An Assessment of The Role of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in Campus Safety

The use of crime prevention initiatives on American college campuses has rapidly increased in the past three decades as high profile crime incidents continue to erode the public’s perception of universities as sanctuaries —isolated from criminal activity. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an environmental approach to crime prevention that refers to strategies that focus on reducing crime opportunities by manipulating the physical and social qualities of the environment. Although empirical research on CPTED is growing, little is known about the impact of this method on educational settings. The main argument of the present study is that CPTED has the potential to foster campus safety by reducing crime and increasing the perception of safety. Based on findings from previous studies, it is expected that universities with higher level of CPTED are more likely to have lower crime rates, and students residing in high CPTED campus facilities are more likely to have higher perception of safety. To test the hypothesized effect, a content analysis of the annual safety reports of 100 postsecondary institutions in the United States was conducted. In addition, the residents of two dormitories of a university were surveyed to assess their safety perceptions. Furthermore, a case study was conducted in a college campus with a systematic deployment of the CPTED approach. In-depth interviews, one focus group, in-site observations, and analysis of secondary data were performed to contextualize the study findings. Although the quantitative analysis of the national review of the annual safety reports did not provide evidence in support of the hypothesized effect, it uncovered a reverse relationship between crime rate and use of environmental crime prevention measures. The results of the survey of students’ perception of safety, on the other hand, revealed evidence in support of the second hypothesis of the dissertation. Furthermore, the qualitative case study analysis provided insight into the implementation procedures, strengths, and challenges of the systematic CPTED program. The main findings show how CPTED works in the academic context and what alterations are needed to advance the program

Findings from a natural experiment on the impact of covid-19 residential quarantines on domestic violence patterns in New Orleans

Purpose Following the rise of the novel coronavirus, de facto residential quarantines resulted either from executive stay-at-home orders, unemployment or through remote work requirements. One question that has arisen is whether the COVID-19 quarantines led to increases in domestic violence (DV), with research findings thus far being mixed. To further this understanding, this study examined whether the frequency and geographic dispersion of DV increased during stay-at-home and phased reopening periods of the pandemic in New Orleans, Louisiana while accounting for socio-economic determinants. Methods The study built on a natural experiment of home quarantine and examined its effects on DV using a mixed-methods approach of quantitative and geospatial analyses. Data for the analyses came from a sample of 11,502 police reported DV incidents and ArcGIS portal data of sociodemographic information across neighborhood statistical areas (NSAs). Results While results revealed no significant increase of DV during early phases of the quarantine, a significant increase in frequency was observed in the second reopening phase compared to the same time-period in the previous year. However, the dispersion of DV incidents appeared stable with continued concentrations in pre-existing geographic ‘hot spots.’ Conversely, households which were greater in size exhibited significantly fewer DV incidents. Conclusion Findings suggest that prevention programs might target residences already inflicted with domestic violence histories in advance of future pandemic or natural disaster related residential quarantines. Findings also reveal that situational factors, such as number of household residents, might be used to triage the delivery of services