Resident Students’ Perception of Safety in On-Campus Residential Facilities: Does Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) Make a Difference?

ABSTRACT

One practical, yet less touted, approach to school safety is the use of security provisions that conform with the principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED). Beyond preventing crime, the approach offers the potential benefit of improving perceptions of safety among campus occupants which is important for revenues and establishing effective learning environments. Although CPTED has shown promise in reducing crime elsewhere, research has only begun to empirically assess the extent to which it is compatible with campus facilities and whether it improves students’ safety perceptions. This study reports on a quantitative comparative assessment of student (N = 100) safety perceptions from two, differently designed residential facilities on a large public research university in the Southeastern United States. Findings indicate that residents of the high CPTED facility had higher safety perceptions than the low CPTED facility’s residents. Site observations supported differences between design features of the two facilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Perception of safety
• fear of crime
• school safety
• campus safety
• school design
• crime prevention through environmental design
• CPTED

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Florida International University [Dissertation Year Fellowship (DYF)].

Notes on contributors

Auzeen Shariati

Auzeen Shariati is an assistant professor of Criminal Justice at St. Joseph’s College (NY). Her research is primarily centered on crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), school safety, and policing.

Rob T. Guerette

Rob T. Guerette is an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice in the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs at Florida International University. His research focuses on situational crime prevention, policing and crime reduction, and transnational crime.