The Crime Prevention Triangle
by Kelly M. Glenn
Crime prevention is the anticipation, recognition, and appraisal of crime risk and the initiation of action to reduce or remove it. When we prevent crime, we prevent victimization, which is the ultimate goal!
Several theories exist involving crime prevention, including (but not limited to):
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
- The Broken Window Theory
- The S.A.R.A. Model (Scan, Analyze, Respond, Assess)
- The Crime Prevention Triangle
The Crime Prevention Triangle states that in order for a crime to occur, all three components of a crime must exist: desire, ability, and opportunity. Each of these components makes up a “side” in the Crime Prevention Triangle, and if you take away any one of the three, a crime cannot occur:
This is good news because if this theory holds true, it means that we can impact the risk and occurrence of crime by putting our efforts into one component, as opposed to having to tackle all three! Before we look into what each component or “side” means, let’s go over a scenario:
Tiana loves the color red, and she has always wanted to drive a Ferrari. In fact, driving a red Ferrari is at the top of her bucket list! One day, as she pulls up to a local gas station to fuel up the 1997 white sedan she inherited from her grandmother, the beauty of a red Ferrari parked right in front of the store caught her eye. It had an out of state tag, and as she got out of her tired, old ride, she swore she could hear that Ferrari purring. Upon further investigation, Tiana noticed that it was unoccupied and thought she overheard who might be the owner asking another person at the gas pumps for directions. Tiana knew that this might be her only opportunity to ever drive a Ferrari, even if she had to risk a joyriding charge to do it, but alas, it was a stick shift. Tiana had never learned to drive one.
In the Crime Prevention Triangle, DESIRE is the base, as people who commit crime are driven by their desire to do so. Without desire, there is no intent to commit a crime; therefore, a crime cannot occur. In our scenario, Tiana definitely has the desire! She loves the color red, and she loves Ferraris. Tiana has even weighed the consequence of getting caught and has decided that the risk is worth the reward.
The second “side” of the Crime Prevention Triangle is OPPORTUNITY. When an opportunity exists, in combination with the other components, a person has the chance to act on their desire. For Tiana, her opportunity to take that red Ferrari joyriding was present because the vehicle was left running and unattended.
The last component to complete the Crime Prevention Triangle is ABILITY. This “side” addresses whether or not a person is capable of committing the crime they have the desire and opportunity to commit. In our scenario, this is where Tiana’s plan went wrong. She did not have the ability to take the red Ferrari for a joyride because she did not know how to drive a stick shift.
Again, the theory of the Crime Prevention Triangle states that if you take any one “side” away, a crime cannot occur. Let’s take a look at our own capacity to prevent crime by removing either desire, opportunity, or ability…
In our scenario, we can agree that the owner of the Ferrari got pretty lucky! Afterall, the only reason Tiana didn’t drive off into the sunset in his luxury car is because she didn’t have the ability to drive it. In real life, we simply cannot rely on a criminal’s lack of ability to prevent us from being victimized, though. Some people are very skilled at committing their crimes of choice. We have to consider the other “sides” of the Crime Prevention Triangle to have the highest probability of reducing or removing crime.
What we have considerable control over is the opportunities we give other people to commit crimes against us. We can limit those opportunities in many ways, such as locking doors, not leaving valuables unattended, using alarms, etc. In our scenario, the owner of the Ferrari could have simply turned the car off and locked the doors. Limiting opportunity is not always that easy, though, and while it would be amazing to live in a society where we don’t have to take these sometimes inconvenient precautions, it can be empowering to prevent crime through our own efforts to reduce and remove opportunities to become victims.
Finally, crime can also be prevented by reducing or removing one’s desire to commit crime. This is a much more complex approach to crime prevention, as it often requires the collaboration of systems to accomplish, as well as the individual’s own cooperation. Short of implementing and being successful with psychological interventions, people who really want to commit a crime will find a way to do so!
In conclusion, we can deduce that when using the Crime Prevention Triangle to reduce or remove crime, eliminating the opportunity “side” of the triangle is perhaps the most efficient and effective way to be successful. It is certainly what we, as individuals and as a society, have the most power to control.
Many thanks to former student, Tiana Johnson, for allowing me to use her as inspiration for the Crime Prevention Triangle scenario!
Suggested Citation for this Article
Glenn, K.M., Criminal Justice Know How, LLC, April, 2020, The Crime Prevention Triangle. https://criminaljusticeknowhow.com/the-crime-prevention-triangle/
