Prevention is easier than eliminating the consequences. Probably, there is almost no such kind of activity, the sphere of society, where this statement would be incorrect. Especially vividly it represents crime prevention measures. After all, it is in this area that timely prevention will save someone's life, property, and psychological state. And the fate of the criminal himself. In the article we will get to know the diversity and content of these measures, as well as their various classifications.
Interpretation of the concept
Crime prevention measures - a system of actions that is being taken by the state structure, public associations, individual authorized persons, which is aimed at countering the processes of crime determination (against social phenomena that determine it). The purpose of the work is resocialization (a new adaptation to a normal life in society) of former attackers, the fight against new offenses.
The term crime prevention is often used. However, it is not entirely accurate, since it considers crime as an already perfect fact. "Crime Prevention Measures" more fully reveals the direction and meaning of the measures taken.
The great significance of this phenomenon was also known to ancient thinkers and philosophers of the New Age. Thus, C. Beccaria wrote in one of his writings that it is better to prevent a crime than to punish him. This is one of the manifestations of the art of power to lead people, if not to greater happiness, then certainly protect them from great misfortunes.
Modern criminologists also believe that crime prevention measures are the most effective among the methods of combating it. The damage from crime is enormous - human casualties, mutilated fates, huge material losses. A warning prevents this. And the sooner his measures affect an individual personality, contribute to its re-socialization, return to normal life, the better it will be for the subject himself, and for the whole society in general.
Similar concepts
In literature, the media, and conversations, you may come across concepts that at first glance seem synonymous with the system of crime prevention measures. But still there is a difference - we outline it:
- Crime Prevention. The term is used both in a broad and specific sense. In the first, it will be synonymous with warning. But in the narrow sense, these are measures that are aimed at identifying and eliminating the causes and conditions of a certain type of crime. Also, prevention in a specific sense is aimed at identifying individuals who are potentially capable of committing a crime. Such actions will be only the initial stage of the crime prevention system.
- Crime Prevention. This is a suppression of the activities of attackers at the initial stage - when the offender only thinks through the act, when he develops a motive, a way of translating thoughts into life. At this stage, his actions are not yet criminally punished.
- Suppression of a crime. What's the difference here? In this case, the realization of a crime by external forces stops at a certain stage - preparation or attempted murder.
Object of activity
What are the measures of prevention and crime prevention aimed at? This impact on the following objects:
- The determinants (causes and conditions) of crimes, which are characteristic of the whole society, specific citizens who are not considered criminals (that is, potential victims). In particular, this impact on such criminogenic factors as unemployment, illegal migration, etc. A separate measure may be victimological prophylaxis - making rules for potential victims, which will help them out of the situation with the least losses.
- The processes of self-production, self-determination of the phenomenon as a whole, of individual attackers. In particular, these are special measures designed to combat the most dangerous organized crime.
- Specific hot spots where crime and normal society can collide.
Business entity
General and special measures for the prevention of crime can be either a separate area of activity of a specific authorized person, structure of bodies, or act as a side effect of his work. By virtue of this, the subjects are divided into two categories.
Specialized. Those structures, one of the main goals of which will be crime prevention. This is the following:
- Law enforcement agencies: courts, police, prosecutors, customs, state security system.
- Security Council of Russia.
- Controlling system: antitrust, tax organizations, services that carry out sanitary-epidemiological, environmental, financial supervision.
- Non-governmental institutions - persons and public organizations that assist law enforcement agencies. These include freelancers, volunteer squads, public assistants, popular law enforcement centers, and so on. We must not forget about private security organizations, the media.
Non-specialized. But the list of these entities is not so easy to decide. It is believed that almost all citizens, institutions, associations and enterprises are involved in crime prevention. This consists in organizing exciting leisure activities for children and adolescents (a measure to prevent juvenile delinquency), creating new jobs, guarding, landscaping, and so on.
We proceed now to the next question.
The main gradation of the phenomenon
The most important classification of crime prevention measures is their division into two groups:
Additionally, individual ones can be allocated.
Since the categories are quite extensive, it makes sense to consider them separately.
General measures
It has long been established that the determinants of all atrocities lie in the social, economic, spiritual, political problems of society. Hence the general crime prevention measures are:
- General strengthening of the state economy.
- Providing citizens with jobs.
- Social programs to improve the standard of living of the population.
- The formation of public moral institutions.
- Suppression of negative phenomena in society - alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, vagrancy, begging, illegal migration.
- Fighting poverty (not the poor).
- Elimination of interclass, interethnic conflicts.
It must be understood that the fight against such global phenomena only in an ideal society can lead to their complete elimination. We are talking about general measures that will help reduce the negative impact of these phenomena on society. Here are some examples:
- Organization of employment services and their quality activities can reduce unemployment. In addition, material support is provided to the unemployed, keeping them from moral degradation, and turning to illegal methods of making profit.
- Anti-alcohol propaganda among young people allows you to discover interesting forms of leisure that are in no way connected with drinking before boys and girls — sports, art, participation in political life, and so on. This is an example of a juvenile crime prevention measure.
- A transparent government scheme makes it more difficult for an attacker to create corruption schemes.
As you can see, general measures help any person to take a worthy position in society, have a good and lawful income, and a good standard of living.
Government authorities develop and implement such measures. Specialists - economists, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists and so on - are surely connected to the work. Criminologists are no exception here. They analyze the developed programs from the position of their impact on the crime rate, and carry out a criminological examination of acts.
