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A pilot Multi-Agency Stalking Intervention Programme (MASIP), introduced in three police forces in England, provided among a range of interventions, the delivery of safety planning advice, and needs-based support for stalking victims through a bespoke advocacy service. The ultimate aim of MASIP was to equip victims with tools to manage the variety of harms caused by stalking, as well as enable them to access the criminal justice system with adequate support. This study explores the personal needs of stalking victims from the perspectives of stalking victims, advocates and stakeholders involved in the intervention program, as part of a larger evaluation study conducted by the authors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 10 stalking victims who participated in the MASIP, three advocates who directly interacted with the victims, and 19 MASIP stakeholders involved in the project. Findings revealed that overall, victims believed the advocacy service aided their ability to cope with the realities of stalking. Having a victim advocate as single point of contact made victims’ journey through the justice system easier to navigate, provided them with the emotional support that they required to deal with the harms of stalking and the practical advice offered regarding their personal safety, and allowed them to feel in control of their own risk management. Advocates reported that the multi-agency context helped in risk assessment and ability to design and deliver bespoke support plans, which uniquely improved victims’ engagement with the service. Due to the small size and possibly biased sample, our conclusions must be interpreted with caution.

To support the development and implementation of evidence-based crime reduction, we systematically identified and appraised 70 systematic reviews of single crime reduction measures published betwee...

This case study reports the problem-solving efforts of a multi-agency team to reduce gang-related street robberies by and of youth in the London Borough of Enfield. Youth robberies were found to be linked to gang activity and identity. The robberies clustered in space and time in line with the routine activities of school pupils. The police-led response to the problem drew from many different organisations to deliver a coordinated approach to simultaneously enhance controls on the victims, offenders and locations. Comprehensive and multi-faceted analysis informed the response development and implementation phases of the project, as well as the assessment stage. The result was a dramatic reduction of nearly 60 per cent of youth robbery, which was largely sustained for four years after the project concluded.

The What Works Centre for Crime Reduction was established in September 2013 with the aim of increasing the use of research evidence by decision-makers in policing and crime reduction. The EMMIE fra...

This chapter provides insights into often-observed temporal regularities of different types of crime. It begins by briefly appraising relevant theories that explain variations in time incidence. It then discusses methodological issues that are unique to temporal analysis. The bulk of the next section presents temporal patterns from four years of crime data recorded by West Yorkshire Police, UK. Several units of analysis are considered: years, months, weeks, and days, and a medley of theories are used to suggest putative explanations for the observed patterns. It focuses first on crimes committed against property (predominantly theft and damage offenses) before considering crimes committed against people and, finally, Internet-enabled crimes against both people and their property. The intention here is to illustrate a variety of empirical regularities for different crime types, and to posit plausible explanations for those patterns.

This paper explored how city-level changes in routine activities were associated with changes in frequencies of police searches using six years of police records from the London Metropolitan Police Service and the New York City Police Department. Routine activities were operationalised through selecting events that potentially impacted on (a) the street population, (b) the frequency of crime or (c) the level of police activity. OLS regression results indicated that routine activity variables (e.g. day of the week, periods of high demand for police service) can explain a large proportion of the variance in search frequency throughout the year. A complex set of results emerged, revealing cross-national dissimilarities and the differential impact of certain activities (e.g. public holidays). Importantly, temporal frequencies in searches are not reducible to associations between searches and recorded street crime, nor changes in on-street population. Based on the routine activity approach, a theoretical police-action model is proposed.

Reducing re-offending amongst ex-prisoners is of paramount importance for both penal and societal reasons. This paper advances an argument that the current prisoner risk assessment instruments used in the UK neglect to account for environmental determinants of re-offending. We frame this position within the growing literature on the ecology of recidivism, and use the principles of environmental criminology to stress the importance of the opportunities for crime that are present in an ex-prisoners' neighbourhood. We conclude by considering the implications for policy and discuss how these might conflict with the practical realities of managing ex-prisoners.

The illegal treatment and trade of waste is an international problem which is widely assumed to be both evolving and growing. Emergent forms of criminality such as this often have the problem of data being in scarce supply, and as a result are difficult to study, and subsequently understand. In this paper we introduce the methodological concept of script analysis to assist a more objective assessment and understanding of illegal waste activity. This includes using crime scripts in two ways; to help identify data requirements, and as a tool to analyse illegal waste processes. We illustrate the utility of this methodology using waste electrical and electronic equipment. In doing so, we argue that this approach elicits a specific, focused account of what illegal activity has occurred, and nests it within the wider context of the waste management system. We anticipate that using this methodology will provide academics and practitioners a means of enhancing the investigation, detection and prevention of illegal waste activity.

This special edition of Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal comprises selected papers presented at the 15th Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis (ECCA) seminar held at University College London, UK in July 2007. ECCA appears to be entering a new phase of growth, in terms of both participating members and research agenda. The 2007 seminar served as an international forum to discuss, exchange and reflect on the developments, research direction and advancements in environmental criminology and related areas such as situational crime prevention and offender profiling.

(2007). Mapping out crime prevention. Criminal Justice Matters: Vol. 69, Prevention, pp. 32-33.