are addictive in nature. The greater the
numbers of risk factors present the greater the risk of criminal involvement.
According to Metiboba, since the family is the first agent in the
socialization process, which a child comes in contact with, then in traditional
societies such as Nigeria, family can be a veritable strategy for crime
prevention and control within the ambit of its socialization role. In addition,
there are initiatives, which seek to alter rates of crime at community or
aggregate level.
Secondary prevention uses techniques, focusing on a risk situation
such as youths who are dropping out of school or getting involved in gangs. It
targets social programmes and law enforcement at neighbourhoods ,where
crime rates are high. Programmes that are focused on youths at risk have been
shown to significantly reduce crime.
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Tertiary prevention is used after a crime has occurred in order to

prevent successive incidents. Such measures can be seen in the
implementation of new security policies.
3.2 TYPES OF CRIME PREVENTION

Crime prevention can be broken down into people, place and situation-
oriented strategies. The people-oriented strategy is usually known as “crime
Prevention Through Social Development” CPSD. Place-oriented strategies are
known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design CPTED. When
combined with situational approaches, these strategies form a holistic and
effective crime prevention package.
1. CRIME PREVENTION THROUGH SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Crime prevention through social development (CPSD) involves long
term, integrated actions that deal with the root causes of crime. Its aim is to
reduce risk factors that start people, particularly children and youth, on the
road to crime and to build protective factors that may mitigate those risks. The
risk factors associated with criminal involvement are also related to many
other social problems, such as child abuse and neglect, drug and alcohol
misuse, school failure, teenage pregnancy and unemployment. So when
people and Organizations work to prevent crime they are also working to
make our communities healthy, safe and sustainable in many respects. It is
believed that until something realistic is done about poverty, ignorance and
disease, which stare the average man on the face in most families in the
developing societies, there can be no crime control measure that will succeed
in these places. This is why Tamimu (2003) has averred that crime such as
theft, arson, kidnapping, robberies, burglary, etc is rapidly increasing and
becoming major problems of developmental process in Nigeria.
CPSD Programming
1. At the primary level, crime prevention refers to universal, population-
based programmes such as public education and healthcare.
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2. At the secondary level, crime prevention refers to programmes that

target those at higher risk for criminal activity. This level would include
programs for youth at risk of learning school and parenting programs for
high-risk parents.
3. At the tertiary level, crime prevention refers to rehabilitation and
supervision programmes for offenders to reduce re-offending.
(2) CRIME PREVENTION THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL
DESIGN.
Crime prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is about the
places and things, the “built environment” which can be either targets of
criminal activity or the location where crime takes place. The proper design,
effective use and maintenance of the built environment can lead to a reduction
in the incidence and fear of crime and an improvement in quality of life.
CPTED is based on the premise that much crime is opportunistic and
contextual. Inadvertently, nuisance and criminal behaviour can be facilitated
by poorly planned and designed space, leading to actual opportunities for
crime.
There are four key CPTED design principles:
1. Natural access control-design
2. Natural surveillance-design
3. Territoriality-design
4. Maintenance-Enhancement
(3) SITUATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION
It looks at particular circumstances in which people interact with one
another and with the built environment, identifies particularly risk
combinations and looks for solutions specifies to those situations.
According to criminologists, Ronald Clarke and Ross Homel, crime
prevention tactics used today generally fall in one of five categories:
a) Increasing the efforts required to commit a crime, making it less
attractive.
b) Increasing the risk of being caught
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c) Reducing the potential rewards of crime

d) Reducing provocations and temptations
e) Removing excuses for committing crime.
Crime prevention can be achieved by reducing the opportunities people have

to commit particular crimes, a practice known as situational crime prevention.
Situational crime prevention was first popularized in the USA in the early
1970’s by Oscar Newman, who coined the term defensible space. C. Ray
Jeffery wrote Crime prevention through Environmental Design, which
extended Newman’s concepts and applied them to non-residential areas such
as schools and factories.
3.3 OPPORTUNITY THEORY OF CRIME PREVENTION

