Delinquency Prevention: Primary, Secondary or Tertiary

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1. Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. Prevention measures may be corrective, punitive, or mechanical. For each prevention measure, include an explanation of why it is classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary.

Crime prevention is usually described by using the medical model. Primary, secondary, and tertiary crime prevention models all involve some level of community involvement. However, each type of prevention focuses on a specific developmental stage of crime. (2)

Primary Prevention:

Whereas the crime protection framework deals with what can be done about the impact or aftermath for victims, the crime and delinquency prevention framework, especially primary prevention, aims at what can be done about the first instance of victimization and focuses upon keeping potential offenders from becoming actual offenders. (1) Thus, referred to as primary. Thus, primary means the prevention strategies occurs primarily before a 'disease' (based on the medical model) crime (in this case) occurs. Thus, primary prevention addresses the conditions in the natural environment that may lead to the development and prevalence of crime. Lack of street maintenance, broken windows, abandoned buildings, and broken down cars are a few examples of a disorganized community. Primary prevention seeks to directly alleviate these factors that may lead to crime. One type of primary prevention is that of neighborhood crime prevention. Primary prevention occurs in various contexts or locations, such as a residence, workplace, school, neighborhood, community, or society. Primary prevention involves altering the environment in such a way that the root causes, or at least the facilitators, of crime are eliminated (e.g., mechanical, etc.). It is called primary because it occurs before the crime occurs. (2)

Primary Prevention has theoretical underpinnings and supportive theories about the etiology of crime suggest different forms of prevention measures. For example:

"An early example of this would ...