Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

246
Towards safer and more secure cities
There can be little
doubt that it is
possible for
recidivism rates to
be significantly
reduced as a
consequence of a
much greater
concentration on
rehabilitation during
periods in prison
Women’s rights and
measures against
violence have also to
be reflected in the
law, as in many
contexts legislation
is still very wanting
in terms of
protecting women
from violence
element of these debates is the frequency with which
prisons can still easily become finishing schools for criminals.
For instance, a similar point is made in the Port
Moresby case study, where the Bomana prison is often
referred to as ‘the university’, and where inmates enter
without any skills and come out armed with skills and
contacts with crime. 20
There can be little doubt that it is possible for recidivism
rates to be significantly reduced as a consequence of a
much greater concentration on rehabilitation during periods
in prison. This will have a beneficial impact on urban crime
because a high proportion of crime is committed by previous
offenders. This will be a huge challenge to governments, not
least because there might well be public and media opposition
to an approach of this nature as being ‘soft on crime’,
and because of the resource implications in terms of the need
for new and improved prison facilities and more investment
in staff training and development. But the potential benefits
of a changed approach to the experience and circumstances
of prisons towards a fight against crime and violence are
considerable; at the very least, there is a strong case for more
carefully monitored experimentation of this kind.
Reduction of risk factors
Chapter 4 has argued that this approach is essentially about
two related strands of activity: initiatives to address issues in
relation to those groups in society who are more likely to
become offenders (particularly young men), and actions to
help those groups who are likely to become victims of crime
(particularly women). There has also been a growing emphasis
on victim-support initiatives of several kinds. This
approach recognizes that in a world of limited resources, it is
important to target major problem areas such as these. It is
therefore not surprising to find that activities of this nature
are common in strategic processes designed to address crime
and violence.
■ Targeting youthful offenders: Recruitment
and educational policy issues
With respect to the first strand of activities, many of the
initiatives seek to target youth either in ways that deflect
their energy and interests into other activities or offer
various kinds of work experience and training. This combination
of approaches is evident in Toronto’s programme of
crime prevention through social development and the strategies
adopted in Kingston (Jamaica), both of which were
discussed in Chapter 4. It is important, however, that thinking
about problems of this nature does not only begin at the
time when young people leave school because, as Chapter 3
has demonstrated, children as young as six years are
recruited into gangs. Even if young people have not already
committed themselves to criminal activities by the time they
leave school, there is still a considerable possibility that the
role models they seek to emulate are from the criminal
fraternity.
One of the most important developments in this field
is the need for closer and more effective liaison between the
work of educational services and work that targets young
people in order to try to prevent them from offending so
that, as much as possible, the transition between the two is
seamless. Evidence suggests that this is often not the case.
However, there is considerable scope for closer and more
effective coordination. A typical example is where school
sports and cultural facilities are, in effect, locked up in the
evenings, at weekends and during school holidays – and, yet,
projects to divert the energy of young people towards sporting
and cultural activities at these very same times struggle
for access to facilities. Very often, the explanation for
locking up these facilities relates, understandably, to
concerns about the security of school premises.
But these problems are capable of being resolved
locally and in ways that take up a small fraction of the cost
involved in duplicating these facilities, or of the cost to
society of crime and violence perpetrated by young people
that might have been capable of being deflected through the
community use of these facilities. Another issue that is
commonly faced is how young people manage the transition
from school to work, where again there is considerable scope
to improve cooperation between schools, local employers and
youth-related services. The aims of these sorts of activities
would be to improve work experience and training opportunities
of many types, and to emphasize both the importance
and the value of an economically active lifestyle in preference
to one dominated by crime and violence.
■ Preventing violence against women
In relation to the prevention of violence against women, the
key element of importance is the fact that such violence
needs to be perceived as a serious issue by policy-makers and
leaders at all levels. A systemic approach to tackling violence
against women needs to be developed and deployed. This
should strengthen the understanding of the impacts and
causes of gender-based violence, as well as identify vulnerabilities,
and systematically address them. Awareness and
sensitization tools are therefore of key importance. Women’s
rights and measures against violence have also to be
reflected in the law, as in many contexts legislation is still
very wanting in terms of protecting women from violence. In
terms of interventions, in many contexts, the priority would
have to be sensitization of policy-makers and access of
women to decision-making processes. The development of
specific tools and interventions to address vulnerability in
different contexts is also important. Other interventions of
relevance should target underlying factors, such as conceptions
of masculinity, cultural definitions of women’s roles
and rights in society, capacity of law enforcement and other
actors to carry out early interventions and to deal with
offenders.
■ Women’s safety audits
One of the frequently used tools to support the prevention
of violence against women in the African Safer Cities
programmes is the women’s safety audit. The example from
Durban (Box 4.9) demonstrated both the value of the
specific suggestions that emerged from the process and the
process itself. 21 As valuable as these process-related benefits
are, they need to be followed through so that commitments