POL2602: CRIME PREVENTION PRINCIPLES FOR POLICING IIB VERIFIED
EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - LATEST VERSION 2026/2027
1. What is crime prevention?
Answer: Crime prevention refers to all measures and strategies
aimed at reducing the incidence of crime, whether by addressing
the causes of crime or by reducing the opportunities for crime to
occur.
2. Name the three primary levels of crime prevention.
Answer: The three primary levels are primary prevention
(targeting the general population), secondary prevention
(targeting at-risk groups), and tertiary prevention (targeting known
offenders).
3. What is primary crime prevention?
Answer: Primary crime prevention targets the general population
and focuses on eliminating conditions in the social and physical
environment that provide opportunities for crime before it occurs.
4. What is secondary crime prevention?
Answer: Secondary crime prevention focuses on at-risk
individuals or communities who display early signs of criminal
behaviour, aiming to intervene before criminal activity escalates.
5. What is tertiary crime prevention?
Answer: Tertiary crime prevention targets known offenders and
aims to prevent recidivism through rehabilitation, incarceration, or
other forms of intervention after crime has occurred.
,6. What is the difference between crime prevention and crime
control?
Answer: Crime prevention focuses on stopping crime before it
happens by addressing root causes and opportunity, whereas
crime control focuses on responding to crime after it has occurred
through law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
7. Define the concept of 'opportunity reduction' in crime
prevention.
Answer: Opportunity reduction involves making it more difficult or
less attractive for potential offenders to commit crime by
modifying environmental and situational conditions, such as
improved lighting and security measures.
8. What is the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) in
South Africa?
Answer: The NCPS is South Africa's comprehensive government
framework, adopted in 1996, which provides a multi-faceted
approach to reducing crime through four pillars: the criminal
justice process, environmental design, public values and
education, and transnational crime.
9. What are the four pillars of South Africa's NCPS?
Answer: The four pillars are: (1) strengthening the criminal justice
process, (2) reducing opportunities for crime through
environmental design, (3) combating public values and education
by promoting a culture of rights and responsibilities, and (4)
addressing transnational crime.
10. What role does SAPS play in crime prevention?
Answer: The South African Police Service (SAPS) plays a central
role in crime prevention through visible policing, sector policing,
community policing, intelligence-led policing, and collaboration
with other government departments and communities.
,SECTION 2: THEORIES OF CRIME RELEVANT TO PREVENTION
11. What is routine activity theory?
Answer: Routine activity theory, developed by Cohen and
Felson, states that crime occurs when three elements converge: a
motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a
capable guardian.
12. Who developed routine activity theory?
Answer: Routine activity theory was developed by Lawrence
Cohen and Marcus Felson in 1979.
13. What is rational choice theory in the context of crime?
Answer: Rational choice theory holds that offenders make
deliberate, rational decisions to commit crime based on a cost-
benefit analysis — they weigh the potential rewards against the
risks and perceived consequences.
14. What is the broken windows theory?
Answer: Broken windows theory, proposed by Wilson and
Kelling, suggests that visible signs of disorder and neglect (like
broken windows or graffiti) signal that an area is uncontrolled,
which encourages further crime and anti-social behaviour.
15. Who developed the broken windows theory?
Answer: The broken windows theory was developed by James
Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in 1982.
16. What is the social disorganization theory?
Answer: Social disorganization theory, associated with Shaw and
McKay, argues that high crime rates are linked to communities
with weak social institutions, poverty, residential instability, and
ethnic heterogeneity, which undermine social control.
, 17. How does strain theory relate to crime prevention?
Answer: Strain theory (Merton) suggests that crime results when
individuals cannot achieve socially approved goals through
legitimate means. Crime prevention must therefore address socio-
economic inequalities and provide legitimate opportunities.
18. What is situational crime prevention (SCP)?
Answer: Situational crime prevention is a proactive approach that
modifies specific environments and situations to reduce the
opportunities for particular types of crime, making crime more
difficult, risky, or less rewarding.
19. Name five techniques of situational crime prevention.
Answer: Five techniques include: (1) target hardening, (2) access
control, (3) place management, (4) natural surveillance, and (5)
reducing rewards for offenders.
20. What is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
(CPTED)?
Answer: CPTED is a multi-disciplinary approach that uses the
built environment — such as building design, landscaping,
lighting, and spatial layout — to deter crime by promoting natural
surveillance, natural access control, and territorial reinforcement.
SECTION 3: CRIME PREVENTION THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL
DESIGN (CPTED)
21. Who is credited with developing CPTED?
Answer: C. Ray Jeffery coined the term CPTED in 1971, though
Oscar Newman's concept of 'defensible space' also heavily
contributed to its development.
