Crime Prevention

Mental health is important and plays a role in our daily lives. It refers to a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how a person thinks, feels, and acts.

Mental health problems can develop in children and youth at any age. Studies show that 20 percent of students in kindergarten through twelfth grade suffer from a mental health issue on any given day in any given classroom; and 10 percent of these issues are serious enough to affect how that student behaves at home, at school, and with others.

Understanding how the built environment can impact crime is fundamental for place-based community safety efforts. Eliciting resident feedback on what changes can (and should) be made to the environment is equally important, as well as a sensitivity to a particular neighborhood’s culture, history, and connection to the broader community.

Hosted by the National Reentry Resource Center, with funding support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.