Search results

This paper aims to discuss the findings of a UK-based research study that sought to explore the applicability of situational crime prevention towards money laundering undertaken through the purchasing of high-value portable commodities.

This paper presents exploratory findings from research conducted between 2011 and 2013 in the UK. The research sought to identify the process, steps and vulnerabilities behind money laundering through the purchasing of high-value portable commodities and whether the introduction of situational crime prevention techniques could reduce vulnerabilities in the existing environment.

Despite significant research into money laundering typologies, the use of high-value portable commodities has remained largely untouched, regardless of the increased implementation of anti-money laundering policies and procedures. This paper demonstrates how the purchasing of high-value portable commodities is extremely vulnerable to money laundering – while identifying how the successful application of situational crime prevention is possible – but inherently it depends on various characteristics directly and indirectly facilitating each stage of the money laundering process.

This paper is of value to government policymakers, regulators and financial institutions considering future preventative measures. It is also of value to financial investigators and law enforcement agencies intent on investigating money laundering. While the paper relies on data from the UK, the overall findings are such that wherever cash-intensive businesses exist, so too does the opportunity for money laundering through the financial arrangement retained by such businesses.

This paper presents new research on the direct link existing between high-value portable commodities and money laundering in the UK and the viability of techniques for situational crime prevention despite significant research having previously taken place to identify and develop money laundering typologies.

This paper explores the applicability of environmental theories to understanding patterns of police misconduct. In turn, it aims to offer a method for identifying prevention techniques that can be practically applied by policing agencies.

The study empirically examined 84 substantiated matters of police misconduct in Queensland, Australia. The matters were content-analysed for elements of the first level of the crime triangle. These elements were then analysed to identify their relationships with the situational precipitators that initiated the misconduct; proactive misconduct and situational misconduct.

The two types of initiating misconduct had differing relationships with the crime triangle elements. Therefore, specific prevention techniques can be tailored by policing agencies to address and prevent each type of misconduct more successfully. The paper discusses these findings in terms of preventative measures according to the second preventative level of the crime triangle and situational crime prevention techniques.

This paper provides an alternative approach to understanding and preventing police misconduct by exploring the applicability of environmental theories. It finds that environmental theories offer a feasible approach for policing agencies to understand and tailor prevention of police misconduct in their jurisdictions.

The purpose of this study is to examine looting behaviour during natural disaster incidents. As a consequence, this study considers looting in the context of two case studies: a Tsunami and a Bushfire. The study offers an exploration into the types of and motivations for looting, as well as reflecting on prevention measures.

The methodological approach of a rapid evidence assessment (REA) is used to examine looting behaviour within the context of two natural disaster incidents, drawing on a thematic analysis, as outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006) to support the presentation of findings.

The findings of the REA yield three themes. The first theme, Theme 1, focuses on the types of offenders – looters, while Theme 2 focuses on the motivations for offending behaviour – looting. The final theme, Theme 3, presents crime prevention responses: looters and looting. Each theme is further illustrated through a number of sub-themes, and while the two case studies centre on two distinct natural disaster incidents, there are similarities that exist between them offering insights for why looting occurs and consequently how to respond to looting.

Previous research has recognised how incidents such as bushfires enable and create opportunity for looting behaviour. Yet, arguably, little has been achieved in successfully preventing such behaviour. This study offers evidence for why looting occurs during natural disaster incidents and considers the prevention measures that can lead to a reduction in this offending into the future. The need for more detailed and primary research into looting during natural disaster incidents is a research implication engendered by the current study.

This study considers crime prevention approaches in the form of situational crime prevention and social development crime prevention that have direct relevance on crime prevention policy and practice. The practical implications are worthy of attention from law enforcement agencies and other first/emergency responders.

This study seeks to offer evidence for policy and practice initiatives that can increase public safety and reduce further threats to community safety during natural disaster incidents.

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a concerted effort for swifter and more effective responses to emergency management incidents has occurred. However, the focus of such responses has typically overlooked looting during natural disaster incidents. This study goes some way in addressing that gap in the literature and connects the current scientific knowledge to prevention strategies, informing future policy and practice responses to addressing looting during such incidents. This study provides a stimuli for further research into looters, looting and natural disaster incidents.

The contribution is focussed on the question of which logic and which distinctive lines of development have shaped the discourse on urban crime prevention and will probably shape it in the future.

Comparing the line of development in thinking about urban crime prevention: starting with the approaches of the rational choice theory and of architectural determinism that were integrated in the practical approach of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). Looking on the continuation in the recent past: aspects of social cohesion and disorganization in the neighbourhood – represented by the collective efficacy – were integrated with the traditional lines of argumentation. Continuing to the present, the actor network theory opens up advanced perspectives of the integration and development of urban crime prevention.

Comparison of the approaches of the rational choice theory and of architectural determinism. Their combination in the practical approach of CPTED. Integration of these lines of argumentation with aspects of social cohesion and disorganization in the neighbourhood represented by the collective efficacy and the absorption in the concept of second-generation CPTED in the recent past. Opening up for advanced perspectives of the integration and development of urban crime prevention by the actor network theory.

The process analysis by linking the rational choice theory, the architectural determinism, the collective efficacy theory and the actor network theory to a continuous development represents an innovative perspective on the discourse on urban crime prevention.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions using situational crime prevention approaches to reduce the smoking rate in outdoor areas of a university campus.

A prospective intervention design was designed for the study. Surveys and observations were used to measure the impacts of both the campaign generally and specific strategies on levels of smoking in public places and use of designated smoking areas. Pre‐ and post‐implementation measures were taken. The intervention strategies entailed encouraging voluntary compliance with a “Smoke‐less Campaign”, which asked staff, students and visitors to smoke only in nominated areas. The campaign was supported by “situational” strategies to facilitate compliance, such as making smoking areas available, setting rules and posting instructions, and using campaign ambassadors.

