Abstract
Criminals have a firsthand perspective on why and how to commit crime. In this chapter, we outline and illustrate five ways that offender-based research can be used to inform understanding of crime prevention, more specifically situational crime prevention: namely (1) by directly determining what works to reduce crime; (2) generating findings that are suggestive of what prevention measures to invent and employ; (3) refining understanding of why a given prevention method reduces crime; (4) figuring out how offenders get around particular prevention measures; and (5) gathering information on not only the positive but also the unintended, negative outcomes of prevention procedures. We conclude by discussing the choices involved in conducting offender-based research for the betterment of situational crime prevention.
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Notes
- 1.
Of course, few if any individuals fill a single criminological role . In one situation, for example, a person may act as an offender, but in another situation be a victim or guardian. Yet for the sake of simplicity, in this chapter we refer to one role at a time.
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Jacques, S., Bonomo, E. (2017). Learning from the Offenders’ Perspective on Crime Prevention. In: LeClerc, B., Savona, E. (eds) Crime Prevention in the 21st Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27793-6_2
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