Effective Strategies for Crime Prevention and Victim Support

Responding to Aggression Against Women

Immediate actions in cases of aggression against women:

1. Detect and prevent violent situations before they occur.
2. Act immediately to protect the victim's physical integrity and privacy.
3. Welcome the victim with words that convey reassurance, security, and immediate assistance, allowing them to express their feelings.
4. Avoid actions or comments that discourage the victim from lodging a complaint.
5. Protect and preserve the scene for evidence collection.
6. Verify the existence of potential witnesses.
7. Quickly assess and report what happened, taking necessary immediate measures.
8. Persuade the victim on the desirability of being transferred to a medical facility for examination.
9. Inform the victim of the existence of police personnel specialized in the treatment and investigation of this type of crime.
10. Accompany the victim to the premises of the police services.

Preventing Social Exclusion and Youth Crime

Prevention efforts are categorized into three levels:

Primary Prevention

Appropriate recommendations refer to measures such as general mental hygiene, family, school, and urban interventions. These actions may be sufficient in many cases to prevent crime or to avoid recidivism in the commission of criminal acts. Approximately 80% of juvenile offenders are occasional, and recidivism is uncommon when environmental conditions are improved. This underscores the significant role of education and family in prevention.

Secondary Prevention

Efforts focused on the early detection of criminal behavior. A set of hereditary, physical, psychological, and social factors likely contribute to the development of criminal behavior. However, while the search is still on for a single factor, it may not be sufficient by itself but can be an essential component of criminal behavior. Once an individual has been identified as an offender and continually re-offends, rehabilitation becomes more difficult.

Tertiary Prevention

Based on the treatment of already established crime, this involves measures of social and labor rehabilitation and reintegration. Any action on the factors in the etiology of crime would, to some extent, also serve as primary prevention. In this type of social pathology, characterized by multiple causes and an impact on lifestyle, the type of prevention used is often nonspecific. Psychosocial prevention of these conditions is one of the most serious problems encountered in today's society. The most important measures in the field of public safety should focus on preventing youth delinquency, which requires more specific actions:

1. Contribute to the mental health of children and youth.
2. Modify and treat all disorders that manifest in behavioral forms of maladjustment and pre-delinquency.
3. Address societal factors contributing to crime.