In this paper the National Crime Council presents a summary of their consultations and research in the area of crime prevention and sets out provisional recommendations to the Government, with particular emphasis on the underlying causes of crime and the development of partnerships and practical approaches that will be effective at community level.

The focus of the Paper is on certain types of crimes and anti-social behaviour. The community hearings highlighted the crimes that are most frequent and damaging at a local level, including drug offences, assault, burglary and larceny. These are the crimes which this paper deals with and which the proposed partnership approach to crime prevention seeks to tackle. Other types of crime, specifically white collar crime and organised crime, are outside the remit of this paper.