Organised Crime & Crime Prevention - what works? - Scandinavian ...

NSfK´s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998
more or less ‘universal’ scripts which describe the common scenes through which most
offenders have to pass in order to reach their goal.” (Ekblom 1994 p 197f)
Figure from Ekblom 1994 p 200
“There is, of course, an alternative set of scripts. Criminal events may end up as aborted or
failed attempts; if completed they may lead on to discovery, detection, arrest, trial and
punishment or treatment. These additional events may involve formal legal processes or their
informal equivalents ranging from official cautioning to private acts of revenge.” (Ekblom
1994 p 198)
3.2 Crime intervention and Crime prevention implementation
If the causes of crime are many, multi-level and diverse (as the conceptual framework
implies) how can crime prevention possibly work?
We do know that some victims are repeatedly victimized and that a small number of criminals
commit a significant portion of all crimes. We also know (or can quite easily find out) where
in place and time crimes cluster. We can also generate knowledge of the processes and
circumstances surrounding the outbreak of criminal events on such hotspots, and analyze
these incidents using the proximal circumstances model proposed by Ekblom, or a similar
one, then take appropriate action in order to reduce the probability of criminal choices on
high-risk locations and times.
The absolute minimum requirements when planning and performing CP intervention projects,
are (or ought to be) to;
a) have identified and defined the particular problem to be prevented
b) have gathered information about and analyzed the problem
c) have a clear idea of what to do about it
d) formulate an action plan
e) to critically consider the plan. Is it likely to deliver the desired result?
f) to make sure it is implemented properly, and to;
g) evaluate the program and make adjustments when necessary
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