CPTED: Principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Assessed in the Middle School Setting

Introduction: Current approaches to violence and crime prevention in schools have become more comprehensive by complementing programs for youth with teacher training and enforcing school policies. The goal of these approaches is to change the social climate within the school, thus reducing aggression and fear. However, the physical environment in many schools may cause daily challenges to students and teachers who are attempting to implement these changes. For example, unsupervised spaces, graffiti, and the neglect of basic maintenance can provide opportunities for conflict and foster a feeling that the school and students are not cared for and that aggressive behavior is tolerated or even necessary to stay safe. Interventions based on the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) attempt to reduce the occurrence of crime and violence by (re)designing physical features of the environment. The overarching concept of ‘CPTED’ incorporates at least five main principles for this type of environmental control, but the extent to which these principles are associated with students’ perceptions of risk and experiences with violence in the school setting is not known. To better understand the potential of CPTED-based prevention strategies for schools, this study will test the association between CPTED scores and student reports of fear and violence.

Methods: We describe a study of 4,717 students from 50 Atlanta area middle schools where information about perceptions of school safety and experiences with violence at school was collected from students. Demographic data, including urban/rural status, SES, and age of school, was collected from each school. In addition, trained architects rated the physical attributes of schools on CPTED principles using a newly developed tool, the CPTED School Assessment (CSA).  The CSA is an observational tool designed to assess physical conditions and use of the school environment on a typical school day and to generate scores reflecting the extent to which specific aspects of the school environment conform to ‘ideal’ conditions based on CPTED principles.

Results & Conclusions:   Results from Hierarchical Linear Modeling analyses, which will test how well observational data of the physical grounds of the school are associated with self-report data while controlling for student- and school-level demographics, will be presented. Specifically, results will focus on the extent to which (1) the five principles of CPTED, and (2) the physical attributes of selected locations throughout the school (i.e., interiors, buildings, school grounds), are associated with student feelings of fear and safety as well as actual victimization from and perpetration of violence and bullying on school grounds.