Reinventing Prevention: Why Did 'Crime Prevention' Develop So Late?

Abstract:     
While crime prevention is taken to exemplify governance in the 'risk society', it may represent a retarded example of risk-based urban security. Crime prevention was unaffected by risk-based prevention characteristic of much 19th century government of this domain. The development of risk-based fire prevention, by contrast, was substantially in place at the turn of the 20th century, promoted by the convergence of insurance and other interests in securing property. Rather than seeing crime prevention as exemplifying the move toward the 'risk society' thesis, it may be better understood as a case where neo-liberal governance and insurance technologies transformed a domain of governance that had been unusually resistant to risk-based approaches.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 39

Keywords: risk, crime prevention, security, fire, insurance

JEL Classification: K10, K14, K3

Accepted Paper Series