background
Guardianship is the presence of one or more people who can potentially stop a crime. It has been a key factor in deterring criminals. The definition of guardianship however has been subject of change, and thus greatly varied. With technology coming into the mix it creates new challenges to understand what guardianship is: when you do not see anyone but you do see cameras is someone watching you and are you thus exposed to guardianship? As guardianship is vital to deter criminals it is necessary that we know what guardianship can consist of and how we can make sure that guardianship is present in for example neighbourhoods to deter burglars.
Your research will contribute to practice and policy making by showing the limits and benefits of guardianship and when we should opt for physical, symbolic or dynamic guardianship. For example, you could set up a study to train people to become guardians in VR, test if people feel comfortable with dynamic guardianship (symbolic and physical guardianship combined) or if they feel more safe with cameras around their neighbourhood. You will have a lot of freedom in this thesis to set-up your own research.
research questions
- What forms of guardianship exists? Do you need to be physically present to deter a criminal or can we also use symbolic guardianship?
- How can we stimulate people to act as guardians?
- If we let people take the perspective of a criminal, can they understand better how to display guardianship?
- Can we train people to exhibit more guardianship?
Type of research
The options are experimental and/or survey, depending on the research questions and preferences of the student.
keywords
Guardianship; crime prevention; behaviour change
information
If you are interested in this topic, please contact Steven Watson via s.j.watson@utwente.nl.
literature
· Reynald, D. M. (2009). Guardianship in action: Developing a new tool for measurement. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 11(1), 1-20.
· Van Sintemaartensdijk, I., Van Gelder, J. L., Van Prooijen, J. W., Nee, C., Otte, M., & Van Lange, P. (2021). Mere presence of informal guardians deters burglars: A virtual reality study. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 17(4), 657-676.