22. What are the three core principles of CPTED?
EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - LATEST VERSION 2026/2027
1. What is crime prevention?
Answer: Crime prevention refers to all measures and strategies
aimed at reducing the incidence of crime, whether by addressing
the causes of crime or by reducing the opportunities for crime to
occur.
2. Name the three primary levels of crime prevention.
Answer: The three primary levels are primary prevention
(targeting the general population), secondary prevention
(targeting at-risk groups), and tertiary prevention (targeting known
offenders).
3. What is primary crime prevention?
Answer: Primary crime prevention targets the general population
and focuses on eliminating conditions in the social and physical
environment that provide opportunities for crime before it occurs.
4. What is secondary crime prevention?
Answer: Secondary crime prevention focuses on at-risk
individuals or communities who display early signs of criminal
behaviour, aiming to intervene before criminal activity escalates.
5. What is tertiary crime prevention?
Answer: Tertiary crime prevention targets known offenders and
aims to prevent recidivism through rehabilitation, incarceration, or
other forms of intervention after crime has occurred.
,6. What is the difference between crime prevention and crime
control?
Answer: Crime prevention focuses on stopping crime before it
happens by addressing root causes and opportunity, whereas
crime control focuses on responding to crime after it has occurred
through law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
7. Define the concept of 'opportunity reduction' in crime
prevention.
Answer: Opportunity reduction involves making it more difficult or
less attractive for potential offenders to commit crime by
modifying environmental and situational conditions, such as
improved lighting and security measures.
8. What is the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) in
South Africa?
Answer: The NCPS is South Africa's comprehensive government
framework, adopted in 1996, which provides a multi-faceted
approach to reducing crime through four pillars: the criminal
justice process, environmental design, public values and
education, and transnational crime.
9. What are the four pillars of South Africa's NCPS?
Answer: The four pillars are: (1) strengthening the criminal justice
process, (2) reducing opportunities for crime through
environmental design, (3) combating public values and education
by promoting a culture of rights and responsibilities, and (4)
addressing transnational crime.
10. What role does SAPS play in crime prevention?
Answer: The South African Police Service (SAPS) plays a central
role in crime prevention through visible policing, sector policing,
community policing, intelligence-led policing, and collaboration
with other government departments and communities.
,SECTION 2: THEORIES OF CRIME RELEVANT TO PREVENTION
11. What is routine activity theory?
Answer: Routine activity theory, developed by Cohen and
Felson, states that crime occurs when three elements converge: a
motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a
capable guardian.
12. Who developed routine activity theory?
Answer: Routine activity theory was developed by Lawrence
Cohen and Marcus Felson in 1979.
13. What is rational choice theory in the context of crime?
Answer: Rational choice theory holds that offenders make
deliberate, rational decisions to commit crime based on a cost-
benefit analysis — they weigh the potential rewards against the
risks and perceived consequences.
14. What is the broken windows theory?
Answer: Broken windows theory, proposed by Wilson and
Kelling, suggests that visible signs of disorder and neglect (like
broken windows or graffiti) signal that an area is uncontrolled,
which encourages further crime and anti-social behaviour.
15. Who developed the broken windows theory?
Answer: The broken windows theory was developed by James
Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in 1982.
16. What is the social disorganization theory?
Answer: Social disorganization theory, associated with Shaw and
McKay, argues that high crime rates are linked to communities
with weak social institutions, poverty, residential instability, and
ethnic heterogeneity, which undermine social control.
, 17. How does strain theory relate to crime prevention?
Answer: Strain theory (Merton) suggests that crime results when
individuals cannot achieve socially approved goals through
legitimate means. Crime prevention must therefore address socio-
economic inequalities and provide legitimate opportunities.
18. What is situational crime prevention (SCP)?
Answer: Situational crime prevention is a proactive approach that
modifies specific environments and situations to reduce the
opportunities for particular types of crime, making crime more
difficult, risky, or less rewarding.
19. Name five techniques of situational crime prevention.
Answer: Five techniques include: (1) target hardening, (2) access
control, (3) place management, (4) natural surveillance, and (5)
reducing rewards for offenders.
20. What is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
(CPTED)?
Answer: CPTED is a multi-disciplinary approach that uses the
built environment — such as building design, landscaping,
lighting, and spatial layout — to deter crime by promoting natural
surveillance, natural access control, and territorial reinforcement.
SECTION 3: CRIME PREVENTION THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL
DESIGN (CPTED)
21. Who is credited with developing CPTED?
Answer: C. Ray Jeffery coined the term CPTED in 1971, though
Oscar Newman's concept of 'defensible space' also heavily
contributed to its development.
22. What are the three core principles of CPTED?
