1What is crime prevention?
The use of strategies and interventions intended to reduce the occurrence of crime, its associated harms, or the risk factors that contribute to offending and victimization.
2What is primary crime prevention?
Prevention directed at broad populations or environments before particular criminal behavior or identifiable high-risk conditions emerge.
3What is secondary crime prevention?
Prevention targeting individuals, groups, or places identified as having elevated risk of crime or victimization.
4What is tertiary crime prevention?
Intervention after offending or victimization has occurred, intended to prevent recurrence, reoffending, or additional harm.
5How does the public health approach conceptualize crime prevention?
It treats violence and related harms as preventable problems requiring surveillance, identification of risk and protective factors, intervention testing, and implementation.
6What are the four commonly described steps of the public health approach to violence prevention?
Define and monitor the problem; identify risk and protective factors; develop and test prevention strategies; and support effective implementation.
7What is universal prevention?
An intervention offered to an entire population or broad group regardless of each member's individual risk level.
8What is selective prevention?
An intervention directed toward a subgroup with elevated risk based on identifiable characteristics or circumstances.
9What is indicated prevention?
An intervention directed toward individuals displaying early warning signs or behaviors associated with a problem, before more serious outcomes develop.
10What is the difference between universal and selective prevention?
Universal prevention addresses a broad population, while selective prevention targets groups with elevated risk.
11What is developmental crime prevention?
Prevention addressing risk and protective processes across childhood, adolescence, and other developmental periods.
12What is early childhood prevention in criminology?
Intervention during early development to strengthen protective environments and reduce factors associated with later antisocial behavior.
13What is family-based crime prevention?
Programs strengthening parenting practices, family relationships, supervision, and supportive home environments to reduce delinquency risk.
14What is school-based crime prevention?
Interventions using educational settings to strengthen safety, social skills, positive behavior, attendance, and supportive school relationships.
15What is community-based crime prevention?
Coordinated action involving residents, organizations, institutions, and authorities to reduce crime risks and improve community safety.
16What is community mobilization in crime prevention?
The process of organizing local stakeholders to identify problems, share resources, and implement coordinated preventive action.
17What is a protective community environment?
A setting with social support, constructive opportunities, effective informal controls, and conditions that reduce exposure to violence or offending.
18What is evidence-based crime prevention?
The selection and implementation of interventions informed by credible research on effectiveness, mechanisms, and implementation conditions.
19What is program fidelity?
The degree to which an intervention is delivered according to its intended design and essential components.
20What is implementation quality?
The extent to which an intervention is delivered competently, consistently, and in a manner appropriate to its intended participants and setting.
21What is program reach?
The number or proportion of eligible people, groups, or locations actually served by an intervention.
22What is intervention dosage?
The amount, frequency, intensity, or duration of an intervention received by participants.
23What is process evaluation?
An assessment of how a program was implemented, including activities, participation, fidelity, resources, and operational challenges.
24What is outcome evaluation?
An assessment of whether a program achieved its intended short-term or intermediate changes.
25What is impact evaluation?
An assessment of whether an intervention caused or contributed to intended outcomes, ideally using a credible counterfactual comparison.
26What is a counterfactual in program evaluation?
An estimate of what would have happened to the same population or setting without the intervention.
27What is selection bias in crime prevention evaluation?
Systematic differences between intervention and comparison groups that can distort estimates of program effectiveness.
28What is regression to the mean in crime prevention studies?
The tendency for unusually extreme measurements to move closer to typical levels on later measurement even without intervention.
29Why can regression to the mean mislead hot spot intervention evaluations?
A location selected because of an unusually high crime count may experience a subsequent decline even if the intervention has no effect.
30What is a logic model in crime prevention planning?
A representation linking program resources, activities, outputs, expected outcomes, and underlying assumptions.
31What is a theory of change?
An explanation of how and why an intervention is expected to produce particular outcomes through specified causal pathways.
32What is problem-oriented policing?
A policing approach that systematically analyzes recurring public safety problems and develops tailored responses to their underlying conditions.
33Who is most closely associated with the development of problem-oriented policing?
Herman Goldstein.
34What does SARA stand for in problem-oriented policing?
Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment.
35What occurs during the Scanning stage of SARA?
Identifying, defining, and prioritizing recurring crime or disorder problems requiring attention.
36What occurs during the Analysis stage of SARA?
Examining the problem's causes, patterns, participants, locations, and contributing conditions using relevant evidence.
37What occurs during the Response stage of SARA?
Selecting and implementing tailored interventions intended to address the problem's identified causes or opportunities.
38What occurs during the Assessment stage of SARA?
Evaluating whether the response was implemented and whether the problem or associated harms changed.
39What is the crime triangle used in problem analysis?
A framework examining the offender, target or victim, and place, together with relevant controllers who may influence crime opportunities.
40What are the three commonly identified crime controllers in the expanded problem analysis triangle?
Handlers for offenders, guardians for targets, and managers for places.
41What is a place manager in crime prevention?
A person or organization responsible for supervising a location and influencing the conditions under which offenses may occur.
42What is a handler in the crime triangle?
A person with a relationship to a potential offender who may exercise informal influence over that person's behavior.
43What is a guardian in the crime triangle?
A person or protective presence capable of discouraging or interrupting an offense against a potential target.
44What is cost-effectiveness analysis in crime prevention?
A comparison of program costs with outcomes measured in nonmonetary units, such as crimes prevented.
45What is cost-benefit analysis in crime prevention?
A comparison of intervention costs with benefits expressed in monetary terms, subject to stated valuation assumptions.
46Scenario: A city provides conflict-resolution lessons to every student in its public schools. What prevention level and targeting approach are illustrated?
Primary prevention using a universal intervention.
47Scenario: A barangay offers targeted mentoring to youths identified as having elevated delinquency risk but no known offense history. What prevention approach is illustrated?
Secondary prevention using a selective intervention.
48Scenario: A rehabilitation program supports previously convicted offenders to reduce repeat offending. What level of prevention is illustrated?
Tertiary prevention.
49Scenario: A police station identifies recurring motorcycle theft, studies parking conditions, introduces tailored safeguards, and measures subsequent theft. What framework is illustrated?
The SARA model of problem-oriented policing.
50Scenario: A prevention program reports fewer offenses after implementation but has no comparison group and began after an unusual crime spike. What major evaluation concern arises?
The decline cannot confidently be attributed to the program because alternative explanations, including regression to the mean, remain plausible.