To the extent that crime is a function of larger social issues, it is unrealistic to expect those underlying social problems to be rectified by law enforcement efforts. Even with respect to specific incidence of criminal behavior, law enforcement authorities must address two competing interests that fall within the purview and responsibility of law enforcement.
Specifically, poverty, unwanted pregnancy, lack of educational and vocational opportunities, and perceived social "disenfranchisement" within communities contribute heavily to crime in those areas but none of those social factors are capable of being redressed directly by law enforcement authorities. Likewise, even within the realm of law enforcement responsibilities, emphasis on quality-of-life-oriented policing and crime prevention-oriented policing conflict with the goal of preventing crime in light of empirical evidence and anecdotal experience demonstrating that efforts directed at the former do not necessarily achieve the goals of the latter appreciably.
In that regard, directed police patrols and crackdowns on specific types of crimes has proven effective at addressing those types of criminal activity, but they do not provide a substantial benefit with respect to overall crime rates in the community outside of those targeted types of crimes or outside of directed areas of increased police activity.
Conversely, the research also indicates that the perception within communities about crime is not necessarily consistent with results of community-oriented policing and "broken windows" approaches to crime reduction.
In general, most policing responsibilities are more reactive than proactive, simply because so much effort on the part of law enforcement must be directed...
In comparison, policing is less well adapted to crime prevention, especially outside of narrowly targeted types of criminal activity or outside of specific regional focus. Problem-oriented policing is one method of applying police resources to social problems in a preventative approach.
In principle, programs such as police athletic leagues and community resource centers can address some of the underlying social issues that contribute to higher crime rates.
Beyond police-initiated efforts, the criminal justice system could further assist the interest of reducing crime in society outside of direct methods of directing police response to crime. Especially in light of the fact that poverty and perceived lack of educational and vocational opportunities contribute to crime rates in society, creative sentencing could address that component of criminal activity, particularly among first- time and juvenile offenders. Such an approach might be especially beneficial in conjunction with the zero- tolerance philosophy of community improvement through aggressive crime control.
Whereas hardened "career" criminals are less likely to conform their behavior to the requirements of law, juvenile and first time offenders are much more likely to benefit from alternative sentencing formats such as the imposition of court monitored educational and vocational programs in lieu of incarceration. The advantage of such an approach on the part of the criminal justice system is that it combines the immediate benefits of reactive response to crime with the longer-term benefits of crime prevention by addressing some of the underlying social factors that contribute to crime in society.
