Unlike the other schools of criminology, there is less emphasis on developing theories of causality in relation to crime and deviance (the tendency is to scientifically examine Official Statistics as evidence).
This, however, does not reflect the genuine quality in the theoretical and academic work and the real contribution made to the nature of criminal behaviour by criminologists of the school.
This is distinguishable from political systems that provide order for their subjects and the problems to be governed in terms of their relationship to society, whether as functional or dysfunctional, integrated or isolated, organized or disorganized.
Thus, more proactive policing through policies of zero tolerance to make it safe for citizens to be on the streets and in their homes and a greater allocation of resources to detection will have more success than the current reactive stance in relation to crimes committed.
In this strand of argument, there is a form of cost-benefit analysis where the success of institutions charged with the task of control is measured by reference to the recorded incidence of crime over time.
Indeed, to build greater conformity where deviance is socially unacceptable, the New Right advocates the allocation of resources into the education system to underpin adherence to moral values.
Thus, if moral codes are internalized and individuals are tied into, and have a stake in, their wider community, they will voluntarily limit their propensity to commit deviant acts.
This derives from a Hobbesian view of human nature as represented in Leviathan, i.e., that all choices are constrained by implicit social contracts, agreements and arrangements among people.
Based on the empirical observation of the strong, consistent connection between criminal behavior and age, Hirschi and Gottfredson theorizes that the single most important factor behind crime is individual lack of self-control.
Individual self-control improves with age as a result of many factors: changing biology through hormonal development, socialization and increasing opportunity costs of losing control.
A number of empirical studies – including meta-analyses[citation needed] – have confirmed that individual self-control is in fact one of the strongest predictors of crime when compared to a range of factors at various levels of analysis.
Walter Reckless began developing containment theory by focusing on a youth's self-conception or self-image of being a good person as an insulator against peer pressure to engage in delinquency.
Control Theory addressed social as opposed to legal deterrence, but Neo-Positivism accepts that whichever view may be correct, autonomy is paramount, i.e. the potential offender has a free choice on whether to ignore the feelings of others or the penalties of the state.
It is sometimes referred to as "primary prevention" or "opportunity reduction" and it seems most relevant to offences which cluster in time or space, and are high rate, creating crime "hot spots".
For crimes aimed at households, initiatives include encouraging people to make their homes more secure – sometimes called 'target hardening' – and marking their property for easier identification.
Environmental design focuses on improving street lighting, controlling access to buildings, restricting pedestrian and traffic flow, and dividing residential spaces into identifiable areas.
The most ambitious environmental design schemes have been carried out in the United States where the property of the rich is protected by expensive hardware, alarm systems, and even private guards.
This implies that crime and delinquency are a result of choice, and Clarke and Cornish (1985) posit that, "...crime is purposive behavior designed to meet the offender's commonplace needs for such things as money, status, sex, excitement, and that meeting these needs involves the making of (sometimes quite rudimentary) decisions and choices, constrained as they are by limits of time and ability and the availability of relevant information."
Apart from the ethical considerations and the high cost of long-term incarceration, Clarke's research demonstrates that certainty of apprehension rather than the severity of punishment is the major deterrent.
But this ignores the empowerment potential in the community as a voluntary organization of citizens taking responsibility for themselves and their neighbors, mobilized in their own interests, to act in a mutually beneficial fashion.
Independent collective action without involving the state and its more heavy-handed compulsions may be more effective than aggressive policing that alienates local opinion.
Also note the models of situational crime prevention which are not simply gesture politics by the "Right" but an area in which progressive criminologists recognize positive developments in rethinking social justice (James 1996).