Social prevention of crime: alternatives to policing measures in an urban context
Magdalena Dominguez and Daniel Montolio
In this chapter we review the existing literature in economics related to crime prevention policies beyond police efforts. First, we highlight the ongoing and notable debate over the possible public policies to follow for crime prevention. While some "hard" measures to fight crime stem from heavy policing and sturdy prosecution measures, other "soft" policies focus on cutting crime-triggering disparities. Second, focusing on the latter, we mainly revisit examples of policies that target a specific location and have a significant community component. Third, with a novel analysis of a community-based initiative in an urban area, we provide new and convincing evidence that there are simple, effective, and efficient crime fighting measures beyond severe policing.
14 October 2022
Published in A Modern Guide to Economics of Crime (2022), Edited by Paolo Buonanno, Paolo Vanin and Juan Vargas, pp. 205-226, Edward Elgar Publishing
This Chapter is part of the centre's Community Wellbeing programme.
This publication comes under the following theme: Evidence-based policing strategies, Crime