For people to commit a crime, they must have the opportunity to do so.
Thus, many approaches to crime reduction are based on prevention or the
attempt to reduce opportunities.
Many recent prevention programmes are guided by approach to crime
called opportunity theory. Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson (1979)
recognized that for a crime to occur requires three things. They concluded that
the volume and distribution of predatory crime (violent crimes against a
person and crimes in which an offender attempts to steal an object directly)
are closely related to the interaction of three variables that reflect the routine
activities.
1. The availability of suitable targets, such as homes containing easily
salable goods.
2. The absence of capable guardians, such as police, home owners,
neighbors, friends and relatives.
3. The presence of motivated offenders such as a large number of
unemployed teenagers.
The presence of each of these components increases the likelihood that
a predatory crime will take place. Targets are more likely to be victimized if
they engage in risky behaviours are poorly guarded and are exposed to a large
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group of motivated offenders such as substance-abusing young men,

unemployed adults.
Other proponents of opportunity theory have demonstrated the
increased opportunities for crime caused by changes in the structure of Urban
neighborhoods. Many new house designs seek to increase privacy and
inadvertently greatly decrease the ability of respondents to note suspicious
persons or circumstances and thus protect one another from becoming victims
of crime (Taylor et al, 1980).
3.4 POLICE PREVENTIVE METHODS

Preventive measures are often adopted by the police to forestall the
opportunity or avenue for committing crime. This is in appreciation of the fact
that it is cheaper to prevent crime than to detect. The cost in human and
property that may be lost on an unprevented crime could in most cases be
irreparable, and may well affect the reputation of the police force as an
effective instrument of law enforcement. So the police have adopted proactive
measures to curtail crime.
According to Rugbere (2004). The following are police preventive
methods.
a. Patrol-motorized, foot, aerial, sea and border patrols including use of
force animals.
b. Surveillance of buildings and suspected criminals.
c. Cultivation of informants and intelligence gathering on criminal
individuals, associates including receivers of loots, operational
hideouts, targets, activities, mode of operations and disposal of loots.
d. Decoy methods.
e. Incognito operations
f. Raiding of criminal hideouts
g. Arrest and quizzing of suspected criminals
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h. Timely checks on pieces of information on suspects and likelihood of

commission of a crime.
i. Police-public cooperation (community policing)
j. Inter-service cooperation/Agency cooperation
k. Stimulation of crime situations.
3.5 MEASURES TO PREVENT CRIME

1. It includes the installation of bars and locks and burglar alarm on
doors and windows and uses of spotlights.
2. Licensing of use of fire arms, dogs, carrying of mace.
3. Neighborhood watches organization
4. Odua.People.Congress Watch
5. Vigilante group
6. Police surveillance
7. Startalize Camera watch
4..0 CONCLUSION
If a crime is rational and people choose to commit it then it follows
that there should be appropriate measure to control and prevent crime in
society. Hence crime prevention has been important issues concerning both
the citizen and government. Many different ways have been devised and this
has been causing security expertise to ask more questions on the ways to
improve means of crime prevention.
5.0 SUMMARY
This Unit has examined the main elements in the prevention of crime
and control. This Unit first explored the definition of crime prevention and
types of crime prevention. The Unit then focused on opportunity theory of
crime prevention. Finally, police prevention methods was addressed and
measures of crime prevention was offered.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
What are the steps taken to prevent crime in Nigeria?
7.0 REFERENCES/ FURTHER READING

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40

Criminologists’ such as Gotfredson, Mckenzie, Eck, Sherma, Wallet

Tertiary prevention is used after a crime has occurred in order to

3.2 TYPES OF CRIME PREVENTION

2. At the secondary level, crime prevention refers to programmes that

c) Reducing the potential rewards of crime

Crime prevention can be achieved by reducing the opportunities people have

3.3 OPPORTUNITY THEORY OF CRIME PREVENTION

group of motivated offenders such as substance-abusing young men,

3.4 POLICE PREVENTIVE METHODS

h. Timely checks on pieces of information on suspects and likelihood of

3.5 MEASURES TO PREVENT CRIME

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