At the end of the three‐month trial the campaign was considered to have had a positive impact. After the campaign at the intervention campus there was a significant increase of 14.4 percent in the proportion of people who reported that they were not affected by second‐hand smoke – from 52.7 percent to 67.1 percent. In addition, 6 percent of survey respondents who smoked reported quitting, while 17 percent of smokers indicated the campaign had helped them to quit or cut down. Observational data showed that 98 percent of smokers complied with directions to smoke in nominated smoking areas.

This study is original in explicitly applying the techniques of situational crime prevention to the problem of smoking in public places. The results provide evidence for the effectiveness of the situational techniques, including “facilitating compliance”, through the availability of smoking areas, “setting rules” and “posting instructions”, and “extending guardianship”, through the use of campaign ambassadors.

Corruption is a significant financial crime which is estimated by the World Economic Forum to cost about 5 per cent of global GDP or $2.6 trillion dollars. Explanations of corruption, like explanations of crime, tend to focus on the individuals who commit corruption and the wider conditions which give rise to corrupt behaviour. Approaches designed to reduce corruption usually propose stiffer sanctions, institutional reforms and the passing of new laws. The purpose of this paper is to outline a complementary perspective with which to consider corruption.

Grounded in situational crime prevention and related criminological theory, the paper argues that opportunities in the immediate environment play a causal role in generating corruption. It proposes that corruption can be minimised by removing or reducing opportunities which are conducive to corrupt behaviour. In total, five cases are chosen as illustrative examples of how situational crime prevention might usefully be applied to corruption, focussing on the Type, Activities, Sectors and Places (TASP) that comprise corruption events.

A framework is developed for the empirical study of corruption in local settings.

The paper explores how situational crime prevention can usefully inform the analysis and prevention of corruption.

Corruption undermines good governance. Strategies for preventing malfeasance in low-corruption environments require a different approach to that applied in high-corruption environments. This paper aims to ask if criminological theories and practice contribute to the study and prevention of corruption in public organizations? Do crime prevention techniques help us in preventing corruption?

Empirical data demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of public officials in rich countries demonstrate high levels of integrity; yet, significant sums are invested in anti-corruption agencies and prevention strategies. This paper reports on recent work with an anti-corruption agency, which forced us to re-think how to deliver an anti-corruption agenda in a low-corruption environment. The authors build on their research of public sector corruption in rich countries to develop a set of 20 situational corruption prevention measures for public administrators.

The result, with lessons from crime prevention, is a prevention tool to support continued good governance in low-corruption environments. Figure 1 is a template that readers can apply in their own environments. Figure 2 is the authors’ attempt to populate this template based on the research reported here.

The matrix of situational corruption prevention techniques provides two original approaches. First, it recasts the language of crime prevention into a non-confrontational approach to avoid alienating honest public officials. Second, the matrix incorporates common public sector functions to guide the development of context specific corruption prevention techniques.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), a crime prevention tool, on reducing rates of sexual assault. In addition, the study attempts to understand if CPTED results in crime displacement in non-target areas.

This research utilizes a Weighted Displacement Quotient (WDQ) model to analyze the effects of CPTED, which is an appropriate tool in fields of regional-scale crime prevention and on sexual assault prevention. WDQ is capable of analyzing policy effectiveness while controlling for geographical crime displacement, a known side effect of CPTED in the literature.

The analysis results show that CPTED is an effective tool to prevent sexual assaults in South Korea. The sexual assault occurrence rate decreased in the CPTED implementation zone of Yeomri-dong Mapo-gu. WDQ showed that crime displacement occurred in adjacent areas in Daeheung-dong and Ahyun-dong. But, crime displacement was lower than the policy effectiveness in the target zone.

The policy implications of this research are immense. First, CPTED for the prevention of sexual assaults should be considered as a pre-control tool. Second, a strategic method for more effectively implementing CPTED is required. Third, because CPTED is a policy done on a regional scale, provisions need to be in place to manage crime displacement.

The purpose of this paper is to use an environmental criminology and situational crime prevention (SCP) framework to study global assassinations carried out by terrorists. The authors set forth a series of hypotheses to explain successful and unsuccessful assassination incidents.

The authors use assassination data from the Global Terrorism Database from 1970 to 2014 to estimate a series binary logistic regression models.

Results indicate that various situational factors contribute to successful assassinations, such as target types, weapon types, total fatalities, and injuries.

These findings suggest that environmental criminology and SCP are valuable in developing prevention measures that thwart and disrupt attempted assassinations by terrorists.

Criminology has yet to apply environmental criminology and SCP to assassinations, a tactic often used by terrorists. This paper thus extends the existing assassination, terrorism, and criminology literature by applying this framework to assassinations performed by terrorists.

This paper examines the concept of criminal opportunity. More precisely, it focuses on the nature of such opportunities that are to be found within an IS context, and the threat posed by dishonest staff who may act on them. Although hackers and their activities may be given ample column space in the lay press, the potential threat posed by dishonest staff should not be underestimated. The 1998 NCC Business Information Survey reports that the greatest risk of security breaches arose from the activities of personnel within organisations, accounting for nearly 52 per cent of all (physical and logistical) security breaches detected. Similarly, the 1998 CSI/FBI Survey found that the largest single source of financial loss (almost 37 per cent) was attributable to unauthorised insider access. These facts are not lost on security practitioners who, as a rule of thumb, work on the principle that 25 per cent of people are dishonest whenever possible, 25 per cent are always honest and 50 per cent can be either, depending on the nature of security controls and personal motivation.