Prison managers and intelligence officers were recently given the benefit of expert knowledge on crime science and how they can use it to further reduce crime and incidents in prison.
Head of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffiths University in Queensland, Professor Richard Wortley gave an informative lecture to prison staff on the situational model of crime.
“The situational model examines the entire picture related to a crime, with questions like ‘Why did the crime occur at this time, in this prison, at this unit?’” says Professor Wortley.
“Crime in prisons, as in the community, is not random but patterned. Humans are very complex, so it is often easier to predict where and when a crime will occur than who will offend.
“By looking at where a crime occurs we can reduce factors that enable that crime such as poor lighting or poor camera coverage.”
Prison staff and the Department’s intelligence teams work constantly to prevent criminal behaviour and the lecture gave them further insight into how they might assess intelligence and issues in their prisons.
“As well as encouraging us to look at all the aspects of an incident, rather than just focusing on the individual offender, I also found the 80/20 rule very interesting,” says Rolleston Prison Manager Mike Howson.
“The 80/20 rule highlights that 20 per cent of prisoners cause 80 per cent of the issues. We can look at these individuals and their activities to gain useful information on prison crime.”
The situational model is not new to Corrections. Psychological Services are currently engaged in a study to look at what situational factors can be manipulated to reduce crime in New Zealand prisons.
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ISSN 1178-8453