Unit 8 Assignment 2: Project - Construct a Crime Prevention Program: Part 1 This week’s Assignment is the first of a two-part project. The second part of this project will be completed in Unit 9....

Crime prevention program
Crime prevention program
Targeted toward juveniles in the K–12 school system
Introduction    
Crime prevention, with its vast scope, can be defined as the proactive strategies and measures that seek to intervene and modify risk factors among individuals, families, and/or in the environment in order to reduce the propensity to offend or re-offend, and/or the likelihood that criminal acts will be committed.
Whether the focus is preventing youth violence, youth gang involvement or recidivism, the selection of the most appropriate crime prevention program(s) and/or practice(s) is important and this decision should be based on certain key factors. There are many prevention and intervention options available and it can sometimes be difficult to determine what should be done. As there are literally hundreds of different crime prevention programs available (both in number and in type), it is important to take stock of and to identify key elements to assist in the selection of the most appropriate program
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    1. DARE
    2. Neighborhood Watch
    3. GREAT
Crime prevention programs
Identifying the best practices for preventing youth violence involves two approaches, each with its own limitations. The first is meta-analysis, a rigorous statistical method of combining the results of several studies to obtain more reliable estimates of the effects of a general type of treatment or intervention. This quantitative approach can be used to summarize program evaluation evidence and draw overall conclusions about the strength and consistency of the influence, or effect size, that particular types of programs have on violent behavior. In the field of youth violence, meta-analysis has been used primarily for evaluations of interventions with violent or delinquent youths.
The second, less empirical approach is to review the evaluation research and identify the general strategies that characterize effective programs. While such reviews are not quantitative, they are more easily conducted than meta-analyses, and they offer useful information for generating hypotheses and drawing general conclusions about the effectiveness of various strategies for preventing youth violence
There are several crime prevention programs that are designed for adults and which are also in K–12 schools nationwide with a standardized curriculum (i.e., Neighborhood Watch, D.A.R.E. and G.R.E.A.T.) with many more programs created at the local level (i.e., Citizens Academy, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and YMCA afterschool programs are unique to the community).
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DARE- Drug Abuse Resistance Education
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)
Program Goals
The primary goal of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) is to teach effective peer resistance and refusal skills so that adolescents can say “no” to drugs and their friends who may want them to use drugs. The secondary goals of the program are to build students’ social skills and enhance their self-esteem, as these are believed to be linked to adolescent drug use.
 
DARE was developed in 1983 as a joint effort between the Los Angeles County (Calif.) School District and the Los Angeles Police Department. In 1986, the U.S. Congress passed the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act to promote drug abuse education and prevention programs across the country, and DARE spread rapidly, with many school districts adopting it for their students. By 1994, DARE was the most widely used school-based drug prevention program, showing up in all 50 states in the United States and spreading to six foreign countries.
 
Target Population/Eligibility
DARE was initially designed for elementary school students, specifically fifth and sixth graders. Over the years, it has developed curriculum aimed at middle and high school students. The early focus of the program was to inoculate or strengthen children to resist the temptation of drug experimentation and the pressure of peers who want them to engage in drug use.
DARE uses the social influence approach to drug-use prevention. This psychosocial approach emphasizes and aims to strengthen children’s refusal skills so they can better resist social pressures to try and use drugs. It also builds general social competencies to help prevent or at least delay adolescent drug use. The core curriculum was built for and targets children in their last years of elementary school, fifth and sixth grades. It is thought that this is the age where children are most receptive to antidrug messages and catches them before they experiment or are pressured to experiment with drugs by their peers. DARE officers receive 80 hours of training in classroom management, teaching strategies, communication skills, adolescent development, drug information, and thorough instruction on DARE’s 17 lessons
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Goals
To prevent use of controlled drugs, membership in gangs, and violent behavior
Target population
DARE was initially designed for elementary school students, specifically fifth and sixth graders
Delivery
It was founded in Los Angeles in 1983 as a joint initiative of then-LAPD chief Daryl Gates and the Los Angeles Unified School District as a demand-side drug control strategy of the American War on Drugs.
Neighborhood Watch
Neighborhood Watch is one of the oldest and best known crime prevention concepts in North America. In the late 1960s, an increase in crime heightened the need for a crime prevention initiative focused on residential areas and involving local citizen.
Neighborhood Watch programs have responded to the challenge, expanding beyond their traditional crime prevention role to help neighborhoods focus on disaster preparedness, emergency response, and terrorism awareness.
A Neighborhood Watch program is a group of people living in the same area who want to make their neighborhood safer by working together and in conjunction with local law enforcement to reduce crime and improve their quality of life. Neighborhood Watch (NW) groups have regular meetings to plan how they will accomplish their specific goals and assign responsibilities to group members. Neighborhood Watch is homeland security at the most local level.
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Goals
To report suspicious activity, reduce crime, and increase neighborhood safety.
Target population
Citizens of community
Delivery
North America
Late 1960s
GREAT- Gang Resistance Education And Training
Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.) is an evidence-based and effective gang and violence prevention program built around school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curricula. The Program is intended as an immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership for children in the years immediately before the prime ages for introduction into gangs and delinquent behavior
It provides a school-based, police officer instructed program that includes classroom instruction and various learning activities, the use of law enforcement officers having several advantages. They have a wide range of experience in recognizing and combatting criminal behaviour, they have the ability to recognize gang members, they are equipped with a referral knowledge, and most importantly can be a positive role model to students
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Goals
Immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership
Target population
Youth as they begin middle education
Delivery
originally administered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of the US Department of the Treasury
DARE
Pros
1. Focuses on bullying, cyber bullying, suicide prevention, domestic violence, the opioid epidemic, mass shooting awareness and human trafficking
2. The program creates awareness to students in schools and this makes them change their decisions and attitude towards the drug use. Decision-making skills are high in those who participate in the interactive program than those who don’t.
3. The D.A.R.E. program is consistent with the "zero-tolerance orthodoxy of current U.S. drug control policy.“
4.  It helps to improve the relationship between the police officers and the students. This helps create a rapport and respect for police officers.
5. The DARE program has been positively accepted by both parents, community, and students. This is because they believe the program contributes to the future decision making of the students.
6. Dare program is aimed at educating kids all over the world on how to resist peer pressure and live a productive drug-free life
7. The program encourages communication with parents and other responsible individuals resulting in an increased positive view of the police officers. The preventive programs also help to raise a healthy responsible youth. Also, The preventive program is aimed at improving the social skills of students as it is believed that great social competences can help resist social peer pressure on the use of drugs.
Cons
Ineffective because It presents a view of substance use that is inconsistent with what most of the students see in their own environments
The program is based on out-dated theories of human learning behavior.
It does not distinguish between legal and illegal drugs.
It views all drug usage as abuse.
The kids ignore all genuine information about the effects of the drug to their health because they haven’t seen immediate consequences of drugs.
Students do not retain the information learned from DARE for more than two years. No continued knowledge after the initial program
DARE is a multibillion-dollar program which requires constant...