Innovative design has played an important role in driving down crime overall by a third over the past decade says the Home Office. But new types of crime have emerged as society and technology have evolved. Design has an important role to play in preventing crimes and reducing criminal activity.
Forty of the UK’s leading technology designers and manufacturers joined Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and a number of young people at the Design Council on 15 May to discuss new ways of harnessing the power of design to protect young people from crime.
Design Council Chief Executive David Kester says: "Armed with original research including observations and ideas from young people, we are bringing together manufacturers, technologists, with designers and other experts. Our objective is simple – to look at the thorny problem of hot product theft through the design lens and come up with some new ideas. After all that is what design does – it taps our creativity in order to help solve problems."
Magnus Pettersen at Central Saint Martins won the Student D&AD award for Social Design for his BLABR bike stand and social seating point.
The stand ecourages people to lock the frame and both wheels of their bike so it's more secure. The seating part makes it suitable to spaces where people tend to form 
groups naturally, like outside a college.
By creating a defined social area it is designed to encourage natural surveillance and deter thieves from the area. It is also meant to use materials other than the black steel most bike racks are made from to encourage the public to look at street furniture in a more positive way.
Find out more about the D&AD student awards
Designing Out Crime: The Materials Advantage
Nick Ross, ex-Crimewatch presenter, chaired a debate on what material scientists and designers can do to cut crime.
Read our blog to find out more about what happened at this event
Hot products are the gadgets and accesories that so many of us love to buy. Things like mobile phones, MP3 players, games consoles, digital cameras, laptop computers and bikes. In fact, any technology that's popular is 'hot'.
Unfortunately, while there's a demand for hot products there's also a risk that they will be the target of criminals. And young people are more likely to a victim of crime than adults. They are particularly susceptible to hot product crime. In fact, 12% of young people in England say they have been the victim of hot product theft in the last three years.
Design Council researchers surveyed 1,000 11-15 year-olds about their experiences of hot product crime. The survey revealed that:
- One in four young people in England have had a hot product snatched whilst almost one in three were pick-pocketed in the last three years
- 97% of young people carry a gadget with them at some point. 85% frequently carry a mobile and 35% an MP3 player
- One in three of victims were listening to music on headphones, talking or texting on a phone or playing on a games console when their item was stolen
- 42% of 11 to 16-year-olds estimate their products to be worth over £200, whilst two thirds estimate the value of their personal electronic products to be over £100
- Almost two thirds are concerned about the items being stolen.
The future of technology
Hot products are getting smaller, more prolific and more valuable. And we're all carrying more of them.
Read our pictorial guide to the
future trends in hot products 
Laura is 16 years-old. She was with a group of her friends in Streatham Common when a group of boys with knives approached them. The gang of boys targeted the males in Laura’s group of friends and became violent towards them taking valuables such as ipods, phones and money. Although Laura herself did not get anything stolen it has changed her attitude, as she doesn’t carry her ipod as often.
Felix is 17 years- old. He was walking through a park with his brother on his way home from school when he was approached from behind and asked to hand over his phone. Nothing was stolen but Felix was hit as a result of the attack. After three days he reported it to the police. Felix has become desensitised to crime as he says: 'it happens to almost everyone.'
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Design and technology experts give you advice on the market for designing out crime
Read the video transcript
To view our video content you will need to install
Flash 8 and ensure that you have JavaScript enabled.
Read our accessibility page for further information.
Hot products insights from young people who use them and experts who want to stop them being stolen
Read the video transcript
The challenge for designers is to create products, services and environments that address the needs of users and abusers. In other words, designers need to become more creative than criminals.
Manufacturers need to work more closely with designers to innovate products that incorporate crime reduction without sacrificing aesthetics or ease of use. Some manufacturers are already doing this but by no means all. Manufacturers need to push designing out crime higher up the agenda and build in anti-crime elements as standard.
Get the toolsDesigners use a number of techniques when designing to prevent crime. Find out what they are and how to
use them to design out crime yourself