Description
Distinguish between general and specific crime prevention.
Describe the intent of each and the police role in each form. Include examples
Explanation & Answer
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General “positive” prevention is the effect that the criminal law systemachieves by indirectly reinforcing or protecting social integration, system“stability” (or reproduction of the social order) and the collective moralconscience (in order to prevent widespread demoralization). In this case,punishment practices are not addressed to potential perpetrators (andless so to actual criminal offenders), but to the apparently disciplined andconforming (“moral”) majority (of individuals who mostly want to act incompliance with the legal norms and follow the culturally prescribed or at least tolerated life objectives). In short, criminal law symbolically confirmsthe unquestionable validity of fundamental social values and norms, ormakes sure that the straight individuals do not get the feeling that thenormatively expected behaviour is senseless/meaningless or irrational.In this respect, punishment is an instrument of maintaining long-termvalue rationality at the macro-social level. Namely, would there be anysense in respecting social norms in an environment where perpetratorsremain largely unpunished? The punishment apparatus communicates tolaw-abiding citizens that conforming behaviour eventually “pays off”, if not in other ways than in the form of the suffering for those who violatethe criminal laws.
The secondary prevention focuses on individuals and settings considered to be at an increased risk for continuation of delinquency. As Regoli, Hewitt, and De Lisi note, the focus on secondary prevention is to reduce the prevalence , seriousness or duration or delinquent involvement. These prevention programs target a narrower population than primary prevention programs. These individuals are at a risk for offending, but have not engaged in serious , chronic delinquency.