Secured by Design | Plataforma de Evidencias

This program consists of promoting the inclusion of crime prevention strategies in the design and construction of residential and commercial projects and their immediate surroundings.
The strategies are based on known principles of situational crime prevention, such as the use of physical barriers that make it difficult for lawbreakers to gain access or steal property; natural surveillance or increased informal social control of spaces for public use; access control in facilities and areas for public use; demarcation of boundaries and uses of areas of the territory and their transit routes; and management and maintenance of facilities and spaces to promote their use and reduce the perception of lack of control.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies show that the program produced a statistically significant reduction in crime [1], a decrease in robberies, an increase in perceptions of safety, and improved outcomes in terms of perceptions of social disorder, and these benefits were observed over a 10-year period. However, rates of repeat victimization were higher in the treated areas [2].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Armitage, R. (2000). An Evaluation of Secured by Design Housing Within West Yorkshire (Briefing Notes núm. 7/00). London, England. Home Office Research [Development and Statistics Directorate]. https://popcenter.asu.edu/sites/default/files/04-Armitage.pdf

[2] Armitage, R. & Monchuk, L. (2011). Sustaining the crime reduction impact of designing out crime: Re-evaluating the Secured by Design scheme 10 years on. Security Journal, 24(4), 320–343. https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2010.6

Information source

Crime Solutions