Since the 1980s, criminality prevention has been embodied by a wide diversity of practices, aiming at either addressing the deep roots of criminality (social prevention) or preventing criminal behaviour (situational prevention). Whereas in the 1980s social prevention was rather popular in some European countries, situational prevention seems to overwhelm prevention programmes nowadays. Nonetheless, social prevention still inspires various social professionals based in deprived areas targeted by criminality prevention programmes. The article analyses the evolution of social prevention practices and questions the links between the two prevention models at stake.