Australian Institue of Criminology

Skip to content

Improving crime prevention knowledge and practice

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 385

Peter Homel
ISSN 1836-2206
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, December 2009

Abstract

Research from Australia and overseas consistently demonstrates that the effectiveness of many crime prevention initiatives is reduced by a continual lack of access to adequate crime prevention knowledge and technical skills. In particular, the internationalisation of crime has highlighted the need for renewed effort aimed at increasing the efficiency of knowledge transfer, skills development, project and program management ability, and performance measurement and evaluation capacity. This paper suggests the development of a comprehensive national framework for a technical support program. This will help improve the active dissemination of crime prevention knowledge, including research findings, evaluation and effective interventions; the development of physical and online resources, toolkits and other materials to assist in improving the skills and capacity of those engaged in crime prevention work; identifying and working with key training providers to assist in the development of appropriate content for training and workforce development relevant to the wide variety of crime prevention practitioners; and a program of research and evaluation work directed towards improving the evidence base for effective crime prevention interventions.