National council for crime prevention

It has been shown that even the use of severe punishments only has a short-term impact. According to research, the probability that a person will be punished for his or her act has a greater impact on his or her behaviour that does the severity of punishment. However, the smooth operation of the criminal justice system is a precondition for successful criminal policy. The criminal justice system and crime prevention should be developed in tandem.

Preventing crime is cost-effective. It has been calculated that an investment for example in parental training and in keeping children in school to complete their education is two to three times more effective in preventing serious crime during adulthood than an investment of the same amount in the police supervision of offenders or in the long-term imprisonment of recidivists. Measures that influence the opportunity for crime often decrease crime directly and at a reasonable cost specifically in cases where the problem of crime is limited geographically, temporally or in respect of its means of commission. On the other hand, in the long run social crime prevention measures (for example measures for the prevention of marginalization and in particular investments in supporting the way children are raised) are more cost-effective in producing results.