Situational Crime Prevention: Target Hardening and Designing Out Crime
Situational crime prevention is a strategy, developed by Ron Clarke, that aims to reduce crime by reducing the specific opportunity to commit it in a particular setting, rather than by changing an offender's underlying motivation.
Before you start
No specific prerequisites - this is a good place to start.
Method
- Name Ron Clarke and rational choice theory as the theoretical basis of situational crime prevention: the assumption that offenders make a rough cost-benefit calculation before committing a crime, so reducing the reward or increasing the risk changes their decision.
- Define target hardening with concrete examples (locks, alarms, immobilisers, security tags, safes) and explain the mechanism: it raises the physical difficulty and risk of an offence for a specific target, making it a less attractive choice under rational choice theory.
- Define 'designing out crime' using Oscar Newman's concept of 'defensible space' by name, and explain the mechanism: environments designed for good natural surveillance and a clear sense of ownership (e.g. well-lit communal areas, clear sightlines, fewer anonymous through-routes) make offending riskier and reduce opportunity.
- Distinguish target hardening (protecting a specific object or target) from designing out crime (changing the wider physical environment) as two related but different situational techniques.
- Introduce crime displacement as the central criticism, explaining that Clarke's own research acknowledged that situational measures can shift crime to a different location, time, target or method rather than eliminating it.
- Contrast situational crime prevention with explanations covered elsewhere in this strand, e.g. Merton's strain theory or Marxist explanations, which target the underlying motivation to offend rather than the opportunity, to show situational prevention addresses a different part of the problem.
- For a 12-mark 'discuss' question, use rational choice theory and named examples as arguments for situational prevention, use displacement and 'root cause' criticisms as arguments against, and reach a conclusion about how much of the crime problem situational prevention can realistically solve.
Worked example
A shopping centre installs security tags on high-value clothing items and adds bright lighting and CCTV to its car park after a rise in shoplifting and car break-ins. Use situational crime prevention theory to explain how each measure is intended to reduce crime, and identify one limitation of this approach.
- Identify the security tags as an example of target hardening: they make stealing a specific clothing item physically harder and more likely to trigger detection.
- Identify the bright lighting and CCTV in the car park as an example of designing out crime, consistent with Newman's concept of defensible space, since they increase natural surveillance and reduce opportunities for concealed offending.
- Apply rational choice theory to both measures: each is intended to raise the perceived risk and lower the perceived reward of offending, making crime a less attractive choice for a rational offender.
- Identify crime displacement as the key limitation: an offender deterred by the security tags or CCTV in this shopping centre may simply shoplift from a different, less protected shop, or target a different, less well-lit car park nearby.
- Conclude that the measures may successfully reduce crime at this specific site without necessarily reducing the overall level of crime across the wider area, if displacement occurs.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What is situational crime prevention?Show answer
Answer: A strategy, developed by Ron Clarke, that aims to reduce crime by reducing the opportunity to commit it in a specific setting, rather than by changing an offender's underlying motivation.
Q2What is 'rational choice theory'?Show answer
Answer: The idea that offenders weigh up the perceived costs, risks and rewards of a crime before deciding whether to commit it.
Q3Give one example of target hardening.Show answer
Answer: Any physical measure that makes a target harder to steal or damage, e.g. locks, alarms, security tags or immobilisers.
Q4What did Oscar Newman mean by 'defensible space'?Show answer
Answer: A design approach to housing and public areas that increases natural surveillance and residents' sense of ownership over shared space, which reduces opportunities for crime.
Q5What is 'crime displacement'?Show answer
Answer: The risk that situational crime prevention simply moves crime to a different location, time, target or method, rather than reducing the overall level of crime.
Q6Explain the difference between target hardening and designing out crime.Show answer
Answer: Target hardening protects a specific object or target directly, e.g. with a lock or alarm, while designing out crime changes the wider physical environment to reduce opportunities for offending generally, e.g. improved lighting and sightlines.
Q7Why does situational crime prevention not directly address theories such as Merton's strain theory?Show answer
Answer: Because situational crime prevention targets the opportunity to offend, while Merton's strain theory targets the underlying motivation to offend, so the two approaches address different parts of the crime problem.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two situational methods of reducing crime.
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Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
Explain, using sociological evidence, the theory behind situational crime prevention.
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Nothing ticked yet - 8 available
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that situational crime prevention is an effective way to reduce the overall level of crime.
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Nothing ticked yet - 12 available
See real GCSE Sociology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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