Can Designing Out Crime Interventions Sustain Crime Reduction Benefits?

Abstract

This chapter presents the findings of an evaluation into SBD housing within West Yorkshire, England. The scheme is presented in detail in Chapter 2, alongside findings relating to its efficacy as a crime reduction measure. The study which forms the basis of this chapter focuses, not simply upon the effectiveness of the scheme, but also on whether the benefits can be sustained over a ten-year period (1999– 2009). The rationale for including a second evaluation of the scheme is to focus not upon whether SBD can reduce crime and the fear of crime, but upon whether that benefit retains its impact. The factors upon which SBD is based include physical security measures such as locks, windows, doors and fencing, but also design features relating to the layout of a property and the development within which it is based, but which should be sustained over a longer period of time — arguably, the lifetime of the development.