Crime Prevention Resources

This section of the site provides quick access to case studies and helpful on-line social marketing resources for crime prevention. We welcome suggestions for additional case studies and resources

Latest News

January 10, 2024 Five New Topic Resourcess Added in this Topic Area
We've added five new crime prevention Topic Resources this past year. Access them at the top of the right hand column below. Let us know what you think.
Reduce Air Pollution to Reduce Crime
A relatively new study has found evidence of an association between short-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 and the exacerbation of psychiatric disorders (e.g. anxiety and suicidal thoughts) in children as indicated by increases in psychiatric ED visits. Another Another new study also found that breathing polluted air is linked to aggressive behaviour and asaults in adults. It estimated that that a 10% reduction in daily PM2.5 and ozone could save $1.4 billion in crime costs per year, a previously overlooked cost associated with pollution  
 

Most Recent Crime Prevention Case Studies

Cure Violence  HealthSafety

Cure Violence shows it can be effective to treat violence using a health approach – i.e. to treat it as a contagion rather than as a problem of bad people. The intervention relies heavily on peer influencers and norm appeals. It has had multiple independent evaluations – all showing large statistically significant reductions in violence.

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Ten-Day Challenge  Safety

The Ten-Day Challenge is an innovative approach that helps parents and teachers work closely and cooperatively together to reduce violence among children and teens. Since 2003, it has been implemented in over 60 schools across Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Evaluations by parents, students and teachers have shown significant impacts on the everyday life of participants: more time reading and doing physical activity, more harmonious relationships, better attention in class, more respectful language and behaviour at home and school, and less physical and verbal violence.

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Road Crew Reduces Drunk Driving  Safety

Road Crew helps Wisconsin communities provide alternative rides for people who have had too much to drink and then drive home. In the formative research, bar patrons indicated that they wouldn't take a ride home if their cars were at the bar, but would ride home if the program also picked them up at home so their cars wouldn't be available. Road Crew is positioned to allow people to not worry about driving home, and therefore be able to enjoy the evening more fully. The program has given over 85,000 rides and is self-sustaining without using any government revenues in 6 counties of Wisconsin. Road Crew is well suited for replication in small towns and exceptionally well researched and documented. It provides a free on-line toolkit and for-fee consultation to support those following its approach.

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Stop It Now! Vermont  HealthSafety

The purpose of this project was to introduce a public health approach to child sexual abuse prevention. Previous prevention programs focused on children and how to prevent their victimization, or how to report the abuse after the abuse occurred. This program introduced a new approach that focused on adults and how to prevent the perpetration of child sexual abuse.

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Most Recent Crime Prevention Resources

Applying the Anger Activism Model  EnvironmentHealthSafety

The Anger Activism Model (AAM) can be used for segmentation. People with high anger and strong efficacy (i.e. 'activists') are more likely to engage in information seeking and are more accurate and defense-motivated when examining information. Further, they are more likely to engage in both low and high commitment behaviors to change policy.

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STOPit  Safety

STOPit is an Anonymous Reporting System that teaches and empowers individuals to recognize and anonymously report safety, misconduct, and compliance concerns BEFORE they escalate into a crisis or other legal matter. For example, it enables students to document bullying using their mobile phones, and anonymously send the evidence to trusted adults. Schools get a dashboard for managing the reports.

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Boosting Program Referrals Using Reciprocity and Convenience  EnvironmentSafety

This field experiment with 7,680 low-income homeowners boosted referral rates, new participant numbers, and progam cost-effectiveness. It achieved this with two changes to a program that was already running. (1) It offered, in addition to the program's standard financial incentive, a non-contingent token gift upfront with a reminder about the programme, to evoke a sense of reciprocity. (2) It simplified the referral process by providing a mailable referral slip with a stamped return envelope.

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Gun Policy Analysis  Safety

Rand Corporation reviewed thousands of studies to identify all available evidence for the effects of 13 gun policies in the USA on eight outcomes. Updated regularly.

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Public Safety Canada  Safety

Includes a range of prevention reports on bullying and violence, crime prevention

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Campbell Collaboration  HealthSafety

Features systematic reviews that help people make well-informed decisions about the effects of interventions in crime and social justice, disability, nutrition, and social welfare.

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Youth Mentoring as a Viable Crime Prevention Strategy: Evidence and Ontario policy, with reflections from some mentors  Safety

Youth mentoring can be a cost-effective way to reduce the likelihood of offending. Best practices include: outreach to vulnerable youth, involving parents, screening and training mentors, matching mentors and mentees based on background, having mentoring connected to a larger strategy, following a developmental approach, and developing standards for implementation.

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Program Impact Attribution  EnvironmentHealthSafety

This document provides a brief summary of options for assessing what portion of any measured behavior changes resulted from your program and what portion resulted from other influences. These options can also be used to attribute the affects of your program on a wide range of related variables such as resources used, pollutants released, accident rates and health status.

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Impact of Comics vs Photographs on Knowledge, Attitude and Behavioural Intentions  EnvironmentHealthSafety

This 2017 study compares two modes of visually presenting information  - one using photographs and the other using cartoons - on audience's knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions.

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Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development  Safety

This is a registry of scientifically proven and scalable interventions that prevent or reduce the likelihood of antisocial behavior and promote a healthy course of youth development and adult maturity.

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CDC Division of Violence Prevention  Safety

Contains links to Data Sources and sections on Prevention Strategies, Research and Resources for each of the following topics: Adverse Childhood Experiences; Child Abuse and Neglect; Child Sexual Abuse; Elder Abuse; Intimate Partner Violence; Sexual Violence; and Youth Violence (including bullying)

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Community Toolbox  EnvironmentHealthSafety

Includes many annotated links to other web-based resources supporting social marketing and social change

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CrimeSolutions  Safety

CrimeSolutions is intended to be a central, reliable resource to help practitioners and policymakers understand what works in justice-related programs and practices. Its purpose is to assist in practical decision making and program implementation by gathering information on specific justice-related programs and practices and reviewing the existing evaluation and meta-analysis research against standard criteria.

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EPPI-Centre  EnvironmentHealthSafety

Contains reviews of research evidence on interventions related to active transportation (walking and cycling), rod safety, physical activity, heart health (cardiovascular disease), HIV / AIDS, nutrition, obesity, tobacco (smoking), conflict resolution, crime, education, and employment.

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Guide for Selecting an Effective Crime Prevention Program  Safety

This 2015 report provides practical guidance on the evidence-based approach in crime prevention, proposes a step-by-step framework to guide program selection and implementation, and suggests key elements for sustainability.

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