COMMENT ON CURRENT LOCAL REDUCTION STRATEGIES UNDER THE CRIME AND DISORDER ACT 1998. TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD CENTRAL CRIME REDUCTION AND PERFORMANCE TARGETS INFORM LOCAL INITIATIVES IN THIS AREA?

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University of Portsmouth

Bsc. (Hons) Policing and Police Studies

COMMENT ON CURRENT LOCAL REDUCTION STRATEGIES UNDER THE CRIME AND DISORDER ACT 1998. TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD CENTRAL CRIME REDUCTION AND PERFORMANCE TARGETS INFORM LOCAL INITIATIVES IN THIS AREA?

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COMMENT ON CURRENT LOCAL REDUCTION STRATEGIES UNDER THE CRIME AND DISORDER ACT 1998. TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD CENTRAL CRIME REDUCTION AND PERFORMANCE TARGETS INFORM LOCAL INITIATIVES IN THIS AREA?

It will be the intention of this essay to ‘comment on current local reduction strategies under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. To what extent should central crime reduction and performance targets inform local initiatives in this area? In doing so the author recognises the wide-ranging changes introduced, in particular those in respect of youth justice. However in the short scope of this document it will not be feasible to cover them all. As a consequence I will focus on two issues, which have direct impact upon the police. Firstly I will discuss the origins of the Act and the government thinking that lead to its inception. I will then explain the process of the crime audit, the shift in responsibility and the philosophy behind this, whilst also including some of the benefits and difficulties the audit poses. I will then comment on the introduction of the National Policing Plan and where attempts to exert central control in this area, places the police service, at a local level. As a conclusion I will consider how central crime reduction and performance targets inform local initiatives in this area

Recorded crime has more than trebled in Britain during the last twenty years. In 1970 there were 1.6 million crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, (a combined population about 50 million) increasing to 5.4 million crimes in 1992 and an estimated 13 million in 2000. This has undoubtedly concentrated the minds of politicians, researchers, community activists, and government officers. The result has been an explosion of crime prevention activity over the same period. Legislators and crime prevention practitioners have attempted to arrest this rise with a whole host of social and situational techniques. With hindsight, and in the light of continuing crime rises, we can see that many of these ideas and activities proved to be ineffective.

The Morgan report, which was published in 1991, recommended that the leadership for local crime prevention should be placed in the hands of the local authority, more attention should be given to young people and crime and the police should work in partnership and share the responsibility and leadership for crime and disorder audits and strategies. The Crime and Disorder Act, when first introduced, was seen as the most evolutional piece of legislative thinking of its kind. It firmly put partnerships onto a statutory footing and in doing so created 376 local community safety partnerships throughout England and Wales. Why this sudden change of direction? Well New Labour has decided that they want to become tough on crime and the causes of crime. Politically, this was always seen as a strong characteristic of the Conservatives and by challenging Law and Order in such a way, this would test the domination here. However, by now tackling social problems such as education, parenting, unemployment and poor housing, they would be protecting those who are seen as their natural constituency, who have experienced higher levels of crime. This was also an expression of the Labour governments doctrine of a ‘joined up approach’. This demonstrates that the departments, or in this case agencies, responsible for delivering in different areas are properly coordinated at both a strategic and tactical level.

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The Act contains 121 sections that cover a whole range of changes to the criminal justice system as never seen before. It has three main goals, which are to; introduce local crime and reduction strategies; dealing with young offenders; and the new powers offered in relation to youth crime and youth justice. An underlining theme of this Act is to ensure the community, through the creation of a ‘Responsible Authority’, become one of a number of partners who actively participate in reducing crime in their neighbourhood.

The responsibility to decide upon local crime reduction priorities historically lay with ...

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