Special measures
Special measures to prevent crime include exposure to individual subjects, social groups, organizations and areas of activity. Moreover, their increased criminogenicity and victimization will be the basis.
Important question. How is criminogenicity determined? There are two ways:
- In relation to an individual. The immorality of behavior, the criminal past, official and administrative offenses, behavior that is not characteristic of the social role of a person, goals that do not exclude illegal activities.
- In relation to a social group. Public protests, anti-legal activities, radicalism.
And here is how increased victimization is determined as part of special crime prevention measures:
- Attraction for the criminal (for example, storage of material values).
- Weak technical and legal security.
- Opacity for both public and state oversight.
- Addiction to a certain addiction (alcoholics are one of the frequent victims of criminals).
- Belonging to a social group (homeless people - as a disenfranchised layer of the population).
- A certain profession (watchman, security guard, cashier, collector, etc.).
Inside, this set of measures is divided into three groups:
- Earlier warning.
- Immediate warning.
- Prevention of self-determination of crime.
Individual measures
These criminological crime prevention measures are aimed at a specific person. Moreover, both a specific person and his family, microenvironment, relations with society are considered.
The object here is determined based on a set of factors:
- Amoral behavior.
- Criminal past.
- Low level of self-awareness.
- Deformed ideas about reality.
- Incomplete socialization of personality.
- Pathological mental disorders that can lead to an offense.
- Dysfunctional family, social environment.
- Low standard of living, low income, lack of work.
There will be measures to prevent recidivism. Individual work with such a person is a combination of methods:
- Conviction. These are preventive conversations, involvement in useful activities.
- Giving help. Direction to study, work, improvement of living conditions.
- Compulsion. Administrative responsibility of a punitive and socially healing nature, compulsory treatment of alcoholism, drug addiction, suspended sentence.
And now - to other gradations.
Content Classification
According to the main impact on the object, the following are distinguished:
- Social crime prevention measures . These are socio-psychological, suppressing negative criminal trends in society. In particular, the mindset associated with increased anxiety, nationalism, fear of disasters. These are social and legal norms that provide transparency and accessibility for audits of economic activity, financial flows.
- Measures to prevent economic crime. This is an increase in living standards, the provision of material social guarantees.
- Organizational and managerial, aimed at improving the efficiency of law enforcement agencies, the state structure.
- Ideological and moral - the formation in society of ideas, moods that encourage law-abiding behavior.
- Medical, pedagogical, psychological - prevention of socially dangerous diseases, complete and timely treatment of mental patients, social and psychological correction of desocialized personalities.
- Technical - this is the installation of tools and devices that complicate the commission of a crime (video surveillance cameras, burglar alarms, cash registers, programs that ensure information security).
- Legal - improving criminal law and other regulatory and legal acts that are used in the fight against crime.
Social measures
General social crime prevention measures are divided into two main areas:
- Normalization of the moral situation in society. This is the creation of a new or systematization of past moral codes, public institutions, the formation of the very national idea.
- Social support for individuals, families who specifically need it. Both material and spiritual. These are those who are unsettled, estranged from social life, poor, estranged from normal social relations.
Psychological measures
As we mentioned in the classification, in this context they are related to medical, pedagogical. Specific examples are:
- Correction and re-education of adults released from prison.
- Integrated work with children and adolescents, "distinguished" immoral behavior, minor administrative offenses.
- Attention to persons suffering from mental illness, therefore prone to committing atrocities.
- Educational work with adolescents from dysfunctional families leading an antisocial lifestyle. As practice shows, 60-70% of them have a mental disorder.
- Diagnosis of the homeless - most of them suffer from alcoholism.
- Work with previously convicted people who have found an incurable disease (in particular, tuberculosis). Relatives turn away from such citizens, they have problems with their place of residence, employment.
Other classifications
In conclusion, we introduce you to other classifications of crime prevention measures that are used in criminology.
According to the subject (who brings the measures to life):
- Applied by officials, state structure.
- Applied by public associations.
In the direction of eliminating a specific problem:
- Against the public danger of the individual.
- Against the crime situation.
- Against the conditions for the formation of attitudes characteristic of the consciousness of the criminal.
Depending on the moment of application of measures:
- Early prevention or precriminal control. For example, registration in the children's room of the police of a teenager who has committed an administrative offense.
- Prevention of relapse or post-criminal control. Penitentiary control - imprisonment. Post-penitentiary control - supervision of a citizen who has served his sentence.
Depending on the unlawful activity in respect of which the measure is applied:
- economic;
- sexual
- self-serving;
- violent;
- organized;
- children and adolescents;
- female;
- professional and so on.
Depending on the legislative industry, within the framework of which the measure will be applied:
- Constitutional.
- Civil.
- Administrative
- Criminal
- Administrative procedure.
- Civil Procedure.
- Criminal Procedure.
Based on the degree of permissibility:
- Permissible. This is social prevention - everything that is not prohibited is allowed.
- Permissive. These are certification, certificates of qualification, permits, the requirement for special training.
- Prohibitive.
By scale, coverage of the territory:
- Federative, all-Russian.
- Within the framework of the subject of the Russian Federation.
- A separate city, rural settlement, district, administrative section, enterprise.
As you can see, there are a lot of classifications, varieties of crime prevention measures. There are many concrete examples of such events. But they all have a similar goal - to prevent the commission of crime.