Physical Environment and Crime

1 Research Department of JusticeOffice of Justice ProgramsNational Institute of JusticeNational Institute of JusticeDEPARTMENT OF JUSTICEOFFICE OFJUSTICE PROGRAMSBJANIJOJJDPBJSOVCP hysical Environmentand CrimeAbout the National Instituteof JusticeThe National Institute of Justice, a component of the Office of Justice Programs, is the researchand development agency of the Department of Justice. NIJ was established to prevent andreduce Crime and to improve the criminal justice system. Specific mandates established byCongress in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, and theAnti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 direct the National Institute of Justice to:nSponsor special projects and research and development programs that will improve andstrengthen the criminal justice system and reduce or prevent national demonstration projects that employ innovative or promising approachesfor improving criminal new technologies to fight Crime and improve criminal the effectiveness of criminal justice programs and identify programs that promiseto be successful if continued or actions that can be taken by Federal, State, and local governments as well asprivate organizations to improve criminal out research on criminal new methods of Crime prevention and reduction of Crime and National Institute of Justice has a long history of accomplishments, including thefollowing.

2 NBasic research on career criminals that led to development of special police and prosecutorunits to deal with repeat that confirmed the link between drugs and research and development program that resulted in the creation of police body armorthat has meant the difference between life and death to hundreds of police scientific advances such as the research and development of DNA analysis topositively identify suspects and eliminate the innocent from evaluation of innovative justice programs to determine what works, including drugenforcement, community policing, community anti-drug initiatives, prosecution of complexdrug cases, drug testing throughout the criminal justice system, and user of a corrections information-sharing system that enables State and local officials toexchange more efficient and cost-effective concepts and techniques for planning, financing, andconstructing new prisons and of the world s largest criminal justice information clearinghouse, a resource usedby State and local officials across the Nation and by criminal justice agencies in Institute Director, who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate,establishes the Institute s objectives, guided by the priorities of the Office of Justice Programs,the Department of Justice, and the needs of the criminal justice field.

3 The Institute activelysolicits the views of criminal justice professionals to identify their most critical to the priorities of Federal, State, and local criminal justice agencies, research anddevelopment at the National Institute of Justice continues to search for answers to what worksand why in the Nation s war on drugs and National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office ofJustice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of JusticeAssistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Juvenile Justiceand Delinquency prevention , and the Office for Victims of more information on the National Institute of Justice, please contact:National Criminal Justice Reference Box 6000 Rockville, MD 20849 6000800 851 3420e-mail: You can view or obtain an electronic version of this document from theNCJRS Bulletin Board System (BBS)or the NCJRS Justice Information Center World Wide Web access the BBS, direct dial through your computer modem:(301) 738 8895 (modems should be set at 9600 baud and 8 N 1),or Telnet to orGopher to 71To access the World Wide Web site, go :81 you have any questions, call or e-mail 1996 Physical Environmentand CrimeRalph B.

4 TaylorAdele V. HarrellA Final Summary Report Presented to theNational Institute of Department of JusticeOffice of Justice ProgramsNational Institute of JusticeJeremy TravisDirectorRichard TitusProject MonitorRalph B. Taylor is a professor of criminal justice at TempleUniversity. He received his in social psychologyfrom Johns Hopkins University in 1977. Adele V. Harrell isa senior research associate at the Urban Institute. Sheacquired her in sociology from George WashingtonUniversity in 157311 This project was supported under award number 90 IJ CX K022 by theNational Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Department ofJustice. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those ofthe authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the of.

5 1 Assuming a Rational Perspective .. 2 Overview of Four Approaches .. 3 Housing design Features and Block Layout .. 7 Land Use and Circulation Patterns .. 10 Resident-Generated Territorial Signage .. 14 Controlling Physical Deterioration and Disorder .. 16 Pending Issues .. 22 Conclusion .. 23 References .. 241 IntroductionCan Physical features of the Environment prevent Crime or re-duce problems thought to be Crime related, such as fear of crimeor residents concerns about neighborhood viability? Crimeprevention through environmental design ( cpted ) focuses onthe settings in which crimes occur and on techniques for reduc-ing vulnerability in these report discusses assumptions surrounding work in this areaand the major studies that link neighborhood and street blockphysical features with Crime , fear of Crime , and other relatedoutcomes.

6 Four major sets of Physical features are emphasizedin the research literature: housing design or block layout, landuse and circulation patterns, resident-generated territorial fea-tures, and Physical deterioration. Each of these approaches isdiscussed individually, and their policy implications are high-lighted. The report ends with a series of questions that have notyet been answered by a Rational PerspectiveHow might Physical features influence behavior? Researchershave made several assumptions about how Physical featuresaffect both potential offenders and residents or users in a often operate in a rational fashion; they prefer tocommit crimes that require the least effort, provide the highestbenefits, and pose the lowest risks.

7 Researchers have appliedthis rational offender perspective to a range of crimes (Clarke,1983, 1992; Clarke and Cornish, 1985). This view suggests thatcrimes are most likely to occur when potential offenders comeinto contact with a suitable Crime target where the chances ofdetection by others are thought to be low or the criminal, if de-tected, will be able to exit without being identified or appre-hended. In short, the Crime site lacks a natural Environment features can influence the chances of acrime occurring. They affect potential offenders perceptionsabout a possible Crime site, their evaluations of the circum-stances surrounding a potential Crime site, and the availabilityand visibility of one or more natural guardians at or near a may decide whether or not to commit a Crime in alocation after they determine the following: How easy will it be to enter the area?

8 How visible, attractive, or vulnerable do targets appear? What are the chances of being seen? If seen, will the people in the area do something about it? Is there a quick, direct route for leaving the location after thecrime is committed?These questions assume a rational offender perspective. Therelevance of this perspective to an understanding of crimedepends on a range of factors, including the type of Crime andthe familiarity between offender and victim or offender-based perspective relates to residents or users in asetting when it suggests potential offenders consider a setting s3natural guardians. Much of the work in this area, which relies onempirically grounded models of human territorial functioning(Taylor, 1988), assumes residents or users may respond to po-tential offenders.

9 The probability and type of response dependson a range of circumstances social, cultural, and features may influence reactions to potential offendersby altering the chances of detecting them and by shaping thepublic vs. private nature of the space in of Four ApproachesAssuming that potential offenders and residents or users of asetting are affected by this rational perspective suggests fourapproaches to making a location more resistant to Crime orcrime-related problems. Housing design or block layout. Making it more difficult tocommit crimes by (1) reducing the availability of Crime targets;(2) removing barriers that prevent easy detection of potentialoffenders or of an offense in progress; and (3) increasing physi-cal obstacles to committing a Crime .

10 Land use and circulation patterns. Creating safer use ofneighborhood space by reducing routine exposure of potentialoffenders to Crime targets. This can be accomplished throughcareful attention to walkways, paths, streets, traffic patterns, andlocation and hours of operation of public spaces and strategies may produce broader changes that increase theviability of more micro-level territorial behaviors and example, street closings or revised traffic patterns that de-crease vehicular volume may, under some conditions, encourageresidents to better maintain the sidewalk and street in front oftheir houses. Territorial features. Encouraging the use of territorial mark-ers or fostering conditions that will lead to more extensive mark-ing to indicate the block or site is occupied by vigilant cleanup and beautification contests and creating4controllable, semiprivate outdoor locations may encourage suchactivities.