Does CPTED Really Prevent Crime?
In hindsight, C. Ray Jeffery may sometimes wish he had opted to title his 1971 book “Crime deterrence through environmental design”. It is clear from almost three decades of research that offenders can not with absolute certainty be prevented from committing crimes. This is especially true when one considers that CPTED relies upon changes to the environment that will cause an offender to make certain behavioral decisions. Those changes are crafted so as to encourage offenders, and thus they deter rather than conclusively “prevent” behavior. Understanding the deterrence potential of CPTED can be related to the layers of a sandwich. The more layers of tasty ingredients that go into a sandwich, the more flavorful the end result. With CPTED, the more diverse layers of deterrence strategies that are employed the more likely that an offender will be persuaded to change his or her plans.
