CPTED —crime prevention through environmental design, C. Ray Jeffery's term (1971)— works on the built environment: the shape of buildings, lighting, access and visibility are planned so that the space watches itself. Ronald Clarke's situational crime prevention (from 1980) is broader and more precise at once: it starts from a specific crime problem, studies how it is committed and alters the situation to make it harder, riskier or less rewarding. CPTED is mostly architecture and planning; situational prevention also takes in procedures, technology and management.
| Situational crime prevention | CPTED (environmental design) | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Ronald Clarke, British Home Office, 1980 | C. Ray Jeffery, 1971; influenced by Jane Jacobs and Oscar Newman |
| What it acts on | The situation of a specific crime | The physical environment of a place |
| Tools | 25 techniques: increase effort and risk, reduce rewards, provocations and excuses | Natural surveillance, access control, territorial reinforcement and maintenance |
| When it is applied | At any time, to a problem already identified | Ideally at the design stage: before building |
| Theoretical basis | Rational choice and routine activity | Environmental psychology, urban planning and defensible space |
| Who applies it | Police, businesses, managers, manufacturers | Architects, planners, local councils |
// What they shareThe common ground
Both belong to environmental criminology and share its wager: it is easier to change a situation than to change a person. Neither asks why someone wants to offend; both take it for granted that someone always will and concentrate on making sure they cannot, or that it does not pay. They also share the criticism they receive —that crime does not disappear, it just moves elsewhere— and the answer: studies find displacement is partial and that the benefit often spreads to neighbouring areas.
// Where they partThe differences that matter
The scope. CPTED is, in practice, a subset. Almost everything it does fits inside situational prevention, but not the other way round: a PIN on a card, a security tag on clothing, ink that stains banknotes or a protocol for verifying transfers are situational prevention and have nothing to do with environmental design.
The method. Situational prevention is specific on principle: there are no measures against "crime", only against a type of crime in a context, after analysing step by step how it is committed. CPTED applies general design principles assumed to hold for any space.
The mechanism. CPTED relies above all on people: that neighbours see, feel the space is theirs and act. Situational prevention uses that too, but does not depend on it; many of its techniques work even when nobody is watching.
// One villain, two readingsHarry and Marv
The McCallister house and Harry and Marv help to pull the two apart. What fails at the start is CPTED: a whole neighbourhood empty for Christmas, no neighbours watching, the lights on a timer the burglars know by heart. There is no natural surveillance and no sign that anyone defends the territory, which is why they choose that street. What Kevin does afterwards is situational prevention in pure form, and it follows its five columns: he raises the effort with the iced steps and the red-hot doorknob, raises the risk by pretending the house is full of people, and cuts the reward down to nothing. He does not redesign the building: he studies where those two particular burglars will come in and blocks each step.
The mistake everyone makes
Using them as synonyms, or saying CPTED "is the American version" of situational prevention. They have different origins and authors, and a relation of part to whole: CPTED deals with physical design and situational prevention with any change to the situation. Another frequent confusion is attributing the 25 techniques to CPTED; they are Cornish and Clarke's (2003).
Which villains each one explains
Case files the archive analyses with each theory. The number is the total; the list shows the first ones.
Read each theory in full
Sources · further reading
- Jeffery, C. R. (1971). Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Sage.
- Clarke, R. V. (1980). "'Situational' Crime Prevention: Theory and Practice". British Journal of Criminology, 20(2).
- Cornish, D. B. & Clarke, R. V. (2003). "Opportunities, Precipitators and Criminal Decisions". Crime Prevention Studies, 16.
Theory questionsFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between situational crime prevention and CPTED?
CPTED prevents crime through the design of the physical environment: visibility, access, lighting, a sense of territory. Situational prevention is broader: it analyses a specific crime and modifies the situation by any means —physical, technological or organisational— to make it harder, riskier or less rewarding.
What are the principles of CPTED?
Natural surveillance (seeing and being seen), natural access control, territorial reinforcement (making clear whose space it is) and maintenance. Later versions add community cohesion.
What are the 25 techniques of situational prevention?
They are Cornish and Clarke's classification (2003), organised into five strategies: increase the effort, increase the risk, reduce the rewards, reduce provocations and remove excuses, with five techniques in each.