Crime Prevention Merit Badge
Eleven requirements, seven of them topics to discuss or research with your counselor. The rest take arranging: research into three crimes in the news (3), with permission first; a supervised security survey (4(b)) that becomes a lesson you teach your family or Scouts (4(c)), with the teaching plan reviewed by your counselor first; and an interview with a law enforcement officer or civil servant (10), with permission first.
Elective Merit Badges Citizenship Merit Badges Requirements Safety
The plan behind this
What takes arranging
| requirement | what it needs |
|---|---|
| 3(a) | your parent or guardian's permission and your counselor's approval, then news coverage of three crimes of different types |
| 4(b) | a home, a neighborhood, a park or a camp building to survey, with adult supervision and following youth protection guidelines, using the pamphlet's security checklist or one your counselor approves |
| 4(c) | your counselor's review of your teaching plan, then your family or a group of Scouts to teach |
| 10 | your parent or guardian's permission and your counselor's approval, then a law enforcement officer or civil servant to interview |
Two parts build on the one before
3(b) records notes on the three crimes from 3(a): the law enforcement agencies and courts involved, why you think they were committed, and what could prevent similar crimes. Then review the research with your counselor.
4(c) uses the information from your 4(b) survey, with the EDGE method, to develop a lesson on how a family or Scouts can protect themselves from crime. Review the teaching plan with your counselor, then present it.
The discussions
| requirement | topic | what it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | laws and society | why we have criminal laws; types of crime; why people commit crimes; following the law when no one is watching; the meaning of crime prevention |
| 2 | groups working to prevent crime | citizens, schools, community groups, private security, law enforcement, courts, and corrections and rehabilitation, researched |
| 5 | retail crime | shoplifting, employee theft and loss prevention, and how stores prevent shoplifting, researched |
| 6 | reporting crime | when and how; the warning signs of child abuse and domestic violence; the three R's of personal safety; how reporting helps victims |
| 7 | peers and crime | peers' role; resisting peer influence; bullying and hazing; gangs |
| 8 | substance use and crime | legal and health consequences; violence, property crime and risk; prevention and recovery programs; getting help |
| 9 | online crime | avoiding it; financial scams; online security; identity theft; social media; when bullying, texting and sharing photos become crimes |
What this page is
The Crime Prevention merit badge, drawn so the permissions before the research and the interview stand out, with the survey drawn as the prerequisite of the lesson and the discussion lists summarized in their steps. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year. The free official pamphlet is the fuller guide.
Sources for this page
- Crime Prevention Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2026-01-27 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .