Social Crime Prevention in Italy: A Never Ending Story

The paper analyses features and development of social crime prevention in Italy. It describes in particular the lack, for a long time, of what is defined internationally as "social crime prevention", and the dissolution of it in broader social policies; the new role aknowledged to this form of prevention in the early urban safety programmes, and then its disappearance in more recent times. Despite the ambiguities mentioned in the paper, the local safety project of the mid 90s had been able to give a conceptual and practical ground – or just a different label - for the development of social crime prevention measures. Even though they were often combined with situational approaches, and even though they were at risk of losing their traditional feature, many social crime prevention initiatives were substantiated in Italy for more than a decade. Once the national government replaced the pre-existent infrastructure of crime prevention created by local governments, apparently social crime prevention is disappearing. Changes affecting the true nature and features of social crime prevention are discussed, with a focus on the most recent times, when social crime prevention becomes invisible and disappears from from public, political and scientific discourse on crime and disorder. The reasons for these changes are discussed. The paper also argues that, even if its role is weaker, its traditional features are changing, and the resources are reduced, it is also true that social crime prevention measures still are surviving as part of the local culture and practices of crime prevention. What remains unknown, and almost impossible to foresee, is how long these projects will go on and if the pervasive punitive culture and practices nowadays widespread in Italy will be finally so strong to make social crime prevention not just “invisible”, but a minor and definitively irrelevant part of our crime prevention strategies and practices.