VI. Crime prevention

6.1. What measures, in your opinion, should be taken to prevent crime?

6.2.  Read the following text about different ways to reduce crime and answer the questions below.

• Enumerate the main criminal justice agencies. What are their functions?

• How can local authorities, private businesses or common people collaborate with the police?

• What is the efficiency of each measure?

• What other ways to reduce crime are there?

• Why is educating people important in crime prevention? What are the possible ways of such education?

Many criminologists stress the need for improving the performance of criminal justice agencies – the police, the courts, and correctional institutions. For example, they point out that better educated, equipped, and coordinated police forces are more effective in controlling crime.

There are many other ways to reduce crime. People can be educated or persuaded to take greater precautions against crime. They can be taught, for example, how to protect their homes from burglary. Automobile thefts would drop sharply if drivers removed their keys and locked their cars when leaving them. Better lighting helps discourage robberies on city streets and in parks. Many experts believe that strict gun-licensing laws would greatly reduce crime.

The high rate of crime can be reduced only by means of coordination of efforts. Local authorities, private businesses and voluntary groups should collaborate with the police. For example, in Britain local crime prevention panels operate in conjunction with the police to fight crimes directed against property. Their methods include marking valuable goods and equipment and installing security devices such as burglar alarms. The setting-up of “Neighbourhood Watch” schemes has been a practical move towards the prevention of break-ins and thefts from private houses.

One of the best ways to reduce crime is to reform or rehabilitate habitual criminals.

Since the late 1970s, however, there has been a trend toward punishment rather than rehabilitation of offenders. Prison sentences are longer. Capital punishments have been used more frequently since the US Supreme Court lifted a death penalty ban in 1976. Nevertheless, crime prevention should aim to prevent people from becoming criminals in the first place.

These programmes would include improved housing, schools, and recreation programmes and increased job opportunities.

6.3.  Look at the headline below. In pairs, discuss what you think the article is about.

“Everyone Needs A Guardian Angel”

6.3.1. Now read the text and find out if you were right.

For years, New York’s East Side has borne the brunt of the city’s spiraling crime rate. Last year 1,821 people were murdered, and on an average day 226 were mugged. Few lives remain untouched: in a recent survey seven out of ten respondents said that fear of crime was the worst aspect of living in New York.

But Evil in the City never quite triumphs over Good. Out of the ghetto came a band of 13 Bronx teenagers dedicated to the fight against crime. They began riding subways between Bronx and Queens to protect commuters from violence.

Their leader was Curtis “Rock” Sliwa, a stern Al Pacino look-alike and assistant manager of a Bronx hamburger restaurant. They originally called themselves The Magnificent Thirteen, because, says Curtis, “what we were doing was truly magnificent”.

Now he wields undisputed authority over 700 Guardian Angels in New York and has started chapters in 18 other American cities.

Curtis claim (but can’t prove) that the Angels have made 142 citizen’s arrests, saved two lives, and thwarted many other potential rapes, assaults, and muggings. He also maintains that his organization gets a better rate of convictions than the widely detested police force.

The Angels, unlike the police, reflect the ethnic make-up of the local communities. Two-thirds of the New York Volunteers are Hispanic, and most of the remainder are black. Forty-three of them are women.

The police Department accuses the Angels of refusing to cooperate, but Curtis says he has to avoid the police stigma. A cop with a gun and a stick has a duty to stop you smoking pot and playing your radio loud. How can they get respect?

The Angels have a different style. They are unarmed, although trained in martial arts, and many of them look younger than the minimum age of 16. Their patrols cover streets, parks, subways and housing estates. If they catch a felon, they can make a civilian arrest, but their main aim is to act as a deterrent to crime.

Curtis thinks the rot set in during 60s when everyone was “doing their own thing”. Since then if Americans want they take. In the Sliwa analysis, crime has nothing to do with politics or poverty. He argues that greed and dishonesty now infect street criminals and bank presidents alike.

Discipline, dedication, and adherence to the work ethic: these are the qualities he requires of Angels in the battle against social chaos. All volunteers must be either employed or in school and must have a clean criminal record.

The Angels’ structure is hierarchical, and its membership exclusive. Candidates must have a recommendation from another Angel before going through the rigorous interview and training process. The work is hard: two four-hour patrols a week is the minimum requirement, and there are no material rewards.

Why do they do it? Lisa Evers, 23-year old second in command, joined up after five people in her block were murdered in one year. She maintains that “thanks” from the public is better than a five-dollar bill. What we get out of it is a feeling of satisfaction, respect, and recognition.

6.3.1. Find in the text English equivalents for the following:

– помешать, расстроить планы;

– началась полоса неудач;

– постепенно растущий уровень преступности;

– поймать преступника;

– принимать на себя удар;

– бороться с общественным беспорядком.

6.3.2. Explain the meaning of the following:

• the ghetto – to be trained in martial arts

• commuters – to make a civilian arrest

• stigma – a clean criminal record

• patrols – hierarchical

6.3.3. What do these numbers in the text refer to:

• 226 – 18 – 16

• 7 – 142 – 60

• 13 – 43 – 2

• 700 – 5

6.3.4. Using the information in the text, decide if the following statements are correct. If they are not, correct them.

1. Guardian Angels initially started their activities on public transport.

2. The Angels are like the police in many ways.

3. According to the Angels’ leader crime rate depends on political and economic reasons.

4. Any youngster can become a Guardian Angel.

5. The Angels don’t get any profit for what they do.

6.3.5. Role play

A: You have heard about the activities of the Guardian Angels in New York, and know that your friend has read an interesting article about them. Find out as much as possible from her / him about the Guardian Angels. Ask, for instance, for an explanation of their name, their purpose, their activity, public attitude toward them, the officials’ attitude toward them and their membership.

B: You have recently read an interesting article about Guardian Angels in New York. Give your assessment of their activity, exchange views about their effectiveness, and discuss whether it could be successfully applied in Belarus.