Targeting crime prevention: Identifying communities that generate chronic and costly offenders

Abstract

Identifying communities and locations where chronic and persistent offenders are most likely to reside, and understanding the factors that produce the interconnections between place and offending, has enormous potential for the effective targeting of crime prevention initiatives.

This paper provides a valuable contribution to the evidence based supporting effective crime prevention targeting. By showing that chronic offenders, who account for a large proportion of all offences, are not randomly distributed geographically, it highlights those locations where interventions and resources can be effectively directed.

These locations typically have very high levels of social and economic disadvantage, pointing to the need for programs and social interventions that can effect change at the community level. Interventions likely to yield demonstrable outcomes are those that work with families and that operate holistically to address the multiple dimensions of disadvantage.