One of the themes to emerge from the previous chapters is the weakness of relying too exclusively on criminal justice as the country's main instrument for preventing and reducing crime or for maintaining public confidence, and conversely the importance of social responsibility, the support of communities to which people belong and the informal influences of family and other attachments. A successful approach to preventing crime and reducing reoffending and to providing support for victims depends not only on the work of the courts and statutory services, but also on the goodwill and effectiveness of civil society. All sections of society can play a vital part in diverting those at risk, especially young people, from turning to crime; in making sure that victims’ concerns are heard and in responding to them; and in supporting vulnerable people such as the families of victims and offenders, those with problems of mental health or addiction, and minorities who are likely to be neglected or overlooked.

Preventing and reducing crime

The Conservative government in the 1980s recognised that the situations in which crime has to be prevented and reoffending reduced were more complex than had often been supposed. Alongside its criminal justice legislation and its measures to increase efficiency in the police, prisons and probation, it pursued a range of initiatives to improve support for victims, to reduce discrimination against minorities, and to prevent and reduce crime. Many of those involved civil society and especially voluntary organisations such as Nacro, Victim Support, children's charities and the then new charity Crime Concern. Crime prevention came to have a higher profile, and was seen as taking three forms. ‘Primary’ prevention included improved physical security, surveillance by CCTV, neighbourhood watch and ‘situational’ measures such as the design and management of housing estates and public spaces and the design of motor vehicles. It was founded on considerable research in the United States and Great Britain (Jacobs, 1962; Newman, 1972; Clarke and Mayhew, 1980; Wilson and Kelling, 1982).

‘Secondary’ prevention had its origin in work by David Farrington and others that showed that people are more or less likely to commit or to become victims of crime according to the ‘risk’ and ‘resilience’ factors present in their situation and background (Farrington and Welsh, 2007).