How can criminological, sociological and historical perspectives illuminate the elusive concept of crime prevention? Are we witnessing a new governance of crime control? What are the futures of crime prevention in late modernity?This book offers a comprehensive overview of current and historical debates about crime prevention in particular and social control more generally. It moves beyond the traditional boundaries of criminology and offers an original re-framing of the field of crime prevention based on a synthesis of exciting new thinking in social theory. In particular, recent theorising around late modernity, risk society, communitarianism and globalization are put forward as important ways of linking trends in crime prevention to wider social transformations. This innovative text looks at the contested history of crime prevention in the modern era and considers present and future trends in social control in late modernity. Hughes focuses on the question of the "managerialization" of crime prevention in recent decades, the extent to which crime control may become dominated by privatized security and insurance against risks, and the attractions and pitfalls of informal community-based approaches. Understanding Crime Prevention will be essential reading for students and researchers in the field as well as many professional and lay people interested in crime prevention and community safety.