Risk and protective factors

When applying to the National Crime Prevention Centre for funding, you will be expected to specify:

The following will clarify the meaning of "issue" and "root causes", or "risk and protective factors." It will also help you to identify which factors your project will address. A crime prevention project will fail to create lasting results if it tries to fix the issue only without addressing the factors causing it.

What is a crime or victimization issue?

A crime or victimization issue is a crime-related problem that has a negative impact or a perceived negative impact on the safety and well-being of individuals. Examples of issues include:

Similarly, negative social issues can also have an impact on the perception of safety and well-being of individual and the community. Examples include suicide and alcohol, drug and substance abuse.

When you look at these types of issues, you could focus on the person doing the harm (i.e., the offender) or you could focus on the person who is hurt (i.e., the victim). An issue is what the problem looks like, who is involved and what you can see.

An issue does not explain why that problem exists (the hidden part of the problem). To look for the root causes, we need to get a better understanding of why the crimes are being committed. Refer to the Root causes map below.

What are risk and protective factors?

Risk and protective factors help to explain why a problem exists. These factors suggest why certain individuals or groups are more or less likely to become victims of crime or to become involved in crime.

Risk factors
These are negative influences in the lives of individuals or a community. These may increase the presence of crime, victimization or fear of crime in a community and may also increase the likelihood that individuals engage in crime or become victims.
Protective factors
These are positive influences that can improve the lives of individuals or the safety of a community. These may decrease the likelihood that individuals engage in crime or become victims. Building on existing protective factors makes individuals and communities stronger and better able to counteract risk factors.

Which factors will you address?

You will need to identify only those risk or protective factors that can be addressed and influenced by your project. A single issue can have many risk factors. A single project is only able to tackle a few of them. It's important to focus on one or two – but which ones?

Many factors influence the amount of crime, victimization and fear of crime in a community. Which are the most important factors? These may not be clear. What is clear – and what you do know – is your organization's ability to address certain factors. Some risk or protective factors cannot be changed (like gender or age). However, attitudes toward gender or age can be changed.

To identify the key factors that your project will address, you will want to:

Risk factor examples

There are many possible risk factors. The extent to which they have an influence on crime or victimization will depend on the particular situation. Here are just a few examples:

Protective factor examples

There are many possible protective factors. The extent to which they have an influence on the prevention of crime or victimization will depend on the particular situation. Here are just a few examples:

What level will your project address?

If you think about what influences crime and victimization, you'll notice that underlying factors are found at many "levels." Your project activities should focus primarily on one of the following levels:

Root causes map

Image Description

Identify consequences of crime problem for:

  • Communities
  • Families
  • Individuals
  • Offenders
  • Society
  • Victims
  1. Identify Crime Problem
  2. Answer the following questions:
    • What crimes are being committed?
    • Who is committing the crimes?
    • When and where are the crimes being committed?
  3. To look for the root causes, we need to get a better understanding of why the crimes are being committed. To do this, begin by examining the risk and protective factors at the:
    • Individual,
    • Family,
    • Community and
    • Societal levels

    These are the root causes of the crime problem.

  4. Develop responses to the following:
    • What is already being done?
    • What needs to be done?
    • Who needs to be involved? and
    • What strategy is needed to impact on the crime problem and create sustained change?
  5. How will the strategy impact the crime?
    • Strategies must show partnerships
    • Address more than one root cause
    • Create change
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